HEBDEN BRIDGE - MY KINDA TOWN!!

'Twas circa 1974 when I first heard about Hebden Bridge. "Save up £800 and buy a house in Hebden Bridge" friends said. Well, when you're working class "buying a house" was something we just never thought we'd do, and besides, £800, when you're only earning 10 bob (50p) an hour is completely out of reach!!!! However, we were well-entertained hearing about how people were squatting in these houses that were going to be demolished and taking out all the walls in the attics so that if the drugsquad visited one house, there was a way of letting other houses know. One friend, under the influence of whatever, had the shock of their life when a wall rug moved and someone came out from behind it - a tunnel behind big fire places perhaps!! Any way, suffice to say, we never got to visit or buy.

I do remember coming across Hebden Bridge in the old hippy bible "The Alternative England & Wales" which gave information on 'crash pads', places to hang out and learn where to score etc, and about all things "alternative"

Back in 1990 I received a letter from a friend telling me she'd moved to this "lovely little Pennine Mill town called Hebden Bridge. Memories flooded back of the old friends raving about it so much and I took up the invitation to visit. I drove in via the A1 and M62 arriving at Halifax and thinking "What a dump!" However as I hit the A629 and came through Friendly, Luddendenfoot the vista began to change and I began to change my opinion. I think it was where the Farm Shop now is (used to be a garage) that the valley opened out and my stomach began to 'flip-flop'. I think I knew then that I would live here at some point. And that point was 2 years later (1992), when I left Nottingham, a good salary (working as a Residential Social Worker) to attend the Access Course at Tod College.

Nineteen years later and I'm still here. HB is the longest I've lived anywhere (apart from Doncaster where I was born & bred) and I have no intentions of leaving. It's changed a lot - got cleaned up, became very "tourist" orientated, got 'gentrified' etc. However, it's got the most crazy houses I've ever seen, still has a lot of charm and the valley looks lovely at any time of the year. How lucky are we to have Hardcastle Crags on our doorstep? - in other places I've lived, you've needed a car to get to such a place and have to go for the day! 20 years ago there was a lot of "community" - informal childcare arrangements, people looking out for each other and there's still some of that left. Streets like Broughton Street and Windsor Road will always be "hippy streets" to me - street parties, gatherings on the Delph, rallying around and giving opposition when unscrupulous developers try to get their hands on green spaces.

None of my family live near me, so I'm dependent on my social network for support etc. HB is one of those places where you don't have to be lonely (unless you choose to be). There are numerous cafes and meeting places for socialising!! If you're willing to put yourself out there, you can have a great social network.

Oh, and those friends encouraging us to move here 37 years ago? Well, some of them are still here!!!!!!