Manchester Youth Theatre again...

More from 1991. I've only rehearsal shots from a couple of years, but I'm realy pleased to have found the first photo in the group, since it shows Geoff Sykes at the end of auditions. One of the few of either Geoff or Hazel that I have, though I'll continue to look for further examples.

Snow, snow and more snow....

Went to post a Christmas card today and couldn't resist the woods at the bottom of the road. They're only about five minutes walk from my house but I have never explored them before. Having had a great hour or so, I intend to visit them many times more. Unfortunately I only had my compact with me - but it shows the truth in the old adage of always having a camera with you.

Rochdale Town v Chadderton, First Division Trophy 2009-10

A much better day to shoot early on with a fairly clear sky, but by half time again it was dark. I had to leave then anyway since I'd a reunion with friends from uni, but the shots from the first half are here.

Further photos from this game can be found here

2 hours on a Manchester Evening

I’ve been a member of the Manchester Flickr group for a long time – unfortunately I’ve had to resign tonight. There’s been an issue about porn being posted to the group – and as a result they’ve decided that all photos need to be approved before being accepted. Now I wouldn’t claim to be the best photographer in the world. I enjoy taking photos and if other like looking at them then that’s great – so I’m not going to claim that my resignation is going to cause any real problems to the group. But there are sometimes issues that you have to stand up and be counted on. Manchester is a city that’s wonderful but it also has a seedy side – and anyone that refuses to accept that just ignores the reality of the world. If you want to represent the real Manchester then you have to show the underbelly as well as the glossy. The choice is an open group or a closed - and that means censored – group. So after several years membership, and with a sorry heart – I’ve had to resign. I just can’t believe in censorship such as this. But this means that the following shots won’t be available on Flickr now, other than on my own page. Pity. A great pity.

Anyway - here's the shots - two hours walking around Manchester on an evening:

First of all a tram passes GMex

Spinnigfields had a travelling fair

Nothing like the Printworks

and the light trails on Chepstow Street

Styal Mill

A fantastic place to visit - one that has industrial and social archaeology in abundance:
First there's the mill...

Then there's the autumn colours

followed by the machinery for the sluices

and finally the water wheel itself

well worth a visit in my humble opinion

Christmas Markets

The Christmas Markets in Manchester are legendary and opened for business earlier this week. So I thought I'd have a snoop around before yesterdays match. Fantastic as usual and I think it might be well worth an evening visit.

Rochdale Town v Ashton Town 2009-10

A very dark afternoon match, with the floodlights being on at the start of the game, hence I had to pack up at half time - the remaining light having faded and being solely reliant on the floodlights.

Settle in North Yorkshire

So I'm back, having spent some time away on the beautiful North York Moors. Based in Settle, I had a fantastic time - although it was very, very wet. A long time since I was there - but it's still as beautiful and peaceful as it always was.

The first photo is of the beck between Ribblehead Station and the Batty Green Navvy Camps there. Nice slow shutter speed and I like the result!

Next it's Giggleswick village.

Stained glass has always been a favourite thing for me to photograph, though I've not come across a great deal of it, so the opportunity to get some detail was a welcome one

Rochdale Town v Irlam 2009-10

  
More photos from this game can be found here

A slideshow from this game can be found here 

Rochdale Town v Chadderton 2009-10

Another evening match so sorry about the quality - but a great game - really enjoyable. What footy should be about.

Further photos from this game can be found here

Manchester Youth Theatre in 1991

This is the youth theatre in 1991. More shots from this, and other years, to follow. The first one is the group photo from this year - taken on the steps of what was then Nicholls Ardwick High School. But the great thing about this shot is it shows Geoff Sykes (bottom of stone balustrade left) and Hazel Sykes (bottom of stone balustrade right).

Angel Meadow Excavation

Angel Meadow is an amazing part of Manchester where our forefathers lived cheek by jowl with the factories and industry of the city. Within a small area there were Ragged Schools, paupers burial ground, industry and the juvenile reformatory. Recently there have been excavations prior to the Co-op building their new headquarters, and today was the open day. So I trolled along and was really pleased with what I came across. 'twas great!

The photo below shows a general view of the housing - most of it was originally fine artizans houses that were latterly sub divided so increasing the density of population.

Below are the end of cloth rolls that were stored and/or worked in these yards

The division of the houses resulted in larger population numbers and significantly increased the profits for the landlords - shown clearly by the single brick course in the photo below. These single back to back houses led to explosions of vermin and awful living conditions.

Balearic Festival, Manchester 2009

Just wandered into town one day and this was happening - managed to catch the festival parade which these are from. What a fantastic day.

Manchester Youth Theatre again

So these are the second batch from 1992, and I'll look at doing some from another year next time. Hope you enjoy. The first is a general view of the whole cast/technical crew etc which was traditionally taken in the first week.  What is great about this is that you can see Geoff Sykes (half way up on left, stood in front of end of the stone rail), but I can't see Hazel anywhere.

The next photo is of the wonderful Benny Rothman, with Mike Harding and the cast of one of the plays from that year which was based on the mass trespass of Kinder Scout

And finally a couple of rehearsal photographs

Rochdale Town v Daisy Hill in Lancashire Cup 2009-10

This was a great game with Town playing composed and flowing football and very, very unlucky not to win. Unfortunately for me it was under floodlights, and this poses the usual problems of shutter speeds and grainy shots. Once again speed was in the region of 3200 asa and yet shutter speeds were as low as 1/30 in some spots with f stop wide open. This restricts you to certain spots you can stand in order to get enough light to shoot - and even then the speed of the ball means it usually record as a blur.

Further photos from this game can be found here

A slideshow from this game can be found here