The BiB Photo Gallery > Birthday Cards

We are really happy that we are able to mark each child’s special day with a card from all the staff at Born in Bradford. We work with Bradford born photographer Ian Beesley, and Yorkshire poet Ian McMillan to produce a unique card for each year.

Pauline Raynor, project manager said: " The birthday cards are a good way of keeping in touch and conveying our gratitude to the children and their families for taking part in this long term research."

Stacey Horton, BiB mum said: "I am pleased to be involved in the BiB project as the research will benefit the future health of children in Bradford. The birthday cards are a lovely keep sake to show Zara when she grows up and to explain to her about being part of the BiB project."

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BORN IN BRADFORD Come sing a birthday song with me A birthday song of greeting Welcome to all babies born in Bradford Not too loud; little 'un's sleeping! Come dance a birthday dance with me; A birthday dance of joy Celebrate the babies born in Bradford She's daddy's little girl; he's mum's little boy! And in the middle of the night when you're wide awake Just smile and have a bite of the birthday cake.
HAPPY SECOND BIRTHDAY, BORN IN BRADFORD! She’s kicking her legs because she wants to run, He’s leaning forward to hear the news. Both living in a world of songs and fun: the simple sun shines and the sky is blue. And in the years to come this sister and brother will hear their twin cry and feel them laugh even if there’s a distance, one from the other, They’re always side by side, like in this photograph…
HAPPY THIRD BIRTHDAY! Three new stars in the Bradford sky Three new smiles on the face of the earth Three new lives getting ready to fly One huge gift of great worth... Three new people who begin to grow Three new smiles on the earth’s broad face Three new dancers in a lifelong show One set of runners in the human race...
HAPPY FOURTH BIRTHDAY! FOUR YEARS ON... Four years: that’s sixteen seasons, Four Summers and Four springs Four years and sixteen reasons To celebrate children, delight in twins; Four Winters and four Autumns; Think what just four years have taught ‘em... And here’s to the next amazing four Let’s run to the future and open the door! e...

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BORN IN BRADFORD

You’re awake
You’re here
In this light
This Bradford light

A town built on the softness of wool and water
Feels like a good place to be born in.
The hills protect you, and the rain seems to whisper so quietly
That you hardly notice it. But it’s there. Falling like history.

You turn your face to the light, and let’s face it
The boom that sustained this place has folded like cloth
Folded and put into a drawer like babies were once,
When a cot was a luxury you couldn’t afford.

You’re awake
You’re here
In this light
This Bradford light
And now you’re crying. You’re filling your lungs
With West Yorkshire air and pushing it out
In long notes and short notes; and listen: those notes
Are pushing their way into a future that none of us can hear

A future that will undoubtedly be yours,
In the soft rain and the gorgeous Bradford stone
That has seen laughing times and shattered times,
The morning pram and the afternoon hearse.

You’re awake
You’re here
In this light
This Bradford light

And now you’re sleeping; you’re smiling in your sleep,
And sometimes you sigh like a long breeze from the hills
And nobody knows what’s waiting inside you: the cough,
The fear of spaces, the joy of running faster and faster,

The hands that look like your father’s hands,
The way you shape your sentences so you sound
Like you grandma, the crisps on the bib,
The way you seem to be born to laugh and laugh,

The way you always get any cold that’s going,
Catch it like a net catches a fish, the way the first pint
Will always lead to the sixth and the bag of chips
The way all these things will happen, will happen

Unless we enfold you
Like the wool that once enfolded this city.

You’re awake
You’re here
In this light
This Bradford light

Ian McMillan

See more about Ian M. here

All photographs by Ian Beesley - see his website here

The work of Ian Beesley and Ian McMillan is supported by The University of Bolton’s School of Arts, Media and Education - www.bolton.ac.uk