SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

When we were growing up in Headingley, one of the places we would hang around was the White Elephant Gallery. Nowadays (or at last look - some years ago) it is called Bear Pit Gardens and yes, it is close to the old Bear Pit in Headingley - just over the road in fact. Anyway, the White Elephant Gallery (WEG) used to creep me out. The grounds were ok, but the place itself - well memories fade and the years change things but I remember it being old, covered in graffiti - including a large whie elephant, and frequented by strange off beat characters. I never went inside, I wasn't allowed but one day they did do a sort of show in the grounds. There was some sort of large metal frame and a couple of people who may or may not have been topless (the blokes) were climbing it with flaming clubs which they performed with. Sorry details are so thin, but the overall feel of the place was spooky to a young child and my Mum and Dad went mad when they found out we had watched a show. In the end they turned it all into flats. Interestingly, rumour was that one of the top flats was haunted.

Before they took over the house was derelict and we used to play in it, you could get in by squeezing through a broken cellar window in a light well, then through the pitch black cellars and upstairs. There was a an old hollow tree in the grounds that you could climb up, we thought it was a bit of the old original oak but the building had been a private school before going derilict and it was just something there for the kids to play on. The White Elephant lot were a bunch of 'Alternative Artists'. A bit off beat but harmless. They seemed to be stoned most of the time.

Cardiarms wrote: Before they took over the house was derelict and we used to play in it, you could get in by squeezing through a broken cellar window in a light well, then through the pitch black cellars and upstairs. There was a an old hollow tree in the grounds that you could climb up, we thought it was a bit of the old original oak but the building had been a private school before going derilict and it was just something there for the kids to play on. The White Elephant lot were a bunch of 'Alternative Artists'. A bit off beat but harmless. They seemed to be stoned most of the time. Aha, iknew drugs would come in at some stage!

Thanks, Cardiarms, always wondered what the hell it was.