A Son of the Rock

Lister Park, Bradford, where the Cartwright Memorial Hall is situated was the home of the Bradford Art and Industrial Exhibition of 1904.

It is named after Samuel Cunliffe Lister who sold the land to the town at half its commercial value.

A statue to Lister sits near the main entrance:-

Bandstand (used at the 1904 Exhibition I believe):-

The pond/lake at the park was spanned at the Exhibition by a ‘Fairy Bridge’ and utilised  for a Water Slide and for re-enactments of naval battles. The pond today:-

There is a statue of Peter Pan on an island in the pond/lake:-

Information about the 1904 Exhibition can be found here. In what to modern eyes is a somewhat unsavoury aspect of the Exhibition was the Somali village to which admission was 6d (sixpence) (children got in for 3d.)

I have a souvenir tin from the Exhibition. It originally contained ‘Cobra’ boot polish. Its lid features the Cartwright Memorial Hall:-

On the side is a depiction of the Industrial Hall:-

I also own several postcards of the Exhibition (some colourised) as well as the Exhibition Official Souvenir:-

Photos from within the Official Souvenir can be seen here.