Instead of ale!

I was abandoned in Saltaire today, whilst various members of the family went to watch football in Bradford. That was after we had had a lovely lunch at Salts Mill.

I have lived most of my life very close to Saltaire and every bit of it is very familiar, so I had an enjoyable afternoon walking round and remembering.

Saltaire is named after philanthropist Sir Titus Salt. In the 1850′s, Sir Titus purpose built the village to house the workers of his nearby mill. This revolutionary development came at a time when all the major surrounding cities of Bradford, Leeds and Manchester were slums. His model village led the way for major regeneration, not only within these cities, but the world over.

The village is now a World Heritage Site and there are fine buildings, which have been blipped many times by Yorkshire Blippers. This is just one of them, but one that I remember very well indeed.

Inspired by opulent 15th century architecture and commissioned by Sir Titus Salt as a centre for recreation, culture and learning for the village inhabitants, Victoria Hall opened in 1869. The building housed libraries, meeting and games rooms and a large dance hall with a fully sprung floor. It was intended to provide the workers with recreation of a more suitable kind than the spending of time in alehouses. There was to be no ale sold in Saltaire!

I remember it as our local library and a very good one it was too. Regularly we would go with our daughters and all choose books to take home. We rarely bought books in those days, we almost always borrowed them from the library. The library is no longer there, but the building still has a recreational function, providing function rooms for meetings, weddings, concerts, exhibitions etc.

Another type of sport tomorrow and a different location.