Hannah Lamb
Hannah Lamb is a well-known textile artist. She is also a lecturer and programme leader at Bradford College and an author. Hannah lives in Bingley and is married to John, a science teacher.
What’s your first Yorkshire memory? I was born and raised in Buckinghamshire. However, so many childhood holidays were spent up here, and they all rather confusingly seem to meld together. I remember a lot of visits to castles and stately homes, with as many sun-filled days as others which were more damp picnics in the rain. Jorvik still remains in the memory, and there’s also a recollection of a school trip north, where we stayed in York, and went to places like Castle Howard and Clifford’s Tower.
What’s your favourite part of the county – and why? Bingley, which happens to be where I live, but it has the very best of both worlds, in that you can easily get into Bradford, with all its events, cultural amenities and good restaurants, pubs and bars, and also walk out from my front door and straight into the rural landscape.
What’s your idea of a perfect day, or a perfect weekend, out in Yorkshire? In the summertime it’s camping in the Dales, and finding a place where I can do a bit of wild swimming. I love the area around Appletreewick, and in the autumn and winter it’s Harrogate for a bit of a wander around the town.
Do you have a favourite walk – or view? There are just too many to choose from, but pretty near the top of the list is walking up over Ilkley Moor, and the view down into the Aire Valley. There are never two days the same, the sky is everchanging, and I am the sort of person who is curious about everything. John and I often go up there, and with us comes Henry, our dog, who is a retired racing greyhound.
Which Yorkshire artist, or someone prominent in the creative field, past or present, would you like to take for lunch? Two women that I admire beyond belief are Hannah Robson, the weaver from Leeds who is based at Sunny Bank Mills and whose dexterity on a loom is wondrous. She turns textiles into 3D works of art, and makes materials and light come alive. And equal to Hannah is Claire Wellesley-Smith, who is a much-admired author as well as a textile practitioner and teacher. Claire has taken her work out into community groups, where she is an inspiration.
Which Yorkshire stage or screen star, or past or present, would you like to take for dinner? Sir Michael Palin, because he’s the sort of man (I think) who, if you invited him for dinner in your own home, would be very forgiving if it all went wrong, and the meal was a disaster. He’d just be relaxed and kind about it. He has that image of being easy-going and chilled-out, and he’s so delightfully selfeffacing. Not a shred of pomposity.
If you had to name your Yorkshire ‘hidden gem’, what would it be? The county is brimming over with them, but, in my own field, it must be the Bradford College Textile Archive, which is a superb place for research and information, and which is for so many of us “the collection of collections”, and the fount of all sorts of knowledge. The BBC recently used it when it needed expert guidance for its House Through Time series.
What do you think gives Yorkshire its unique identity? The landscapes, the people, the cultures, and the fact that people are welcomed here regardless of background or upbringing.
Do you have a favourite restaurant, or pub? The Record Cafe, on North Parade in Bradford, which sits in the middle of a lot of other brilliant and independent pubs and eating places. It’s relaxed, welcoming, serves top notch craft beers as well as cheeses and charcuterie, and it also sells and buys vinyl.
Do you have a favourite food shop? I’d recommend the food stalls in John Street Market in Bradford to anyone, and the must-go-to place is the Roswitha