Bingley Makes Music

The bells the group uses were made by Bradford bell founder, James Shaw & Son, in premises on Leeds Road during the period 1848 to 1902. They wear gloves to protect the bells.

They meet every Wednesday at Church House, Old Main Street, Bingley for a 2 hour rehearsal. In this photograph the group are preparing for some November concerts, ahead of their peak period at Christmas. https://bingleyhandbells.org.uk

Daytime music at Fern House Retirement Development.

Fern House is a retirement development that provides popular daytime activities for their residents and day visitors. Music features large as part of a full programme of communal activities, organised by Sarah Parkinson in consultation with the users. On the day of our visit singer Johnny Dee animated the room with the audience singing along, clapping and dancing. It shows that music is very much part of living well as one gets older.

Hall Royd Band play a fanfare that heralded the start of the celebrations for the 250th anniversary of the opening of Five Rise Locks. A rainy start to the day didn’t dampen the celebrations

Music often plays a central part in public events.

Floyd In The Flesh is a six piece, fully live tribute band with a great stage presence. They brought their full rig, including light and laser show, to delight a capacity audience with music from the whole of the Floyd’s back catalogue.

Soul Train’s six vocalists provided a host of great soul & rhythm and blues music from across the years with the emphasis on great, fun songs. So many wonderful anthems, beginning with the roots of soul on to Motown and disco.

“I love how this picture captures a full house, with the crowd on their feet. We’re lucky to have such a great theatre in our district” - David Carpenter, Bingley Music Town

Bingley Ukulele Group meets twice a month on Thursdays in the Peacock Bar, Wellington Street Bingley. They have spare ukuleles so that anyone who turns up can join in. The group plays and sings a wide range of songs.

Cath has been drumming with Playing For Kicks for over 10 years. They are just one of a re are a good number of local covers bands playing both close to home and far and wide.

We love this image and think it’s a great representation of the fun these musicians have and the joy they bring to others.

Liz Narey has set up a number of music initiatives in Bingley including Bingley First Monday Folk and Singing for Fun. She was also the folk consultant for The Noise of the Valleys book that tells the story of the music scene of Bradford and the surrounding areas, including Keighley and Halifax, from the 1960s onwards.

Liz chose Hedgehog Organics as the location for her photoshoot as she was going to play a gig there during the Bingley Canal Festival, 2024.

Ros Seaton became an accidental gig organiser and promoter of classical music over lockdown. Having ‘never done this kind of thing before’, she has since helped organise sold out classical music concerts in Cottingley.

Working with Ros Seaton they have been performing to sell out audiences in a series of concerts at Cottingley Town Hall Church. Mark has played and conducted around the globe

Cornell Daley is an accomplished guitarist and singer who wows audiences across West Yorkshire and beyond with a range of well loved songs. He plays across many genres, and appears regularly at Martinez Wine Bar in Bingley. He’s also a champion of the next generation of local musicians, for example supporting buskers’ and open mike nights in the area.

Martinez Wine Bar in Bingley has live music every week. This photo captures the venue and features Bradford based musician Mila Lee.

Mila is a talented singer/guitarist and a graduate of Leeds College of Music. She’s an experienced performer around the area and plays soul, jazz and pop covers.

There are many other venues supporting live music in the district, but we only had space for one in the exhibition.

Pick Up And Play every Wednesday evening at the Chip N Ern pub, Main Street Bingley.

A weekly jamming session in this popular and often busy pub by musicians with traditional folk instruments, and everyone can join in. The landlord, Dave Morris, calls the session the Diddly Do’s Music Night, and sometimes joins in with a tambourine.

Local musicians need places to play and we’re lucky to have a number of establishments that go the extra mile to support and value music.

This visit Menston Primary school was part of Rap for Good – a programme of free workshops for young people in Bradford and Keighley to enjoy creative writing and performance.

Wilko was obsessed with lyrics from a young age, and would regularly study album sleeves and transcribe the words.

Last September he hosted the West Yorkshire Young Poet Laureate awards ceremony at Leeds Central Library alongside mayor of West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin and Poet Laureate Simon Armitage.

He has also performed in several churches, in-store at HMV Bradford and atop the Cow and Calf rocks on Ilkley Moor!

Make Music Day is held on the 2st June every year. Bingley Library hosted an event in 2023 with performances from local musicians.

This image shows Mike from Playing For Kicks entertaining an audience of all ages.

There are plenty of opportunities to sing around here. The All Together Now Choir irehearses at Bingley Methodist Church on Herbert Road on Mondays and Thursdays. It regularly performs at events in the area including at the Arts Centre and the Easter Extravaganza.

Bingley Singing For Fun - no experience is needed and all voices are welcome. The group meets simply to enjoy each other’s company and to sing for fun.

Five Rise Records has become a fixture in the town since it opened in 2019. Not only does it sell records, it also puts on live music.

Not everywhere is lucky enough to have a great record shop, and this one has become as much a community hub as a place to buy a record.

This image was taken during the annual Record Store Day event in April 2023 which saw customers queuing round the block from 4am to buy rare records released on that day..

Becs was hugely influential in getting the Bingley Music Town idea up and running, providing vital support, guidance and hard work in the early months of the project.

Local resident and leader of the Bradford Accordion Band, Anita is a key player in the Bingley Music Town organisation. She is great at bringing people together through music and events.

The annual Bradford Accordion Band shows are something to behold. They bring together musicians, dancers, singers and other artists who perform to sell out audiences while raising money for charity

This image was taken during a lesson with Becs Leighton. It represents all the young people in our area learning to play music.

Singers having a laugh during rehearsals with the All Together Now Choir.

The Thunder Monkeys are regulars on the local covers band circuit. We love this great shot of the lead singer in action.

We love to see music in the town square. Big events at Christmas and Easter organised by the Chamber of Commerce usually feature our local singing groups.

Wilko is featured elsewhere in the exhibition, but we loved this portrait shot of him and thought it would look great in the high street.

We used this shot to represent the fact that some really great shows and musicians come to our town, and that our Arts Centre allows for that happen. It also provides a great opportunity for our local photographers. This shot is of Pink Floydian, and our local photographer has gone on to shoot many more of their gigs for them.

When we were looking to take some portraits of people who really make a difference locally to our music scene, we couldn’t miss out Cornell.

Celebrating vinyl records and the fact that we have a record shop in our music town. This was taken on Records Store Day 2023

This group shot is just some of the Tower Bell Ringers that keep the tradition alive in our town.

Playing For Kicks captured at the Canal Festival in 2024

Young guitarist, Brandon, at Martinez with the Damart Tower in the background. Very Bingley.