One sunny day in 1978, I was sitting with the man dressed as a monk,
Geofferey Brindley. I was living at the time in a dosshouse in Barnsley, about four month earlier I had moved from Sheffield, after being made redundant. I planned to stay a week at least then carry on to Bradford, where my family lived.
but I got in a rut,and couldnt get a job, then this monk, said to me"Are you visiting someone"I said "no I live here"he said "your to young to be wasting your life in this place".I went to make a cuppa, and when I got back he was gone.
The next morning I went to the bookies, but it was shut, so I walked along the road a bit, and heard banging, and grinding noises from down a small street,so I went to the office of the works,at the bottom of the street, and asked if there was any jobs, what the monk had said,decided me to try once more to get a job, I started work on the monday, and after five months I left the job and Barnsley and came to Bradford,ide been putting money in the bank each week so I had about 1,000 pounds with my holiday money, to start a new in Bradford.
Then in 1980, I came to live with my sisters(my mother had passed away the year before) my sisters have both passed on, and I now rent the house, and should have a roof over my head till its my turn to cash in my chips, as they say.
So in a way the monk,made a difference to my direction in life, I was young, and stuck in a humdrum day after day, so now I can write this,and give something back,as this will be here for all to see.and the monk from Bradford will be remembered for all time.
The story begins in Buxton, Derbyshire,when as a boy, he was born and brought up,not in a religious family as such, he didnt belong to any church, but one day he took a bible,and his toothbrush,and left his home in Derbyshire, and moved to West Yorkshire.
The papers say,in 1960 he was thirty three, he last worked in february as a machinist at the international harvesters factory in Bradford,West Yorkshire.
He discarded the trappings of a what we call a normal life, and made a monks habit from a brown blanket, and wore on his sockless feet,openback sandals, all he had was a pencil, paper, and a small amount of money,and his bible and toothbrush.
This was when the Telegraph and Argos, did their first story on him.on the 11th oct 1960.
He moved into a cave at Attermire Scars,Victoria Cave,North Ribbledale Fells,near Settle.
he slept on a flat rock with hay as a bed, it was about ten feet off the ground.he had no fire.
He first told the reporter,"I shall stay here and meditate until I receive the message,it may take three weeks".
In his hand was a packet of cheese,he said also,"I begin in earnest tomorrow ,I shall fast until it is time for me to leave"
"When this is done"refering to the cheese"I shall have nothing more to eat,there is a spring of clear water not far from the cave".
He added" I am on my own, I am just a christian ,and I believe THE LORD will look after me and show me what I have to do"
He as been seen in, Bradford, Manchester, Barnsley and Sheffield, that I know of, as I was the one that saw him in these,s towns from 1966 Manchester, to saturday the 24th feb 2007, in Bradford town center., where I got his verbal permission to write this guide, at the end I will put the dates and years of the Telegraph and Argos and Yorkshire Post story, from 1960 to 1972.which anyone can read at the (Bradford Central Library), on the film rolls.
But with the story being front page, the crowds came to see what it was about, and after a week or so he had to leave the cave, as he couldnt get any peace from the people that wanted to see (the squatter of Victoria Cave).
This is an interview he made with a reporter from the Yorkshire Post,in 1972 that tells his story after leaving the cave he went to Bradford and slept for several nights in the open before a man offered him the free use of a room.
"I have lived there ever since,I get no money from social security and have never asked for anything in my life.there have been days when I went hungry,but mostly each day the lord provides me with something"he said
"I walk about 20 miles a day and have a special route for each day of the week.I wave and smile at passing motorists and now they have come to know me they wave back".
"It gives me great pleasure,and from the many people who stop their cars to ask me what I did,and have a chat.I feel I must have given them somethig to think about".
"It is wonderful to find there are so many friendly people in the world".
"I have met many people, some quite influential in the business world,who tell me they envy my way of life".
"when they see I don,t wear socks or gloves.even in the coldest weather,they ask me how I stand it and why I go on doing it.But if you decide upon something like this you have to keep going in all weathers,otherwise I would feel a phoney".
"have walked through gangs of skinheads and never been harmed.and infact I can't remember having on unpleasent incident during the whole of the eleven years".
he said"I could not go back to my old life in Buxton now".
"Some children that see me for the first time say,look mummy,there,s Jesus".
"What really gives me the greatest thrill is when little children I see in the streets smlie and say "hello".
"Children are wonderfully sincere and trusting, it makes it all very worthwhile".
These are the dates and years the Telegraph and Argos, did their articles and the one the Yorkshire Post did. they can be found in the library archives in the library over the other side of Manchester road now on computer to scan. (Now it is possible to see on the pc rolls, still in the archives library)
11th October 1960
14th October 1960
17th October 1960
19th October 1960
26th October 1960
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2nd March 1964
3rd March 1964
6th March 1964
14th March 1964
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4th July 1968
And the Yorkshire Post 8th January 1972
sadly in august 2015, he had a fall and heart attack and died a few day later in hospital, he was laid to rest on October the 13th at one o, clock after a Service at the Bradford
Cathederal. the Buriel was for family only (Geofferey Brindley photo click link)

monk of bradford

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