Keighley, West Yorkshire – Where I Live

by wallyg

Keighley, West Yorkshire – Where I Live

An article describing my hometown Keighley with details about living and working in the town and tourism.

’The dark satanic mill town of Keighley’ I have never forgotten that headline from a national newspaper in the late 60s. The article was about the Keighley rugby league team who are now called Keighley Cougars.

Back then wherever you looked on the horizon you could see mill chimneys towering over the rest of the town. The mill chimneys were gradually demolished and now as Keighley sits in a valley you can see fields and trees in the distance from almost any viewpoint.

Keighley in the West Riding of Yorkshire was a huge manufacturer of textiles, but now the mill buildings that have not burnt down or been vandalised have been converted into smaller units offering a wide variety of businesses or homes.

The population was over 51,000 at the 2001 census and apparently is the third largest civil parish in England. Approximately 18% of the population are of ethnic minorities, adding a multi cultural aspect to the town and some fine Indian, Italian and Chinese restaurants. Keighley is pronounced ‘Keeth lee’ but to the inhabitants annoyance many people outside Keighley insist on calling the town Keeley.

Transport

Travelling to and around Keighley is not difficult. We have a train station and an award winning new closed in bus station in the town centre with regular transport in and around the area and easy access to many cities. Bradford is just 10 miles away and Leeds 20 miles away and of course the Leeds/Bradford airport is easily accessible.

There are lots of reliable taxi firms in Keighley and I have found that with using a combination of different transport facilities and on foot I really do not need my own transport because everything is within easy reach. It also works out cheaper than having my own petrol guzzling transport.

Shopping

We have a modern shopping centre and several industrial estates offering just about everything that you might want to buy. If I want to buy some new clothes that are a little bit different I make a day out of it and take a 20 minute train journey to Leeds and either shop in the city centre or visit the White Rose Centre.

Keighley has a permanent closed in market and quite regularly we have visiting continental markets offering a wider range of goods.

Leisure

We have several parks in the area with lots of green space for children to run about on and safe fenced off playgrounds, bowling greens etc. We have a leisure centre in Victoria Park where you will find a modern swimming pool with slide and a fitness centre. Victoria Park hosts our yearly gala during the summer and occasional visiting circuses and fairs. Within the park you will find Victoria Hall where functions and gigs are often held.

There is a museum at Cliff Hall in the grounds of Cliff Castle where exhibitions are often held. For families there is a fenced off playground and a café. Picnic tables are provided for those like my grandchildren who prefer to picnic in between running around. There was a small zoo with guinea pigs and a few different birds the last time I went in the summer. Years ago there were monkeys, but now all of the monkeys in the area seem to reside at a house next door to my mother. Over 50 would you believe!

In Lund park you will find 2 playgrounds, one for older children and a fenced off area for the younger ones. There is a bowling green and a putting green and a bicycle track with gradients which my 4 year old grandson loves to skateboard on.

Nights Out

There has always been a lot of pubs in the area, maybe because we have an award winning brewery in the town. If you want to eat out there are many restaurants offering different cultural meals. Nightclubs are a bit thin on the ground with just 2 catering for different age ranges and they aren’t that good. However there are plenty of good clubs within travelling distance in Bradford, Leeds and even further afield at Wakefield.

Tourism

Keighley is part of Bronte Country, only a couple of miles from Haworth where the famous Bronte literature family lived. Apart from traditional means, you can travel to Oxenhope via Haworth on the Keighley and Worth Valley Line from the Keighley station on a steam train in the summer. It is a heritage line and has been used for several film locations that include the Railway Children, Yanks and the film of Pink Floyds ‘The Wall’ musical.
At the first stop 300 yards from where I live in Ingrow there is a Museum of Rail Travel. It is also the starting place for Thomas the Tank Engine days out.

I took my grandchildren last summer and they could clamber on board Thomas and pull the whistle. There was a show performed several times during the day for the children and several stalls. After the show we were able to travel on steam trains all day for one low cost fee. At each stop there were more shows and stalls making it a very good day out. Towards Christmas there is a Santa Special steam train day.

Haworth attracts a lot of American and Japanese tourists who want to steep themselves in the history of the Brontes. There is a Bronte museum up a steep cobbled street, the Bronte Waterfall and of course the moors where the fictional Cathy and Heathcliffe roamed. There are lots of antique shops and tea rooms and some good hotels.

Skipton, ‘The Gateway To The Dales’ is 10 miles away. A good starting point for hiking holidays for those who want to enjoy the beautiful countryside. Skipton also has one of the most complete medieval castles in the country and is over 900 years old. Historical re-enactment events, archery and jousting are often hosted at Skipton Castle.

10 miles in the other direction is the city of Bradford where you will find the National Media Museum, which is the most visited museum outside London. Bradford hosts several festivals, including the Bradford Festival in June and the Bradford Mela which is the largest festival of its type outside Asia. There are 4 theatres in Bradford and for those who enjoy plays it isn’t difficult to get to Harrogate and their playhouse.

Living In Keighley

Although Keighley has often been knocked in the press and by some inhabitants I do not think that it is a bad place to live. I feel safe in my home and walking around the streets and I have easy access to everything that I want. Housing is inexpensive compared to many other places in the UK. You can still get a 2 bedroom terrace for less than £100,000 or any other type of dwelling at comparatively low prices.

I have never found it difficult to get employment in or around Keighley and the employment opportunities are diverse. The inhabitants are friendly and very much down to earth. We speak with a Yorkshire accent that is not as broad as some of the surrounding rural areas, I certainly do not say ‘ee bah gum’ on a regular basis!

The area in and around Keighley offers much more than I have mentioned but hopefully this article gives you a good idea of my hometown.

Unless You Live in a Bubble, It’s Impossible to Miss Out on Edinburgh Art and Culture!

by directorebeccer

Unless You Live in a Bubble, It’s Impossible to Miss Out on Edinburgh Art and Culture!

Edinburgh is a city awash with museums, art galleries and theatres. If you are indeed a hungry vulture on the lookout for culture, Edinburgh is your feeding ground.

From renaissance masterpieces to modern art, elegant sculptures to towering monuments, fascinating ancient exhibits to cabinets full of whisky and hand-crafted gardens to fabulous theatre productions, Edinburgh the art and culture capital of Scotland has it all!

If you have an interest in art, the National Gallery Complex and the Scottish National Galleries of Modern Art will keep you in front of the canvas for hours.

More of a passion for architecture? Gaze up at or even climb the Walter Scott Monument on Princes Street and find out about one of Scotland’s greatest sons.

For more plants, trees and flowers than even your imagination could conjure up, take a relaxing stroll around The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh just one mile north of the city centre.

Learn about the fascinating roots of the Scotland we know today at the Museum of Scotland before taking a barrel-ride through your own miniature distillery at the Scotch Whisky Experience.

When the sun goes down, why not check out a gripping theatre production to top off the day at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre or Edinburgh Playhouse?

The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

Situated only a mile north of the city centre on Inverleith Row, the Royal Botanic Garden covers 70 acres of beautifully landscaped parkland. Whether you’re a fan of horticulture or not, it is the ideal place to unwind.

The Royal Botanic Garden is over 330 years old and has developed an international reputation for plant science and education in the field of horticulture.

As you walk around the Botanics, you will come across a number of fascinating world-renowned attractions. The Queen Mother’s Memorial Garden was opened in 2006 to commemorate the extremely popular royal. Her garden has been arranged in a very creative way which will appeal to all visitors, which, in a way, represents the Queen Mother’s effect on the nation’s people.

The Royal Botanic Garden also has the most extensive collection of Chinese plants outside China. For those who would like to experience the landscape of the Scottish highlands, the Scottish Heath Garden provides a small-scale representation of highland scenery.

The Rock Garden has also gained international recognition for its collection of over 5,000 alpine plants and 165 metre long herbaceous border. Over and above this, the Royal Botanic Garden has a range of glasshouses. The Victorian Temperate Palm House and The Windows On The World glasshouses are extremely impressive. Windows On The World houses around one percent of all known flowering plants, cyads and ferns. Try counting them all! Or pronouncing their names!

It will cost you nothing to enter the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh which makes it an more attractive proposition for an afternoon stroll. If you wish to explore the glasshouses, there is a small charge. An adult ticket costs £4.50, a concession is £3.50 and the price for a child (ages 5 – 16) is £1.20. There is also a family ticket on offer for 2 adults and up to 4 children which will cost you £9.50.

Lothian Buses numbers 8, 23 and 27 all run from the city centre to the east gate entrance on Inverleith Row. The Gardens open at 10am all year round and close at 7pm from April to September. During the months of March and October closing time is 6pm and from November to February the Gardens close at 4pm.

The Scotch Whisky Experience

Those who know all about the Water of Life and those who remain blissfully ignorant will learn something new about our national drink and extremely important export at the Scotch Whisky Experience….and have a barrel-load of fun at the same time!

Situated literally a stone’s throw from Edinburgh Castle at the very top of the Royal Mile, the Scotch Whisky Experience is the place to learn about one of the most important aspects of Scottish culture.

If you’re like me and know next to nothing about the distillation process which creates this delicious nectar, the unique barrel ride around a replica distillery will give you the detailed insight you need!

Even whisky connoisseurs will be impressed by the stories behind the discovery of this most heavenly drop!

Whisky experts are on hand to educate you, answer your questions and discuss the finer points, if you are already impressively well-read!

The greatest thing about Scotch whisky is the range of flavours, intensity and character available. Even if you are not an avid fan, there is a whisky out there for you! The whisky experts at the Scotch Whisky Experience will assist you in discovering your ideal Single Malt Whisky.

What’s more – the Scotch Whisky Experience is proud to present to you the largest whisky collection in the world. It is an awe-inspiring experience having close to 3,500 different Scotch whiskies in front of your eyes.

The Scotch Whisky Experience is only closed on Christmas Day. From September to May they open at 10am and close at 6pm with the last tour commencing at 5pm. Throughout the summer months of June, July and August when demand is particularly high, the doors are open from 9.30am until 6.30pm with the last tour leaving at 5.30pm.

There are three different tours on offer, each with its own characteristics. There is the Silver Tour, the Gold Tour and the Collection Tour. As you might expect, the prices for each tour differ. There are also discount prices for large groups. I recommend consulting the entrance prices on the official website to find out the prices which relate to your situation.

And to answer the all important question….yes you do get a dram (small glass of whisky) on the tour!

The Museum of Scotland

A short walk down George IV Bridge from the Royal Mile will take you to the The National Museum of Scotland with it’s eye-catching Moray sand-stone facade.

This beautifully-designed modern building houses the Museum of Scotland and the Victorian building next door is the Royal Museum. Together they make up The National Museum of Scotland although they have two separate entrances.

The National Museum opened its doors in 1998 focussing on the history, people and culture of Scotland. This museum will interest locals and tourists alike due to the extensive collection of artefacts relating to Scotland’s people, history and culture.

Flags which were raised at the Battle of Culloden, prehistoric jewelry and paintings and works by Scottish artists will all fascinate visitors to the Museum of Scotland.

Those of you who are looking for a detailed insight into the roots of the Scotland we know today will feel very much at home at the Museum of Scotland. The museum is open 7 days a week from 10am to 5pm and admission is free! So, really there is no excuse for staying away!

The Walter Scott Monument

This Victorian Gothic commemorative monument to the great Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott is arguably the most significant and recognisable landmark on Princes Street.

Sir Walter Scott was a highly successful historical author around the turn of the 19th century. His works were much admired in the British Isles, North America, Australia and across Europe. Scott’s most popular novels include Ivanhoe, The Heart of Midlothian, Waverley and Rob Roy. Alongside Robert Burns, Scott is generally considered the most influential Scottish writer of all time.

After his death in 1832, a competition was held to design a monument to commemorate his life and works which the relatively unknown, amateur architect George Meikle Kemp won. By 1844 the monument was complete after four years of construction. Sadly, Mr Kemp was not present at the inauguration of his masterpiece after tragically drowning in the Union Canal in a freak accident.

The Scott Monument was originally golden in colour but has since turned almost black as a result of the notoriously poor air quality of Edinburgh’s Victorian days. It is possible to climb the Scott Monument by way of 287 steps although the tower is often closed due to maintenance work. If you do manage to make your way to the top you will be able to enjoy stunning views of Edinburgh Castle and the city centre.

Sitting beneath the tower between the four columns is a marble statue of Sir Walter Scott with a quill in his hand and his dog Maida beside him. On a visit to the Scott Monument you can ask yourself what Sir Walter would think of Edinburgh in the 21st century as he gazed out onto Princes Street…

The National Gallery Complex

The National Gallery Complex comprises the National Gallery of Scotland and the Royal Scottish Academy buildings. The buildings face each other on an area of ground between the two sections of Princes Street Gardens. The Royal Scottish Academy stands on Princes Street with the National Gallery immediately behind it.

Both neo-classical galleries were designed in the 19th century by William Henry Playfair, a leading Scottish architect of the time. However, in 1912 they were remodelled by William Thomas Oldrieve.

In 2004, the ‘Weston Link’ was completed which enabled visitors to pass between the two galleries via an underground concourse.

The archive and study facilities at the National Gallery are hugely impressive. The Gallery has a prints and drawings collection of over 30,000 works ranging from the early Renaissance period to the late nineteenth century.

The National Gallery and Royal Scottish Academy’s art collection includes works by Monet, Constable, Rembrandt, Botticelli, Da Vinci and Van Gogh. As well as these masterpieces by international artists, the galleries also have Scotland’s greatest and most important works of art on display.

Admission to the National Gallery Complex is free and you can see these incredible works of art 7 days a week from 10am to 5pm. On Thursdays the galleries are open until 7pm. During August the gallery is open until 6pm to accommodate the greater number of visitors. The galleries are closed only on the 25th and 26th of December. If you happen to be up and about on the 1st of January, the galleries are open from 12 noon to 5pm!

The Scottish National Galleries of Modern Art

The Scottish Gallery of Modern Art moved from Inverleith House in Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Garden to Belford Road in the New Town in 1984.

The eye-catching, neo-classical building was built in 1825 complete with beautifully-landscaped grounds which are now home to several sculptures by Barbara Hepworth, Rachel Whiteread, Tony Cragg and Henry Moore among others.

On the other side of the street you will find the Dean Gallery, named after the nearby neighbourhood of Dean Village. This is the sister gallery of the Scottish Gallery of Modern Art. Formerly an orphan hospital, the Dean Gallery opened its doors in 1999 to display her sister gallery’s collection of Dada and Surrealist art as well as the sculptures of Eduardo Paolozzi.

The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art has an extensive collection including works by world-renowned artists such as Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Lucien Freud, Andy Warhol and leading British artist Tracey Emin.

The galleries are situated in parkland in the New Town close to Dean Village. You can get there on foot by walking to the West End of Princes Street, along Shandwick Place before turning right up Palmerston Place. This road will take you onto Belford Road and over a bridge. Both galleries are located on this street.

As with the National Gallery of Scotland, admission is free. The galleries are closed only on the 25th and 26th of December. The opening hours are 10am to 5pm. During the busy period in August the galleries stay open until 6pm. For those who wish to view some masterpieces to start off the new year, the galleries are open from 12 noon to 5pm on the 1st of January!

Unedited video clip showing a repertoire of tricks by Whisky, the miniature schnauzer. For more of Whisky’s tricks, visit www.youtube.com
Video Rating: 5 / 5

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Live Currency Exchange Rates Calculator – How Currency Exchange Rates Work and the Factors That Influences Them

by J. Chris Vaughan

Live Currency Exchange Rates Calculator – How Currency Exchange Rates Work and the Factors That Influences Them

Live Currency Exchange Rates Calculator

Few of us could claim to be expert economists, but most of us have at least a basic understanding that currency exchange rates around the world affect each other and that the levels change regularly. There are many reasons that a nation’s currency exchange rates can strengthen or decline. Live Currency Exchange Rates Calculator

Rates reflect the relative value of a currency against another world currency. Rates are expressed as a ratio compared to another currency. For example – 1 US Dollar = 105 Yen. These rates fluctuate a little each day, and sometimes they can rise or fall dramatically depending on what it is happening in international traded and economics.

Supply and demand of the currency is one of the key factors determining the exchange amount. Demand for the currency comes when lots of investors want to invest using that currency. This can be prompted by higher interest rates in a country, which will give investors a better return on their money. Supply of currency can affect the exchange rate in tandem with demand. If there is a lot of people wanting to purchase and not so much currency available the value will be high. On the other hand, if the federal mint prints lots of extra money and releases it into the market place then supply will be higher and demand for the currency can drop, which will make exchange rates drop.

The inflation levels in a country can also affect currency exchange rates. If an inflation level is high, then the currency will be devalued as foreign investors will be less likely to invest in a currency that has a high level of inflation and will not give them a good return over time. The reserve bank monitors the level of inflation, but there are several external factors that influence the inflation level such as the cost of transporting goods and petrol. Live Currency Exchange Rates Calculator

It is essential that the nation’s treasury gets the trade balance right if a currency is to remain strong. When the prices paid globally for exported products are higher than what the same country is importing, then the economy will be in a good position and the currency will remain strong. Foreign investors will purchase more with that country’s currency and the economy will tick along. If the reverse is true, then this devalues the currency against others.

People are affected by exchange rates regularly, as they determine the price that people pay for imported goods in a country. They also determine how popular your country’s exported goods are to other countries.

When the trade balance is out and currency exchange rates are not right. Local businesses and producers may be forced to cut costs to remain internationally competitive. This can mean that people lose their jobs and economic stability is affected.

There are a number of economic forces that affect the way that currency exchange rates perform. Reserve banks in each country work to control the factors as much as possible that affect these rates and provide the best environment possible for a well functioning and effective economy. Next time you see the financial markets on the evening news, you will know more about what must be happening in the local economy to influence the currency rates. Live Currency Exchange Rates Calculator