200 years, 100 years, 37 years

A day in West Yorkshire - looking back.

This is long - if you want the shortened version - just look at the 37 years bit.
 
200 years
The reason we made the trip to Halifax at all was so I could catch an exhibition at the Bankfield Museum: 'Splendid Shreds of Silk and Satin - A celebration of Charlotte Brontë (born 200 years ago this year) in Quilts. This turned out to be a little underwhelming, I have to say. The modern quilts made for the celebration were not that creative, but there were a few old quilts from the museum's own collection. The centrepiece was a quilt 'made by Charlotte and her sisters' - it was covered in a thick layer of plastic making it very difficult to see and anyway it was not very good, was unfinished and there is doubt whether it was actually made by them anyway. The fact that Charlotte on several occasions denounced sewing as an activity - she would far rather draw or write rather took away from the whole idea.
 
100 years
Meanwhile Gordon had disappeared upstairs and discovered an excellent exhibition - For King and Country - Calderdale's First World War Centenary. This showed in wonderful pictures, displays, etc. just how people of Halifax and surrounds were affected by the War. An absorbing exhibition - very well done indeed.
 
37 years
I recently found a booklet that we used a lot when our children were small - Kiddiwalks in West Yorkshire. And amazingly I had recorded exactly which ones we had done and when. So, as we were close to Shibden Park and it was a lovely afternoon, we set out to retrace our steps of 37 years ago - 22nd April 1979 to be precise, when we would have had a four year old and a two year old. A wonderful little walk using some old paths between and across fields. (We could not recall any of it!!) It was great to see so many buttercup and wildflower filled fields and so much green.
 
And we finally made a detour in Huddersfield to find a very special bluebell wood. When I was 9 we lived in Huddersfield for a year and across from our house there was a wood that I have very clear memories of - and we found it and it had bluebells. And the house, which was new when we lived in it, is now very much older but looks just the same.
 
Not quite finally - we stopped for fish and chips in Skipton - well we were in Yorkshire and the best fish and chips come from Yorkshire!