Best of Hyde Daily 2014

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.

Swains Valley on Christmas Day

Looking over the Swains Valley Allotments towards the houses in Markland Street.

Compare it with the view in July 2009.

Garden Ornaments

Need some garden ornaments?

Maybe this stall on Hyde Market would meet your needs.

Reflections in Pole Bank Pond

A close-up shot of the stone island in the pond at Pole Bank.

A fuller photograph of the pond which is currently undergoing restoration can be found on Hyde DP Xtra.

For more weekend reflections visit Newtown Area Photo.

Pole Bank Garden

When I visited Pole Bank several weeks ago to look at the Pool Renovations I also took this photograph of the sunken garden.

For more P posts visit ABC Wednesday.

Tranquility Garden

The Garden of Tranquility lies in Hyde Park. It is a memorial for those patients who suffered at the hands of Harold Shipman.

The garden includes a granite trickle fountain, designed by Mel Chantry and is surrounded by herbs reclaimed from the old Newton Lodge which once sat on the site.

I last showed you this in March 2007. It seems Spring arrived earlier that year.

Behind Gower Hey Gardens

This is how the bank behind Gower Hey Gardens looked a few weeks ago.

In June it was covered in buttercups.

The houses in Gower Hey Gardens (over the fence) have been built on the site of Gower Hey Bank, a large house, once the home of Thomas Middleton, one time Mayor and author of the Annals of Hyde.

More recently in the 1950s it was the home of then teenager Denys Meakin who emigrated to Canada in 1959. His photograph of the house can be seen on Old Hyde.

Swains Valley Allotments

Got no garden? Want to do some hard work? Get yourself an allotment.

Actually though, you might not be able to, as according to the Tameside MBC website, currently there are no vacant plots available here nor elsewhere in the area.

Cemetery Garden

Just past the entrance to Hyde Cemetery is a little garden of remembrance.

Scattering of cremated remains here costs £50; supplying and fixing a brass memorial plaque is £135 with a £55 fee for renewal every ten years.

Robin under the hedge

It was raining hard on Sunday morning. Looking out of the window, I noticed new green shoots around the willow tree.

An excellent candidate for haiga, thought I, grabbing the camera, opening the front door, squatting down and capturing the scene.

It was only when I downloaded the picture on my computer that I spotted the little robin in the hedge. Along with long-tailed tits, coal tits and other small birds, robins have been at the bird-feeder outside my window. They move so quickly though that photographing them there is not an easy option.

I've posted my haiga at Winter Haiku 2007 and also at Ackworth born, gone West, leaving the robin in shot and I'm wondering who'll be the first to spot it.

Finding the robin in this photograph could be called an act of serendipity. Read what Erik Tjallinks has to say about the subject.

In this crop of the original, I've made the bird centre stage.

Boxing Day

After Christmas Day comes Boxing Day.

Allotments

These allotments are just off Wood End Lane. Security in such places are tight these days as confirmed by the presence of an alarm. I had to poke my camera lens through the metal bars of a fence to get this picture of the valley of Gower Hey Brook.

At one time there were allotments all the way across to Gower Road and the trees were not so thick. See what the area used to look like almost a hundred years ago on Old Hyde.

Garden of Tranquility

The Garden of Tranquility lies in Hyde Park. It is a memorial for those patients who suffered at the hands of Harold Shipman.

The garden includes a granite trickle fountain, designed by Mel Chantry and is surrounded by herbs reclaimed from the old Newton Lodge which once sat on the site.

After the Wind

Yesterday the whole of Northern Europe was affected by high winds said to be the strongest for 17 years.

Compared with some we got off fairly lightly. The damage we suffered was only to our fencing. More pictures on my other blog Ackworth born, gone West

The milkman didn't turn up this morning so I couldn't have my cornflakes. Since I didn't go shopping yesterday for bread, toast isn't an option. I shall have to eat cake.

Other European DPs posting about the weather include: ** Arradon ** Brighton ** Budapest ** Hamburg ** Nottingham ** Rotterdam ** Vantaa ** Villigen

After the Fireworks

One of the problems of letting off fireworks on the glorious 5th November is that the rockets don't land in your own back yard.

This is just a few of the remnants that ended up in our backyard. Amid all the explosions we could hear these plastic bullets hitting the house.

Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester

As I'm away for a while, Pamela from Tenerife is posting a series of photographs from the environs of Hyde rather than the town itself.

The gardens in the centre of Manchester have been done away with in recent years and replaced by cooling fountains. Below shows how it looked in 1998.

Lest We Forget

Yesterday a number of Daily Photo sites posted no photos out of respect for those caught up in the tragic events in Indonesia.

My photograph today is dedicated to Santy of the Jakarta DP as we all think about her and her countrymen.

This little peace garden is part of the Werneth Low Country Park next to the carpark at the Visitor Centre and just before the climb up the hill to the War Memorial.