Mike Priestley

Former Telegraph & Argus writer Mike Priestley shares his memories of the Glenroyal

How the city’s workers left the toil and tedium of their everyday lives

Idle still had its station buildings (just visible at the bottom of the picture) and the railway passing through it in this undated though probably early 1960s photograph taken by CH Wood.

Clayton’s 19th century transformation from rural hamlet to mill village is evident in the foreground of this photograph, taken by CH Wood in 1966.

Just how short a distance Bradford’s two stations were from being joined up is clear in this aerial photograph of the city centre, taken by CH Wood in 1966.

Some people have more to remember than others. A life that’s 96 years long, as Harry Franz’s was, has room for a host of memories.

A pre-retirement clear-out of drawers and folders unearthed this gem from April, 1970.

T&A chief feature writer Mike Priestley is retiring after 40 years, many of them spent looking at life from North of Watford, his triple award- winning column, which bows out today alking into the T&A office to start work 40 years ago this month was like coming home.

When he found a postcard among some of his mother’s memorabilia, Jack Hogg was transported back to the 1930s.

The houses and flats of the Lower Grange estate were steadily being created in the open space to the south of Allerton, making a marked contrast with the terrace cottages and mills of the old village, in this aerial picture taken by C H Wood in 1967. With its neat roads and houses, the estate looks more like an architects’ model than the real thing – an impression reinforced by the relative absence of vehicles.