Wednesday 26 April 2023

Golden Acre Park 

Eddie’s Remembrance Walk

Todays trip would take the lads to Golden Acre Park to remember our good friend Eddie Hampshire who would have been 79 on Saturday 22 April. 

Todays group would consist of Allan, John, Brian, Keith, Glenn, Malcolm and Colin. 

Arriving at the Park around 11:20 after catching the 10:33 from Leeds City Bus Station. Allan was already there and Keith would join us for a coffee at around 13:00. 

We walked through the park to rendezvous at the bird hides that Eddie loved to visit. We reminisced about the birds we’d seen and heard over the years such as the Kingfisher, Woodpecker, Red Kites, Canada Geese and could understand Eddie’s fondness for such a beautiful location. It is certainly a stunning location and is maintained by the Parks Personnel to a lovely standard. 

Leaving the hides, there are two we meandered back to the café which was shut for renovation but they had provided a Kiosk which Served tea and Cofffee and Ice Cream as well as a variety of pastries. 

We sat outside on the Chairs and Tables that were provided and to eat our snap and discussed our future trips which would include  Knaresborough, Sandal and Pugney’s, Settle, The Flying Scotsman at K&WVR and Saltburn by the Sea. Taking care of our trips for the whole of May. 

Another lovely day out and a trip to Knaresborough to look forward to on Wednesday 3 May!

-- 

Colin Hendrick Ward

 April 19th 2023

Hopping over to Ossett

Today’s group of 3 Glenn, Derek and John set out to meet in the small West Yorkshire town of Ossett.

Glenn came by bus & John came by train from Bingley all arriving to meet up with Derek at the bus station in Ossett.

After getting our refreshments from the town centre we set off to Dewsbury on the disused railway line,  it was very pleasant country side were we met up with other walkers & bikers,after a couple of miles we reached a place called Chickenley we’re we had lunch and could see Emley Moor in the distance. 

Sandra (Derek’s wife) gave us a wave from their house. The rest of the journey took us to the outskirts of Dewsbury and called in at the Leggers Inn for tea, 

from there Glenn & Derek made there way to the bus station in Dewsbury and John to the Railway station.

Many thanks to our tour guide Derek for a lovely day out.

-- 

Colin Hendrick Ward

A Shower at Scarborough

 Wednesday 12th April 2023.         A Shower at Scarborough 

It’s back to Yorkshires East coast resort of Scarborough for the Lads adventure today. It’s a favourite haunt of their’s so to speak, full of magic, charm and memories for all concerned along with it’s variations in weather conditions. It will be a group of six that board the coast bound train, those enjoying the ride will be Derek and Dave boarding at Dewsbury, Brian, Colin, John and Glenn joining them at Leeds.

It’s a direct train, so no changing at York this time, we should eventually arrive in Scarborough a few minutes before midday, where as previously arranged Alan will meet up with the gang. The train was a couple of minutes later as we entered the station and the weather conditions at this point were favourable.

So it was off in the direction of the North Bay for the Lads now, initially our plans were to have an early lunch of fish and chips at the local fishery at this location but unfortunately it was closed, so a brief visit to Peasholm Park was taken followed by a visit to a nearby cafe for a lite bite to eat and time to reschedule our plans for now what would be a late lunch. A time of 2:30 was suggested at the Lifeboat Fish Bar situated back towards  the harbour region in South Bay giving the lads enough time to walk along Marine Drive, John made a phone call to arrange things for us which was kindly accepted. We now left the Peaches n Cream cafe and headed for the seafront and the long walk along Marine Drive passing the famous steel statue of Fred Gilroy, we had braced ourselves for a difficult assault on this walk but rather surprisingly the windy conditions were acceptable, not so towards the end of our journey the situation worsened and the last few hundred yards became rather difficult to endure. With a fierce wind and driving rain now to contend with we were all glad of some shelter upon reaching the South Bay harbour area. 

We were a little ahead of time for our lunch so had to spend a few moments in an amusement arcade along with the rest of the holiday makers taking shelter and spending a few extra pounds on the various amusement’s situated around the establishment. 15 minutes later we found ourselves sat in the comfort of the Lifeboat Fish Bar and ordering our meals, by this time Alan had left us and was meeting up with his wife, it was nice to see him again.

Lunch over , which was greatly enjoyed, we ventured outside again only to find the rain was still falling and the rather windy conditions still prevailed , so it was a brisk walk along to the tramway station in order to take the car ride up into the town and on to MacDonalds for a Ice Cream for some of us, next it was up towards the railway station and catch the 16:48 heading back to Leeds and beyond.

Unbeknown to us we had to change train in York , no explanation given, so with a 10 minutes delay we continued our journey, hopefully making our onward connections home.

Upon reflection today was full of twists and turns to say the least, but most importantly enjoyable in great company.

Cheers Everyone