All Saints' Church, Otley — Attraction in Leeds

A lovely church with peaceful gardens. Well, mostly peaceful - you see dear reader every year, on the final Wednesday in June, All saint's church bears witness to the finish of one of the foremost town centre criterium races in the UK (Video taken from pov of church). On this night, usually sleepy Otley is buzzing with the sights, sounds, and smells of elite bike racing, as competitors from around the UK and sometimes further afield gather for a night of action packed racing. The men's elite race is a round of the British national circuit series, a 5-7 round (depending on the year) string of similar races across the country, Otley is generally the opening round of this series. In recent years Ilkley has played host to round 2 on the friday 2 days following Otley, meaning that riders have an easier time with travel, and the literal tens of punters which flock to this corner of wharfedale at this time can enjoy 2 nights of action packed racing within 3 days.

The circuit at Otley has not changed for years. It has a climb but this is a fast one, and the finish in front of the sainsbury's and Wetherspoons is preceded by a rapid descent which sees riders hit 70kph+ through a fast left hander to the finish. This years race was marred by scandal, as former track scratch race world champion, Will Tidball, deviated from his line in the sprint and impeded a fast approaching Matt Bostock of Tekkerz racing.

The commissaires took the requisite action of relegating Tidball's position, but his actions had slowed Bostock considerably, and Allowed Tim Shoreman (Wheelbase) to pass on the open side. The result; 1. Shoreman 2.Bostock.

Controversy erupted. The Tekkerz team, led by UK crit racing stalwart Alec Briggs (Brigga to friends and fans) were justifiably irate. They had this race win stolen from themselves and Bostock. Luckily they didn't have long to wait, as prodigious first year junior talent Milo Wills tasted glory for himself and his team at the aforementioned Ilkley town centre race just 48 hours after this calamity, and went on to back this up with another win at Guildford and solid performances throughout the series.

Bostock himself was also able to fight back in the face of this adversity, taking a popular win at the Sheffield GP around a month after Otley. All in all this meant a positive series result for Tekkerz, and the entire domestic scene breathed a sigh of relief.

Anyway the church is nice and the gardens are quite pretty too, not bike races happening here too often but fun when they are. Nice cafes, bars, and walks to be found around Otley too - try the Chevin...

A pretty church from the exterior with some very interesting tombstones around it including a rare intact full length effigy and the navvies memorial nearby. However having checked ahead and confirming the building would be open so we could view the Norman glass and the Fairfax tomb which was the purpose of our visit and a trip of some 50miles out of our way. With the intent to get some high resolution images for a family genealogy project as as to spend some time in quiet thought.. On arrival we passed several church open signs and took a lap of the cemetery.. however when we passed the church open sign to enter the building were informed by a group of people that they were 'filming' though only a microphone and no camera was visible.. The told (not asked) to leave.. at which point the church open sign was removed and the door locked on us.. an...

This church is happening in the best sense of the word when applied to the interest and attendance of the congregation. From what I have seen the leadership - the vicar - is truly a man who understands the nature of living and the significance of the birth and resurrection of Jesus and what God wills for us through his...