Didn't someone mention hippies the other day? Well Hebden Bridge is still talked of as a hippy town but the hippies are much older, but still wear their hair in a ponytail....
Here is a link to a pdf with many of those hippies testimonials of their descent in the 1970s into Hebden Bridge. There are echoes of how we think of hippies - free love, feral children and drugs but there is also a honest sincerity of trying to make a different life, with values of a different nature.
They were the grandmothers and fathers of the children today in Extinction Rebellion, and peaceful none violent protests. Wanting a better world, a kinder world, definitely one without war in it. Unfortunately our world is getting worse from a number of factors, perhaps we need more hippies to come forward.
Firstly they moved into the empty properties around, also (can you imagine) houses were going for the princely sum of anything from a £1000 to £2000 upwards. Some people bought these houses and did them up over time, the hippies in squats were booted out in the end, but the council gave grants to do up the houses, to bring new life to the town. The factories making stuff had by then closed down. In fact HB was called 'trouser town'.
As these homes became established and whole food shops were established, the town became a mecca for 'would be' hippies from Manchester and the surrounding towns to come and stay. Sleep on the floor and help with the refurbishing of houses and establishment of gardens and the growing of food for the culture of the vegetarian, self sufficiency that had grown up.
So they did indeed bring life to the town, unorthodox maybe, but it was a time of great change. The 1960s had bought a sense of freedom to the young. Music had contributed to this. But now everything was being explored, the very values of the life 'straight' people led. It held freedom as the prize but it definitely beat its energy against the old ways. But that is the way of change.
I have watched the video you shared with us here. I enjoy watching it.
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It introduces a somewhat different aspect of hippy life Asep.
DeleteReally enjoyed the video Jensen bridge is a favourite place. Thankyou
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Deleteglad you enjoyed it, the old film was quite faded but really showed up a somewhat bleak time.
I went to Hebden Bridge quite recently - nice enough, but it's a sort of gentrified hippie hangout now isn't it?
ReplyDeleteYes some hippies made good, and perhaps more affluent people from the South imitated them Mark.
DeleteInteresting video, Thelma. Looks like a nice town.
ReplyDeleteWell in the 1960s it seems to have been gutted of people because of the factories closing down Ellen and has really turned itself into a tourist town.
DeleteMany a happy supping time spent in Hebden Bridge on our way to Haworth and back to Rochdale and home.
ReplyDeleteHi, you are obviously a visitor down here in Yorkshire, if not Lancashire. Plenty of restaurants in HB we like as well, the Iranian one especially. Haworth home of the Brontes but i bet you are not a fan of Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights .
ReplyDeleteWhen I visited Hebden Bridge, I did not see a single hippy. Perhaps they were all indoors watching "Homes Under the Hammer" on their TVs. By the way, I have watched this video before. Did you post it at some earlier time?
ReplyDeleteCould well be Neil. You are not looking for a 1970s hippy lookalike now for goodness sake. Go to the market and take a look at the stall holders, the dream still holds. Like the man I bought my wool from, with his wife and their sheep, making the yarn in a very long winded manner but happy with their style of life.
ReplyDeleteI went to Hebden Bridge a couple of summers ago and really enjoyed that hippie vibe!
ReplyDeleteIt seems everyone has visited Hebden Bridge Steve, a popular place. Could it be because of the hippy vibe I wonder?
ReplyDeleteMy parents were so very sure that hippies would destroy life as they knew it. Ironic that all these years later, I am watching life as I know it being destroyed.
ReplyDeleteTuesday night, we are going to hear Barak Obama speak. I miss his calm voice and sensible reason.
There are sane voices in America Debby never forget that. Trump will ride out his term and hopefully someone will put a lock on the internet and all the insanity on it will disappear. Perhaps we need a new wave of hippies, as my daughter says, the old are the ones demanding extravagant prices for their houses and living off plump pensions!
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