ABC Wednesday: Y is for Yew Tree Singers

The Yew Tree Singers are a group based in Dukinfield. On the Saturday before Christmas they sing carols in Clarendon Square Shopping Centre to raise money for Willow Wood Hospice.

I first photographed them in December 2007.

A contribution to ABC Wednesday.

Postbox at Cheetham Fold

This postbox (SK14 5) stands outside the former Cheetham Fold Post Office.

Like many sub post offices it got closed and is now part of the lifestyle / express off licence and convenience store as featured in yesterday's post.

In the background is Knott Lane.

A contribution to Ruby Tuesday and Our World Tuesday.

lifestyle/express at Cheetham Fold

lifestyle/express Off Licence and Convenience Store was previously Grocer Jack's and originally Cheetham Fold Post Office.

A contribution to Blue Monday and Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors.

A Christmas Cat

Whilst on a short walk on Christmas Day I came across this cat on the top of a wheelie-bin in Green Street.

A contribution to Saturday Critters and Camera Critters.

Only a few more hours left. Please visit Best of Hyde Daily Photo 2014 and vote for your favourites. Deadline for voting is 12 noon GMT on Monday 29th December 2014.

The former Packhorse Inn

The Pack Horse Inn at Mottram in Longdendale was a stopping place for pack horse trains on the saltway from Cheshire through to Yorkshire.

I first showed you the Packhorse Inn and its sign back in July 2008.

Having being closed for more than year, owners Enterprise Inns, based in Solihull, were granted planning permission in 2013 to convert it into a single house. The conversion appears to be still unfinished.

A contribution to Good Fences and The Weekend in Black and White.

See the original photograph on Geograph.

Just three days left. Please visit Best of Hyde Daily Photo 2014 and vote for your favourites. Deadline for voting is 12 noon GMT on Monday 29th December 2014.

Filling up on Christmas Day

The Shell filling station on Dowson Road is always open even on Christmas Day. Fuel at 112.9 ppl for petrol and 120.9 ppl for diesel is 18ppl cheaper than this time last year.

A contribution to Skywatch Friday.

Just four days left. Please visit Best of Hyde Daily Photo 2014 and vote for your favourites. Deadline for voting is 12 noon GMT on Monday 29th December 2014.

Sign of a 21st century Christmas

Like other supermarkets, Morrisons will be open on both Boxing Day and New Year's Day.

Under current UK law the only days that supermarkets are not allowed to open are Easter Sunday and Christmas Day.

Most of the smaller shops and market stalls we use will be closed until the 5th January.

Please visit Best of Hyde Daily Photo 2014 and vote for your favourites. Deadline for voting is 12 noon GMT on Monday 29th December 2014.

A contribution to signs, signs.

X is for Xmas Shopping in Morrisons

A contribution to ABC Wednesday and Wordless Wednesday.

As we reach the end of the year please visit Best of Hyde Daily Photo 2014 and vote for your favourites. Deadline for voting is 12 noon GMT on Monday 29th December 2014.

Hercules above Pagliacci

The Italian restaurant Pagliacci ristorante pizzeria on the corner of Market Street and Milk Street was originally a furniture warehouse.

On the corner of the roof is a statue believed to be of Hercules.

It has been there for around a hundred years. It is believed to be one of pair dating from 1910. Its pair is understood to have been on display at Pole Bank Hall but over the years has disappeared.

A contribution to Our World Tuesday.

As we reach the end of the year please visit Best of Hyde Daily Photo 2014 and vote for your favourites. Deadline for voting is 12 noon GMT on Monday 29th December 2014.

Yellow lorry and blue car

Seen on Mottram Road near Morrisions. The lorry belongs to the firm of Jack Richards & Sons. The business started in 1956 with a single five ton Bedford truck in Haddenham, Cambridgeshire. Over the years it has built up into a large business operating out of depots in Fakenham, Norfolk and Northwich, Cheshire. See their website for more details.

A contribution to Monday Mellow Yellows and Blue Monday.

As we reach the end of the year please visit Best of Hyde Daily Photo 2014 and vote for your favourites. Deadline for voting is 12 noon GMT on Monday 29th December 2014.

Shadows at Hyde Central

I posted a view of the works at Hyde Central Station on 12th December.

This photograph was taken at the same time and shows the northern section of platform 1 which has been completed.

A contribution to Shadow Shot Sunday.

As we reach the end of the year please visit Best of Hyde Daily Photo 2014 and vote for your favourites. Deadline for voting is 12 noon GMT on Monday 29th December 2014.

A sideways look at Christmas reflections

A sideways look at the reflection of the Christmas Tree in Hyde Civic Square.

For a proper look at the whole tree and its surroundings see Hyde DP Xtra.

A contribution to Weekend Reflections.

As we reach the end of the year please visit Best of Hyde Daily Photo 2014 and vote for your favourites. Deadline for voting is 12 noon GMT on Monday 29th December 2014.

Continued demolition of ABC Wax

In October I showed you photos of the demolition work at the old ABC Wax dye works.

This is a more recent view from the café in Morrisons supermarket across the motorway.

Ashton Brothers built Newton Bank Printworks in Hyde in the early 1800s. In 1899 F.W.Ashton became part of the Calico Printers association (CPA). In 1908 the first wax prints (production Batiks using handblock) were produced. In 1959, CPA purchased the Swiss trading company A.Brunnschweiler, and in 1970 that became the company name replacing F.W.Ashton.

A.Brunnschweiler & Co was soon abbreviated to ABC which later became the brand name of its wax prints in West Africa. ABC was purchased by the Cha group in 1992. In 2005, production of the standard ABC product was transferred to another group factory in Ghana called Akosombo Textiles Ltd (ATL)

All production ceased at Newton bank printworks in December 2007 and all the necessary machinery was transferred to ATL in Ghana. The site was then decommissioned and cleaned up prior to demolition in 2014.

A full record of the demolition with photos and videos can be found on the Demolition of ABCWAX blog created by site manager David Bradley.

A contribution to Skywatch Friday.

Please visit Best of Hyde Daily Photo 2014 and vote for your favourites. Deadline for voting is 12 noon GMT on Monday 29th December 2014.

Sign hanging off at Hyde Library

I showed you this sign for Hyde Library in January 2014. It is now hanging off and has been for some weeks.

In September I posted about the protest to "Save our Library". The council dismissed this protest as being politically motivated and claimed that library services were not being lost merely moved to another building (the Town Hall) ignoring the fact that the protest was not just about losing the service but about losing an historic building.

Tameside council have already closed Denton Library.

Denton Library is to relocate to Denton Town Hall as part of a wider programme to reduce the number and costs of Council-owned buildings. Tameside Council's priority is to save services over buildings in its challenge to meet £142m Government funding cuts to its budget. Denton library is moving as part of this strategy and will in fact be going back to its original roots as the service started life in a room in the town hall in 1888.

Now they plan to do the same in Hyde!

Hyde Library was originally Hyde Technical School and Free Library. It opened in 1897 replacing the former Mechanics Institute. See the original plan for the building on Old Hyde.

Please visit Best of Hyde Daily Photo 2014 and vote for your favourites. Deadline for voting is 12 noon GMT on Monday 29th December 2014.

A contribution to signs, signs and Good Fences.

ABC Wednesday: W is for Weir on the river Tame as viewed from Broomstair Bridge

A contribution to
Outdoor Wednesday;
Water World Wednesday;
ABC Wednesday;
Wordless Wednesday.

Please visit Best of Hyde Daily Photo 2014 and vote for your favourites. Deadline for voting is 12 noon GMT on Monday 29th December 2014.

The Embarrassment of Mottram Christmas Tree

The Christmas tree on the Market Place at Mottram in Longdendale was branded the worst in Britain when it was planted by Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council. Villager Emma Purcell created the Facebrook Group The Embarrassment of Mottram Christmas Tree as a place for members past and present of Mottram community to air their anger and views about the size and quality of the Christmas Tree, believing they deserved bigger and better! However once the anger had dissipated, "Twiggy", as it has come to be known, has kindled much community spirit.

A charity night was organised with entertainment in the nearby White Hart and carol singing on the Market Place raising money for Reuben's Retreat.

The Crown Pole in the background was originally erected in 1760 to commemorate the coronation of George III.

The village stocks in the foreground were moved here in the 1960s having been discovered during the building of the Hattersley estate.

Another view of the tree can be seen on Hyde DP Xtra.

A contribution to Our World Tuesday.

Please visit Best of Hyde Daily Photo 2014 and vote for your favourites.

Deadline for voting is 12 noon GMT on Monday 29th December 2014.

Trees at the entrance to Hyde Town Hall

It used to be a tradition for a large Xmas tree to be placed outside Hyde Town Hall.

See how it looked in 1998, again in 2009 and the same tree covered in snow in January 2010.

Now though we have far fewer lights and the tree is in the Civic Square.

Recently, however, two new Christmas trees have replaced bushes on either side of the entrance to the Town Hall. One is sponsored by KFC and the other by McDonalds.

A closer view of the sponsored trees can be found on Hyde DP Xtra.

A contribution to Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors and contribution to Ruby Tuesday.

Please visit Best of Hyde Daily Photo 2014 and vote for your favourites.

Deadline for voting is 12 noon GMT on Monday 29th December 2014.

Shadows across a reindeer

On the penultimate Saturday before Christmas two reindeer visited Hyde Civic Square to the delight of children, shoppers and photographers.

The bright sun cast shadows of the pen across the back of one of them.

See a wider view on Geograph.

See another photograph of the reindeer on sithenah

A contribution to
Saturday Critters;
Shadow Shot Sunday;
Camera Critters.

Please visit Best of Hyde Daily Photo 2014 and vote for your favourites.

Deadline for voting is 12 noon GMT on Monday 29th December 2014.

Scenic Weekend in Black and White: Grazing land at Broomstairs

Land on the south side of Manchester Road used for grazing when not flooded.

Wilson Brook flows between the trees on the left and meets the river Tame which flows behind the stables on the right.

For a coloured view see the original photograph on Geograph.

A contribution to The Weekend in Black and White and Scenic Weekends.

Please visit Best of Hyde Daily Photo 2014 and vote for your favourites.

Deadline for voting is 12 noon GMT on Monday 29th December 2014.

Fences at Hyde Central Station

I posted a view of the improvements being carried out by Northern Rail at Hyde Central Station a month ago.

They are still busy on platform 1 and there is no where to sit while waiting for a train.

A contribution to Good Fences and Skywatch Friday.

Signs approaching Broomstairs Bridge

A few yards further along Manchester Road from the view posted on Tuesday are these road signs.

Broomstair bridge over the river Tame was originally the boundary between Hyde, Cheshire and Denton, Lancashire. Now both towns are part of Tameside Metropolitan Borough.

Beyond the boundary sign are two warning road signs. One refers to horses which is not surprising as there is a stables on the left hand side and a bridleway on the opposite side of the road.

The other sign warns of cattle!

A contribution to signs, signs.

V is for voting

It is that time of the year again.

Hyde Daily Photo is one of more than 400 websites worldwide that post a daily picture of their home town or city. On 1st January 2015 members of the City Daily Photobloggers community will be revealing their Photo of the Year.

I have selected twelve contenders for Best of Hyde 2014 and am asking readers to vote for their favourites.

These thumbnails are only a taster. To vote for your three favourites please visit Best of Hyde Daily 2014 and use the form on the page.

Deadline for voting is 12 noon GMT on Monday 29th December 2014.

A contribution to ABC Wednesday.

Manchester Road, Kingston

This is the A57 road that connects Lincoln to Liverpool via Sheffield and Manchester. Here at Kingston it is approaching the Cheshire-Lancashire boundary. Long distance traffic now bypasses this road by using the motorway network but it remains a busy local route.

The cul-de-sac on the right is Hall Street. According to one of my twitter followers this was once known as Scholes Street.

A view down Hall Street is on Hyde DP Xtra.

A contribution to Ruby Tuesday and Our World Tuesday.

Christmas wreaths for sale

Whilst the hanging of holly wreaths on your door is probably a pagan tradition, the advent wreath is now part of the Christian tradition.

A local garden centre were selling a variety of decorated wreaths outside the White Lion on Hyde Market recently.

A contribution to Monday Mellow Yellows and Blue Monday.

Frosty Bench

Although the sun is throwing shadows, the bench, in front of the market gardener's stall selling Christmas trees, is still covered in frost.

A contribution to Shadow Shot Sunday.

Weekend Reflections in Black & White Rotation

This weeks composition for The Weekend in Black and White and Weekend Reflections started out from an original view of a flooded pavement on Dowson Road.

You can view the original on Geograph.

The moon rising in the afternoon

A contribution to Skywatch Friday.

Broomstair Metal Co.

Signs at 328 Hyde Road, Denton just beyond the Cheshire/Lancashire border at Broomstairs Bridge.

Broomstair Metal Co. was set up in 1980 and dissolved in 1993.

[Update: The business actually began in the 1950s. When the founder died the company went to the eldest son who is now retiring. The grandson built the large building in the yard at the side of the river and has now moved to bigger purpose built premises.]

Todaysure Products who have subsequently occupied the premises appear to have relocated to Dunkirk Lane and the premises are back on the market.

Note how the area-code for Manchester phone numbers has changed from 061 to 0161 and how the newer signage includes the post code for the address.

A contribution to signs, signs.

U is for Under the motorway

The Peak Forest Canal passing under the M67 motorway. The lights are covered in cobwebs.

Water World Wednesday;
ABC Wednesday;
Good Fences.

Hyde Town Hall Clock Tower

A couple of weeks ago I posted about the clock faces on Hyde Town Hall being removed for cleaning.

The ones on the side have been replaced but now the hands on the front face have been removed for restoration.

No doubt they'll be back soon.

A contribution to Ruby Tuesday and Our World Tuesday.

Tree surgeon at work

Last Monday a tree surgeon from the council was trimming the branches of trees at Swains Valley.

Visit other contributions to the Workers theme at City Daily Photo.

A contribution also to Monday Mellow Yellows.