The original family page
This is the 'family' page from my old Freeuk site. I've parked it here so you can see what it was like when I lived in West Yorkshire, and updated the language (mainly to put things in the past tense). At the time of writing my two daughters still live there with their mother.
From October 1988 until May 2000, I lived in a 200-year-old 4 bedroomed stone cottage about 2 miles from Holmfirth, where the long-running BBC TV sitcom Last of the Summer Wine is filmed, with my wife Alina, and my two daughters Natalie (17) and Blythe (12). This page gives you an idea of the area. I left home in May 2000, the reasons for which are briefly explained back on the main family page.
This is the view over Digley reservoir, from one of my favourite walks.
Behind us is Holme village (or more strictly, hamlet since it has no church). To the right, down the valley is Holmfirth. To the immediate left is Holme Moss, 582m above sea level and holding the local BBC radio mast. Over the hill in the top left hand corner of the photo is Saddleworth Moor, and beyond that the easternmost suburbs of Manchester. Over the hill straight ahead is Meltham, and the Colne Valley.
The dam at Digley was built following the tragic incident when Bilberry Reservoir (at the extreme left hand end of Digley in this picture) burst, flooding the Holme Valley. The waters rose to a depth of 15ft in Holmfirth (2 miles away) and 12 people were killed.
There are picnic and parking areas either side of the reservoir and a footpath around the entire perimeter. Other paths across the fields lead back to Holme Village on one side, and down the valley to Holmbridge on the other.
This is the same reservoir on a different day, showing the view from the walk on the village side of Digley.
Here the reservoir is at capacity. In the very dry summer of 1997, the water level fell 30 feet or so to reveal the houses that were abandoned when the dam was first built.
Holmfirth is a vibrant market town which does manage to have a life outside of the TV tourism industry. There is a flourishing Folk Festival in Holmfirth and an annual Arts Week. It is also home to the gallery & studios of the artist Ashley Jackson, and the Trevor Stubley gallery is only a few miles outside the town.
This is the view down the Holme Valley, from about halfway down Holme Moss on the A6024. The weather is pretty typical!!
Ahead, nestling at the foot of the moss is Holme, and to the right is one of four reservoirs on this side of the valley - Brownhill Reservoir.
Yateholme, seen below, is off-picture to the right, behind the wooded area.
On the right is Yateholme Reservoir, which is at the end of another excellent walk. This one winds across the fields from Holme, crosses Rake Dike (the major tributary to the River Holme), and then forks to take you to either Ramsden or Yateholme.
Excellent bilberrying along that walk!!
(Non-UKers: bilberry = blueberry, but smaller)
I married Alina in 1985, and we were together for 3 years before that. She had no interest in the Internet whatever (except when I used it to find information she wanted), so this is probably the only mention of her anywhere! Her interests ranged from animal husbandry and pets (she was the one responsible for all the animals that shared our home), to vegetable gardening, playing the guitar and dabbling with watercolours. She took up the position of teaching assistant with the local Junior & Infants school in 1999.
The remainder of the original page was about my daughters and gave information that is now way out of date. More recent info can be found on the main family page.