Leeds

Out for a walk in Leeds - back in 24 hours

John Fisher — Mon, 13 May 2013 10:53:08 +0100

Eighteen supporters of Leeds care home Donisthorpe Hall braved blisters and sleep deprivation to complete a 24-hour walk through the Yorkshire countryside, raising over £30,000.

Local pharmacist Ashley Cohen came up with the idea for the 62-mile walk, which started at Golden Acre Park on Sunday and ended at Donisthorpe on Monday. Participants had trained for three months for the test of mental and physical endurance. They were assisted along the route by helpers who brought food, drink and medical supples by minibus to designated points.

Mr Cohen said the nocturnal section was the toughest. “We were at our lowest, cold and tired. Many soldiered on with bad foot blisters and leg injuries.” He highlighted the courage of young father Ilan Sherman whose blisters required hospital treatment but insisted on completing the course.

For working mums Natalie Rich and Katie Newman, the fundraiser was also an incentive to get fit. Brother and sister Daniel Myers and Karen Lewis were walking in memory of their father Peter Myers, who died at Donisthorpe two weeks ago.

Feeling blue but harmonious in Leeds

John Fisher — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 10:30:32 +0100

Hopes for friendly ties between the Leeds Jewish and Muslim communities were expressed on Sunday at the unveiling of a Leeds Civic Trust blue plaque commemorating the establishment of the Ort Technical Engineering School.

Representatives of the trust and both communities were among 100 guests at the Chapeltown Road site, now home to New Horizons, an independent school for Muslim girls aged 11-16.

The Ort school’s origins were in Nazi Berlin, the authorities allowing it to operate on the understanding that its pupils, excluded from state schools, would be better equipped to leave Germany once qualified. Pupils and staff relocated to Leeds in 1939 and workshops opened the following January. Six houses in Chapeltown were rented to provide student accommodation.

Ninety-two-year-old Sydney Sadler, the oldest Ort school survivor in Leeds, unveiled the plaque. Mr Sadler had arrived with his brother Joe. “We were the lucky ones,” he said. “We came to England five days before war was declared. It was only through the lobbying of [British Ort’s] Colonel Joseph Levey that lives were saved.”

The Leeds school closed at the end of 1942. Some of the boys found jobs, others were interned on the Isle of Man. Several served in the British Army.

At the ceremony, Ort historian Simon Phillips praised Leeds as a city of sanctuary and said he “was bowled over” by the generosity of the Muslim school in allowing the plaque to be erected.

School governor Hanif Malik pointed out: “Our fathers were also migrants and Leeds extended its hospitality to our families. There is so much focus on the conflict and disparity between the two communities. If this commemoration plays a very small part in enhancing the bond between us, the outcome can only be positive.”

In my old grandpa’s name…

David Robson — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 23:09:48 +0100

I can't really claim to have known my paternal grandfather Max Rabinovitch.

I was not quite five when he died. All I can recall is an old man with a beard and a kippah in a gloomy house in Chapeltown and a tearful tussle with him over a Meccano windmill. Of my grandmother, who died a year before him, my only memory is a terrible tummy ache after eating her latkes. If I were Marcel Proust, I could probably make something of that but, for me, it's not enough. Though my late father did tell me the odd thing, our family history is tallissed in mystery. We might have learnt more from a memoir left by our great-uncle Zelmer but nobody read it and probably nobody ever will because my cousin had it and he's lost it.

What I do know is that Max was an Orthodox Jew but an unorthodox and adventurous man. He arrived by himself from Russia, aged 11, and learnt watchmaking by watching men doing it. Of Jewish car drivers in Leeds, legend has it he was the first and, I hope, the worst - he drove a De Dion-Bouton often too fast and too often without lights. If Chris Huhne had as many endorsements as my grandfather's 1909 annual licence, he'd be banged up in Dartmoor for the duration.

My grandparents married in Leeds in August 1899. My grandmother Rebecca Amalia Rosenberg was a shy, refined rabbi's daughter who had a lot to contend with. Once, when Max couldn't get home from somewhere he bought an aeroplane.

His financial fortunes went up and down. He had a watchmaking business in Leeds. Painted on the outside wall of his shop was the promise: "Any single item at wholesale price" (a deal I emulate by writing this column). He owned a cinema (or maybe more than one) in Sheffield.

When he was flush, he bought, without telling his wife, Potternewton Hall, a vast Georgian Leeds house in extensive grounds. When the building was knocked down in 1935, the best interiors were preserved and one panelled room is now in Samantha Cameron's father's house near York. My grandmother was having none of it. She refused even to go and look at Potternewton Hall. I suspect the word "meshuggah" was mouthed. Max had to sell it at a hefty loss.

On October 1 1934, my father and his brother Joe, both doctors, changed their names to Robson, which seemed a good idea at the time. Some not-too-much-loved cousins were doing the same thing. Perhaps they would have liked to Robsonise themselves, too, but Joe told them a different R name that they took up. Thus they were uncoupled for ever which also seemed to Joe and my father a good idea at the time.

Was anything gained by the name change? Being Jewish still meant Uncle Joe couldn't be a member of the Cumberland tennis club in London. Being Jewish meant that my father wasn't given the medical job he should have had in Yorkshire.

As for me, as a journalist I could never summon up the chutzpah to express opinions on everything from aardvark to Zumba. I could never be David Aaronovitch but I could at least be David Robinovitch.

Welfare pioneer is mourned

John Fisher — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 11:00:53 +0100

Tributes have been paid to Sheila Saunders — “a gem of the Leeds community” — who died last week aged 67.
Ms Saunders was a long-serving chief executive of Leeds Jewish Welfare Board and Leeds Jewish Housing Association.

Dynamic and direct — “I don’t do subtle” — Ms Saunders was a champion of the vulnerable. She came to Leeds from Manchester in 1983 to run LJWB’s Queenshill day centre for the elderly.

Together with the late George Manning, she set up Moorcare in 1994, a not-for-profit care provider run by LJWB. Her research into domestic violence in Israel led her to found Jewish Women’s Aid in Leeds in 1985.

Rebecca Weinberg, her successor at LJWB, said that “under her leadership LJWB became a provider at the forefront of social care.

“Future generations will benefit from her wonderful legacy.”

LJHA housing services director Craig Simons said Ms Saunders had “turned a small association into one that punched far above its weight”.

In a difficult economic climate, she had secured funding for the construction of 62 flats and a number of four-bedroom family houses.

After retirement in 2010 she returned to Manchester to become lady mayoress for long-time friend Councillor Mark Hackett, a fellow student radical in the 1960s.

All change in Leeds

John Fisher — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 10:53:06 +0000

Lawyer Simon Jackson is to be the new president of Leeds Jewish Representative Council, replacing Hilton Lorie who ended his three year tenure at the organisation’s AGM at Leeds Civic Hall on Sunday.

Mr Jackson, who has given 15 years of service to the council, told the 50 delegates that he followed in the footsteps of many respected presidents and had worked closely with Mr Lorie. “Mr Lorie has worked tirelessly for the community both in Leeds and beyond; he has done this with style and aplomb.”

Mr Jackson, who is married and has three children, said he intends to use his networking and presentational skills to spread knowledge and “engender greater appreciation and support for what we as a council do, both within the community and outside”.

Keynote speaker was Lorna Fitzsimons, former Bicom chief executive, who spoke about President Obama’s second term of office and the Middle East.

It's all strictly for charity

John Fisher — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 10:42:02 +0000

A sea of frills, sequins, hair extensions and false eyelashes splashed over the Leeds Dancing Strictly competition on Sunday — burning the floor and sizzling with energy to raise money for local charities.

The colour co-ordinated sharp and stylish spectacular, staged at Leeds Grammar School and based on BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing, waltzed into the hearts of a 700-strong audience who whooped for joy at the show’s two-performance unabashed theatricality.

Instructors, given the challenge of transforming lumbering hopefuls into refined twinkle-toes, were given two months, or less, to pull them into shape.

Ten leading dancers and their partners took to the floor in the fourth annual event, alongside two groups of cool youngsters and a cabaret routine.

Jaunty jives and saucy salsas segued into more classic numbers with effortless ease and had judges -- dancing luminaries Darren Bennett and Lilia Kopylova, comedian Howard Lee and professional adjudicator Gill Caplan — reaching for a mix of nines and 10s.

Mr Lee praised husband and wife team, sixty-something Susan and 78-year-old Tony Kristall.
“I don’t know what batteries you’re working on but they were certainly on full power today,” he told them.

At the matinee, leading dancer Sagi Yechezkel and his partner Hannah Skolnick waltzed off with the judges’ award and the audience text-voted award.

Twenty-one-year-old Mr Yechezkel and Ms Skolnick, also 21, were praised for their funky salsa by judge Mr Bennett who said the couple “gave a full-on energetic commitment to the routine”, and awarded them full marks.
“I can’t believe it, it’s fantastic,” said shell-shocked Ms Skolnick as she lifted the glitter ball trophy.
Three couples with the same score of 37 tied for the judges’ vote and found themselves in a free-style dance-off with Janine Warner jiving with her 70-year-old dad Keith as the pair to lift the coveted glitter ball.

The evening audience vote went to popular pair Joey Gilman and Georgia Mostyn for their “jive-salsa-Charleston” inspired routine.

Mr Bennett and Ms Kopylova, judging for the second year running, said they “had jumped at the chance to appear again” when requested by organiser Jane Clynes.

“We always receive a warm welcome in Leeds and the standard matches the excellence of previous contests — slick, well-organised and thoroughly entertaining. It was obvious everyone worked so hard -— so full marks to all concerned.”

Presenters were ITV’s Quizmania star Debbie King and York’s Minster radio presenter Greg Scott.

The event was hosted by UK Israel Business Northern Region. The £23,000 raised at the event will be distributed to Breast Cancer Haven, Brodetsky Primary School, The Zone, Donisthorpe Hall and Leeds Jewish Welfare Board.

Leeds has its art in the right place

John Fisher — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 10:20:32 +0000

A major exhibition of rare Leeds Jewish artwork was held over the weekend as part of the community’s 150th anniversary celebrations.

Close on 400 art lovers visited Etz Chaim Synagogue’s Reuben Vincent Hall, which had been transformed into a spacious gallery to showcase paintings, drawings, abstract sculpture, textiles and photos. Many exhibits were from private collections and were being shown in public for the first time.

Some of the earliest pieces were by painter Jacob Kramer, in whose honour the city’s art college was named. Thirty professional artists were represented and experts from Bonhams auctioneers valued artefacts brought by visitors.

The event was the brainchild of Helen Frais, cultural director of the the local Makor arts centre, who Makor chair Stanley Cundle complimented on “a magnificent job”. The show had been “a feather in the community’s cap”.
Opening the exhibition, Lord Mayor Councillor Ann Castle said Leeds Jewry had played “a tremendous part in developing the cultural life of the city.

“Not only has it produced some wonderful artists but musicians as well. And Jewish individuals, families and corporations have been amazing benefactors.”

Brodetsky recruits impressive partner

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 10:13:51 +0000

The Leeds Jewish high school opening in September has appointed “the most improved school in the north of England” as its educational partner.

It has paired up with the Wakefield-based Rodillian Academy, which has specialist arts college status.

Since the appointment of headteacher Andrew Goulty in 2008, Rodillian has evolved into a highly successful school with results in the top 10 per cent nationally.

Leeds Jewish Free School will start with up to 25 year seven children, building up to a capacity of 175 pupils by 2019.

Its premises will be adjacent to the Brodetsky Jewish Primary in Alwoodley, whose head, Jeremy Dunford, is executive head designate for the high school.

Reporting “a tremendous amount of interest from parents”, he said he had sent out 20 offers of places.

“There are a limited number of places still available and I would encourage parents who did not recieve their first choice or may be reassessing their choices to make a late application.”

Project leader Councillor Dan Cohen said that Rodillian’s “agenda for relentless improvement complements the vision that LJFS directors have for our school — high academic standards, a joy of learning and an expectation to contribute to the local community”.

Police seek fresh evidence on unsolved Leeds murder

John Fisher — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 10:28:40 +0000

Leeds detectives re-examining the unsolved murder of a communal personality using the latest forensic technology have issued a renewed appeal for information.

John Luper, 57, died following a robbery at his home in February 2004. Police believe he was attacked by a group of up to five masked men as he walked his dog before being dragged back to his Sandmoor Drive property.

His wife, daughter and au pair were tied up by the robbers, who fled with £100,000 worth of cash and jewellery.

Detective Chief Inspector Simon Atkinson of West Yorkshire Police’s homicide and major inquiry team said that “in the nine years since the robbery that led to Mr Luper’s death, we have received some very useful information from the public. But I believe there are a number of people with more to say.

“I am sure members of the criminal fraternity will have suspicions about who was responsible and I would call on them to come forward and provide that vital piece of information.

“Let’s not lose sight of the fact that a father and husband was left to die alone while his family were tied up in the same house.”

Mr Luper was an active member of the local United Hebrew Congregation, where the Luper Room is used for receptions and board meetings. He also supported UJIA.

The family once ran the country’s biggest suit factory, servicing high street names such as Burton and Burberry.

Younger brother Toby said the murder “continues to have a devastating impact on our entire family.

“John was a larger than life character and his loss left a huge void in all our lives.” Their mother Olga “cried every day” after the murder. “She died on the yahrzeit of John’s death five years later.”

Mr Luper urged anyone with information to contact the police as “it could make all the difference. We know the police are doing all they can to get the evidence to convict those responsible for my brother’s murder.”

Information can be given anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111

Brodetsky integrating non-Jewish pupils

Jonathan Kalmus — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 10:48:37 +0000

The head of the Brodetsky Jewish Primary in Leeds has said that the successful integration of an influx of non-Jewish pupils disproves the claim that faith schools are insular.

Jeremy Dunford reported that 12 of the 274 Brodetsky pupils are from African, Asian and non-Jewish British backgrounds.

The majority enrolled this academic year because of a severe shortage of places in other schools in the area. They had been welcomed by other pupils and staff and joined lessons in Jewish and Hebrew studies.

Brodetsky’s Jewish pupil numbers are rising, with its 45-place reception intake nearly double that of upper school years.

“Any school, whether faith or community, which sits alone and doesn’t interact with the community around it can be accused of being insular,” Mr Dunford pointed out.

“Brodetsky is an Orthodox Jewish school and its service to the Jewish community will always be its first port of call. But we want children to be proud of who they are side-by-side with, acknowledging the wider community.”
Meanwhile, architectural drawings for the Jewish high school due to open on the Brodetsky site in September were released this week. Current Brodetsky buildings will be remodelled into classrooms, science labs, drama and food technology suites.

An additional building will be completed by 2014.