ABBEY HOUSE MUSEUM
Opening Hours
Mon: closed
Tues – Fri: 10am – 5pm
Sat: 12 – 5pm
Sun: 10am – 5pm
Last admission: 4.30pm
Address
Abbey Walk
Kirkstall
Leeds
LS5 3EH
Ticket Provider
ABBEY HOUSE MUSEUM
Opening Hours
Mon: closed
Tues – Fri: 10am – 5pm
Sat: 12 – 5pm
Sun: 10am – 5pm
Last admission: 4.30pm
Address
Abbey Walk
Kirkstall
Leeds
LS5 3EH
Ticket Provider
LEEDS ART GALLERY
Opening Hours
Mon: Closed
Tues -Sat: 10am – 5pm
Sun: 11am – 3pm
Address
The Headrow
Leeds
LS1 3AA
LEEDS CITY MUSEUM
Opening Hours
Mon: closed (11am – 5pm on bank holidays)
Tues – Fri: 10am – 5pm
Sat & Sun: 11am – 5pm
Address
Leeds City Museum
Millennium Square
Leeds
LS2 8BH
Ticket Provider
LEEDS DISCOVERY CENTRE
Opening Hours
Visits by appointment/special event only.
Free public store tours are now available by booking in advance. Please call or email us.
Address
Leeds Discovery Centre
Off Carlisle Road
Leeds
LS10 1LB
LEEDS INDUSTRIAL MUSEUM
Opening Hours
Mon: Closed (10am – 5pm on bank holiday Mondays)
Tues – Fri: 10am – 5pm
Sat – Sun: 12 – 5pm
Last admission one hour before closing.
Address
Canal Road
Leeds
LS12 2QF
KIRKSTALL ABBEY
Opening Hours
Mon: closed (10am – 4pm on bank holidays)
Tues – Sun: 10am – 4pm
Last admission: 3.30pm
Address
Abbey Road
Kirkstall
Leeds
LS5 3EH
Ticket Provider
LOTHERTON
Opening Hours
Open Daily
Estate opens: 8am
Hall: Closed
Wildlife World: 10am – 4pm
Estate closes: 7pm
Last entry 45 mins before estate closing time
TEMPLE NEWSAM
Opening Hours
House: Tues – Sun: 10.30am – 5pm
Home Farm: Tues – Sun: 10am – 4pm
Last entry 45 minutes before
THWAITE WATERMILL
Opening Hours
Mon – Fri: closed (open 10am – 4pm during school holidays)
Sat – Sun: 12 – 4pm
Last admission: 3pm
Address
Thwaite Lane
Stourton
Leeds
LS10 1RP
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Privacy and data
“Blind Alf” (Alfred Warrington Lodge)
NewsAlfred Lodge was a well-known character on the streets of Leeds in the early 20th century. He sang and played his concertina to entertain people around the Commercial Street corner of Lands Lane and in Briggate for over 40 years.
Photograph of Alf Lodge
At the age of 9 he decided to start making his own way in life, having seen how his parents struggled to feed all their children and was determined not to be a burden on his family. He took a whistle and Bible and began reading and playing outside Arthur’s factory.
Once he could afford it he bought a concertina (although his obituary in 1928 mentions that on occasions “when the fates were unkind, the concertina was missing, but it was not long before Alf had acquired sufficient money to regain it again from the custody of the pawnbroker”).
Alf’s Leeds City Tramways ‘Free Pass for Blind Person’
He was also able to play the piano, harmonium and fiddle. Above all he was noted for his “voice of peculiarly deep timbre, which he turned to advantage in his misfortune”.
Alf lost his sight three weeks after he was born. When interviewed by the Yorkshire Evening Post on 24 November 1921 he said “I have not wanted sight, though there were things I should have liked to have seen”.
Newspaper photograph of “Blind Alf”, probably from the Yorkshire Post
His ambition was to appear as a music-hall singer and he did make several appearances at the Leeds City Varieties, particularly in the revue “Hello! Leeds” during the First World War.
In 1922 he wrote and published a patriotic hymn called “The Call to Duty”.
In the 1921 interview he noted the changes he had witnessed in Leeds despite his lack of sight. He noted that the noise of the streets and traffic had increased. Horses were now almost non-existent and Commercial Street had become much busier. He had made notes of these changes in a book he had written using his braille frame.
Another change he noted is that people had become more generous (possibly as he became a familiar figure to his regular customers) and he appreciated their loyalty especially during difficult times such as the coal strike of 1913.
He appears to have been conservative in his musical tastes, learning most of his songs from opera and disliking modern fads such as ragtime!
He died of a stroke aged 61 in 1928, and was buried in Burmantofts Cemetery.
By Kitty Ross, Curator of Social History