The Hidden History of Manchester's Irk Valley
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- Опубликовано: 23 янв 2025
- In this video we shall be exploring the hidden history of Manchester's Irk valley. We go on an urban exploring adventure, Urbex and look at the History along the Valley in Collyhurst. This Manchester History video explores the remnants of an old factory, we look at old photo's of Manchester and look at old maps to guide us on our historical adventure. looking at the remnants of the Industrial revolution. Angel Meadow, Vauxhall Gardens are a few of the 5 places we investigate. We can see an archeological dig before our very eyes and see the remnants of old slum houses. These are the slum houses that Marx and Engels talked about in their study of the condition of the working classes. #manchester #history #angelmeadow #urbanexploring
I really should start Ironing my T shirts 😀
This video is TV quality
Thank you Trev 👍
Totally agree. Production on this and other is top notch.
Scott Rowland Thanks very Much Scott
Martin Zero 😂
Oh Martin! I would love to explore with you. My Nana lived on Collyhurst Rd. Just down from Eggington Street. Spent some of the best days of my life there. If I had ONE wish I swear it would be for a time machine to take me back and learn the history of these amazing places. God bless you for your work and exposing the past treasures of our lives.
Who needs TV when we have productions like this
Well this vid is now 2 1/2 years old and surely construction of those apartments across from Angel Meadow is complete and the ruins of those slums are gone....the historian in me is crying out with every fiber at the injustice! That's the heart of Manchester's industrial revolution history right there and ought to be preserved.
I've watched a lot of your videos.....next time I'm in the UK we'll be exploring the north and what wouldn't I give to have a guide like you to show me the most fascinating ruins of old Manchester!
Fantastic production.
Love it!
I love watching your work Martin
Binge watching your older videos once again. In the 1891 census the Ebenezer works is listed as a tarpaulin factory, owned by John Blackwell and company. Great video as usual.
Martin, you are a great and gritty historian, bringing old Manchester back to life. Another great video.
Thank you Julie
Absolutely awe inspiring! Your creations just blow me away. A lot of people claim to "love" their cities, but very very few have such an intimate relationship with them. I could watch your work for days. Thank you so much for these!
Thanks very much John
I am a Londoner so not local but your videos are great. Love British history.
Very very interesting spent my childhood playing on the red hills. The rock formation was in the middle. Lots of memories thank you for the video. I lived on Churnet Street and went to St Oswalds school. I had a poor but fabulous childhood. Happy happy days. I now live in France but am drawn back to my roots when I return home. A proud Manchester lad like my Father who has sadly passed away.
Hi James thank you for the comments. This video is very local to your roots then isn't it. I would have liked to have seen the area as it was when you were growing up 👍
Hi James. I attended St Oswalds from about 1956 to 1962. This area was part of my old stomping ground. Can't say I enjoyed growing up around there TBH but it certainly was a vast industrial playground for a solo curious wanderer like me. I remember the piles of drums and a cork manufacturer fairly close by. Can still smell the acrid smoke of the cork waste bonfires on the hill top!
I love it .. live in the USA now.. Currently San Antonio Texas... but born and raised in Blackley Village... even i the 60's as a kid you could tell this area had importance once but was running down .. great to see it again and hear what you have discovered.. things I remember.. the railway shunting yards Collyhurst were huge.. and Phillips Sticka sole factory any way doing a great job Martin
Thanks very much. Great to know your watching in Texas quite a contrast in places. Am glad the videos mean something to you, thank you 😀
The curious nature of adventurous men is a wonderful thing... Great Video Martin.
Hello, thank you for your interesting words 👍Love it 😃
You are very welcome...
Just found your channel. Born in Salford Royal, lived in Wardly west of Swinton. Now live in Canada. Great videos. Thanks, excellent stuff.
Thank you 👍
This was brilliant our kid, I love industrial history. I am from Urmston so grew up travelling around Manchester.
Hello Cliff. thanks very much. yes you and me both love this stuff 👍
That, was a piece of art. Just blown away by it. Amazing. 😱
Thanks so Much Geraldine. Art...... thats very kind.....I still regard myself as a goon with a camera 😆
Hi from Newfoundland. Great video! Love the old industrial stuff.
Hello and thank you. Yeah love the remnants of a bygone age 👍
Great as always Martin.Whenever I see old pictures of bystanders like the one on the cobbles at the end of Dantzic Street,near Union Bridge I wonder about their lives,how they lived,their hopes and aspirations(if any).You mentioned the grinding poverty of the people living so many to a room,barely existing.We don’t realise how lucky we are today,very thought provoking,thanks for making🌈👍
Mike thank you very much. Yes I do the same, I wonder who that little kid was in the cowboy outfit at the end of the video. Yes we probably live in one of the best ages of Humankind
Really enjoyed this. Thanks, Martin. I have vivid recollections of walking to my infants school, St Chads, with my mum in late 1950s and walking by the Irk. The water ran either dark blue or muddy yellow, depending on what the dye works was dyeing that day. And I can still remember the stink from the dye in the water. Amazing to think the area was once one of great rural beauty. Denise, author of 'The Cheetham Hill Murder - A Convenient Killing?'
Thanks once Martin for an inspiring journey into Manchester's history, with your usual infectious enthusiasm.
Thank you very Much Bob, much appreciate your support
Just watched this vid for a second time all i can say brilliant far better than any tv, Martin your a star.
Thanks Martin another excellent insight to Manchester's past.
Thanks very much Steve 👍
I’m from Scotland but I love history, and I think what you do is great and you do it brilliantly!
Extremely interesting, well done. 👍👍
Thanks Brian
Great video's. Even for someone like myself who does not know the area these are a fascinating insight into our industrial heritage, even my wife finds them interesting. Thanks a lot and please continue the good work.
Absolutely brilliant very well paced informative great soundtrack and actually interesting unlike a lot of the tripe I've seen on here. Nice one Martin thoroughly enjoyed that m8.
To be honest Id love to see you do something to do with Manchester's musical history I think you'd be able to pull off something special for that. The people the places from Salford lads club to the hacienda Is it something you've ever considered or are considering?
Hi thanks very much. Yes I was going to do something on that. Still might do it.
Quality I look forward to that pal!
I drive trams over this area everyday and so I was utterly engrossed. Brilliant research as usual too.
Thanks very much. Thats cool I love that bit of the Viaduct where the two Lines join, one viaduct joins the other 👍👍
Always look forward to your videos Martin. Informative and down to earth , well done 👍
Thank you Brian, much appreciated. 👌
Watching this 2 parter again for the 3rd time as I recently came down to the 'dig' area with my mam the footings for the new flats are well under way and soon that little patch will be lost
Cant help thinking how grateful I am for the filming you do capturing areas that we are losing to 'development' 10/10 again mate. Keep it up
Apologies for the grammar
Thanks Jordan much appreciated
Martin, thank you for this series. This is seriously some of the best content on here. Your presentation and editing is on point, and following your deep dive into Manchester's past is like a vicarious time machine trip. Great stuff!
Thanks very much, yes I loved doing this. I know the area and am fascinated with it
One of your best to date pal.
Cheers Paul 😀
As always just amazing, your way of pointing out the old location with the new photos is very impressive, your enthusiasm for Manchester and Salford history is catching, you explain everything in such a good way, thanks MZ
Martin. Great video. I'm a Manchester lad but left M/C in 1968 for parts forsign. Those are just the sort of places I loved to explore when I was a lad in the '60s. We lived just a few metres from the Bridgewater canal. Of course the water quality so much worse. The industrial revolution wasn't quite dead then! Thanks- really great to watch - keep up the good work. Love the music - sets the scene.
Hello thanks very much. Yep I sometimes do feel like a kid again exploring those places 👍😃
Martin your videos are awe inspiring, thank you for creating them...
Lots of history Barneys tip, the loco works. On My street was a factory that made clogs and just around the corner a barrel works. As a child I watched coopers make barrels fascinating when you realise it takes years and years to a cooper. The corner shops and lots of pubs. It may have been a poor upbringing but we were happy in a strange way. Really it was village life everyone looked after each other because we were all in the same boat.
Did you live on Churnet st ?
@@mh001h90 Yes happy days then.
@@andypandy955 hi jimmy it’s Mike Healey, good tines when we were kids. Remember you lived on the other side of the street from us.
@@mh001h90 How are you if you are on facebook check me out then I will PM you stay safe.
@@andypandy955 I’m fine , just off to Collyhurst to see my mum and show my sister Pat around Angel Meadow.
Martin you should consider doing walking tours around Manchester.
I and l'm sure others would pay you, because when you discribe the past (we ) well l do !! wish l was their to experience it. 👍
Agreed.
Fab! Thank you. Even far away in Ottawa I am enjoying your work and how special Manchester is to us.
Ottawa !! Fantastic !!! thank you very Much Paul 👍
Another brilliant historical journey, thanks Martin.
Thanks very much Richard 👍
Another great video very tough times back then for our ancestors
Definitely Jay
Martin this is a great follow up video to the previous Irk Valley one.A fascinating insight of our past history
Thank you Mike, So much more in that area 👍
i took a day off from work to binge watch your superb videos, excellent research, this channel deserves way more subscribers!
Wow you took a day off 👍 I bet your tired of looking at me now 😃
Love rewatching some of these,and it just heightens my respect for the hard lives these people led. Never do I see this as romanticizing poverty of this scale,but as we tour a posh manor I simultaneously see these people in my head.
That was realy interesting Martin love the old maps and the then and Now keep up the good work
I can't stop watching, all videos are so interesting!
Again brilliant mate, the vid you reference about the mill made me laff like a drain, cos it looked like that was what you were walking down, I love your stuff, steeped in a true love for your City, its history, the little quirks and stories that make the lives of those people long ago vivid for us today, the huge number of people in the comments who grew up in the areas you examine, their love and respect for what you do, you deserve a statue in Albert Square mate, in front of the Town Hall, to remind them to show the kind of respect you do for your City. Total respect mate
Very moving film- well edited and presented. Well done Martin.
Thank you 👌😀
another brilliant film thanks martin
Hey, thank you very much 👌
I have just discovered your channel, Martin. Your videos are fantastic and I love your enthusiasm. I live in Royton, which I expect that you know, is the source of the River Irk.
Thank you for your fantastic videos. It's now 11 o'clock and I began watching at 3 o'clock.
Once again another top Notch video excellent great stuff & Thanks for the link to Timepix found loads pictures of my local area Keep up the good work eagerly look forward to your next video thanks 👍
Hello, thank you very much. yes Timepix is a great site. Some of the pics don't reveal much but the ones that do are great 👌
Once again a fascinating video Martin . Thank you . After watching your videos I really would like to visit Manchester one day and see some of these places for my self.
Fantastic piece of social history, fascinating to watch. Catching up on your back catalogue. lovely use of old maps.
Thanks very much Tim
Standing ovation Martin 🎉🙌 Marvellous video! Loved it. Your research and info shared is fantastic, and photography is stunning. Wow.. I never knew about Vauxhall Gardens. Hope you don't mind me sharing it with a local group on Facebook. My friend Marise and I & our kids went exploring round Hopwood Hall a few days ago. Our lads pretended they was making video like you do in some of the overgrown areas, looking for clues etc. Ha ha. You're certainly an inspiration to get out & about and explore. (keeping safe of course!)
Well done yet again!!! 😀😀
Wow thats fantastic your lads looking for clues and pretending to make videos thats really touching and inspiring thank you, Great to see youngsters enjoying this stuff because they will always remember it. Hope you liked Hopwood Hall, the woods are amazing round there. Yes thank you for sharing the video's . Thank you for commenting 😀👌👌👌
LOVED this, seeing locations as they are now, then the old photos of the same places brings the past to life, as a kid I loved old abandoned factory's, railway stations, disused places, your videos really do give a fascinating connection to the past, and your love of that comes across on every upload you do, one of my favorite channels on RUclips, as I share the same enthusiasm for such places, great video, and liked the start (still got my VHS & Betamax machines, and over 5000 tapes!) looking forward to your next video Martin. as they are ALWAYS a pleasure to watch.
Hello sir, thanks very much. You should get those tapes converted to Digital to preserve them. Although it sounds a big job. thanks again 👍
Great videos Martin. I grew up in Prestwich but live in Berlin now, so wonderful to see the changing face of Manchester and your historical investigations. I remember walking along the Irk in the late 70s, and it stank, with a lot of polluted effluent foaming on its surface. Wonderful to see that it is now a lot cleaner, and really great to see you track the industrial history.
I love your content. Lots of great history. You should take a metal detector to some of the places, especially the river Irk.
Thanks Jonathon, yeah its s good idea
Very well done again. It seems as if all the major UK cities simply abandoned the industrial areas rather than redevelop them when the industry ceased. It's only now developers are paying attention. I know you were unsure when you got your new camera setup, but the intro here was on a new level. Its upped the game. :-)
Thanks very much, I like a nice intro 😆 Yes we both have a fascination for those remnants of the past that find themselves in the future
thanx Martin ...just had another late night catching up on your vids .......fascinating stuff once again
Cheers John
Great video Martin really enjoying all your videos.
Hello Martin, Just north of river Irk is Red Bank and a spring works which was William E Cary then Jonas Woodhead It manufactured springs and lifting forks off stacker-trucks The inside of the works had streets with buildings either side going back 150 years with the windows bricked up. Under the tool room was an entrance to a public bath with tiles still in place. The shot blast machine for the lifting forks on installation had two tanning wells under which had to be filled in 53 deg 29min 24sec N and 2 deg 14min 23 sec W-It was said that these were the tanning wells in the book Manchester Man by Mrs L Banks (worth a read as it describes the area 150 years ago) It is centered around the Irk!!! I used to go to work (52 years ago) and a kilometer away I could feel the ground shake with the steam powered Massey hammers-the steam came from 2 Lancashire boilers in a 150 year old walled annex I still remember the Middle Lane as it was called which was 12m wide with paving and the façade of old buildings either side running up hill to the north where they welded the lugs on the lifting forks. Lunch was a walk to the pub for 2 pints-no one thought anything of it as elf n safety had not been invented>>>> Enjoy the book you can get it free on line and it may make a skeleton to hang modern pictures / video clips upon. Thank you for your videos and I appreciate the comments which add to them by all the subscribers, Cheers MiKe
Thanks very much for the info May. Sounds fascinating. I will look for the book
@@MartinZeroou can listen for free-there is a way to download from You Tube if you google-also suggested video on canal branch to top of Stockport via Reddish to Ashton canal between lock 10/11 clayton junc worth a walk-should be reopened as it would be a win/win-no locks 8km long mike w-j
@@MartinZeroruclips.net/video/JyxNzRpI-aU/видео.html
Another great video Martin, Evocative and interesting. Well done.
Thanks very much Simon 👍
This is an excellent video and so informative Martin, thank you so much for this. I so enjoyed it and it is so important to have all these places of Manchester history documented so well.
Thanks very much Barbs
Great video, I really love the old buildings and the old constructions and especially theri history
Thank you very much Filippo
Fascinating to hear about Vauxhall Gardens and it's "poshness" 😂 It's amazing to think Moston used to be quite a posh area when you look at it now! Thanks for the video Martin 😀
What a wonder video. Thank you very much Martin. I have been researching my family history and found that one of my ancesotors moved from the delights of the rural area of The East Riding of Yorkshire to the Collyhurst Road area you cover in this video. I note they moved to Brass Street, then Buckley Street, close to The Ebenezer Works you cover, presumably attracted by the “delights of living in new homes in The Valley of the River Irk, where well paid jobs for all the family, including the children were always available” What a shock it must have been to see the reality!
Martin. Love your work and im from Liverpool.
Thanks Peace and love to Liverpool 😃👍
Martin, when you were on Sand Street, you missed a treat behind the old boarded up shops and maisonettes. On the precinct is a concrete sculpture called the Collyhurst Totem by William Mitchell. There are several Mitchell totems around Manchester, including 1 in Rusholme.
Thanks Martin for another great insight into parts of Manchester long forgoten and disused. You tell it as it is and as it was, warts and all with no punches pulled. Thank You.
Thanks Brian, love these parts of Manchester 👌
Very enjoyable , and really well done. great job putting all those pieces together.
Thanks Andrew
Fascinated by watching your videos. Seeing the old town on Manchester. Do not know why but I like it, also when I see old pictures/houses of/in my hometown in Denmark. Getting nostalgic. Remembering what my town used to look like 🙂
Thanks you Hanne glad you like the videos
8.18 Wow......what a picture ....another excellent video
Thanks very much
Great vid Martin. We usually treat our surroundings as absolute, like bedrock. Your vids show that this is just an illusion. You have an inate gift for listening to the echoes of past eras. Keep up the great work mate
Thanks Matthew
Brilliant work Martin.
Really enjoy your stuff.
Shocking to see the living conditions people lived in back then
Great video, further down Rochdale Road there is a building that my grandma says was an old tram station, your maps show tram lines on Rochdale Road! I didnt really believe it untill i saw that! Around there you have Boggart Hole Clough, Blackley Villiage, Charlstown, Dam Head, and all the way up to Victoria Avenue and Heaton Park. Also there was a railway track that went to factories behind ICI that crossed a bridge over Crumpsall Lane demolished in the 90s, and there is some stuff along Harpurhey Road too, i used to explore all around there when i was a kid. At the clough, at the Charlstown Road/Rochdale Road side and around the boating lake it goes back at least 200 years with pics available online.
At Parkmount Road/Rochdale Road junction there was a big hall or mill opposite the Alliance pub that was demolished in about 2002, check that out.
And at Moston Lane/Rochdale Road junction is Harpurhey Baths and accross from there is Factory Lane that has loads of history you can feature.
Great video though i cant believe you arnt getting a million Mancs watching your stuff tbh you deserve more
Martin, wow that was a great video. I am enchanted by the Mill Works at the end. I can imagine stumbling upon this. The Vauxhall Gardens looked like a nice place to go on a Sunday. I figured most working middle class only got to do something like that on their only day off and I am sure it was after church. Can you imagine working that hard and having it never get better.
I know. One day off a week for life. Awful
I grew up near there & was often told of the hard men & Scuttler gangs in the area in years gone by some used to use St.Michaels flags as a venue to fight barefist to settle disputes. My make family grew up in Silk St.& Malham Crescent so I have a good bit of local knowledge on it Great to see it Martin thanks a million !👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Thank you Seanna its an amazing place full of history 👌
That outpour below Rochdale Rd is the overflow from the main Sewer opposite Collyhurst St Martin that comes down from Blackley, our Foreman John Moores took me down as an apprentice to inspect the cracks in the overflow that were caused by Bradford Pit subsidence, our depot used to be on Knowsley St Cheetham & I used to walk home from there to Ashton New Rd Bradford/Eastlands every day as I was only on £3.50 a week & I gave my parents £3.00, I used to walk down Roger St which was then open to its full width, floods damaged it & it was decided to block one side off around 1970 so that heavy traffic could not use it untill it was repaired but this never happened, the mill at the side of Vauxhall St had 3 letters on the front, I think it was C P A as I used to get mixed up with The P M A on the other side of Collyhurst Rd, on top of the hill on the other side that you mentioned that used to be Vauxhal Gardens was a Company that Recycled oil Drums called Wilcox. all the oil drums used to be stacked high on the top, you have brought back lots of memories again Martin, keep up your roaming videos. Terry.
Terry thats brilliant thank you. Fascinating about the crack in the pipe caused by Bradford Colliery and Roger Street. Thanks so much for the insight Terry 👍
CPA, later Cepea, or Calico Printers Association is, in my opinion, the probable meaning of those initials. In the mid-70s l worked at Tootal Dress Fabrics on Poland Street in Ancoats. If my memory serves me well, the company was known as Tootal - CPA for a while.
@@nomdeplume798 Thank you for your reply.
Hi Martin, another great video, the times I have driven past the places on this video without giving it a second glance. What an eye opener, keep up the good work. Many thanks.
Hello, thank you. You and me both. The area around Bridge Mill was astonishing, I was like how the hell did I not know about this ....👍
Stunning video mate. Great product values.
another Brilliant video, well thought out and captured.. episode 2 tomorrow evening.
Absolutely brilliant! I would love to see the Manchester Weekend Walkers do a walk in this area. I know of another historian who could lead the walk, and I could do the natural history aspect. Thank you Martin.
Great stuff Paul. Invite me
Epic video! My other half used to park on the site of the slum housing till it closed for the archeological dig. She sent me a picture last week from Coop asking what they were up to with the site......again you never know what’s under your feet or hidden away in a forgotten corner.
Hi Owen, yeah brilliant that they dig it up. Imagine all the other stuff hidden away
Nice work. Those B/W photographs are stunning.
Thank you Hubert
Wow, this really is fascinating. I moved into flats by the Improbable Hill and I've researched a little bit myself finding websites and blogs.... But this has been the most exciting and informative watch. I've been baffled about why there were brick walls seemingly holding up the earth by Vauxhall St. And now I know the name of the works that was there!
I'll definitely be diving into more of your content and the history of the area I live in too. My interest is piqued!
Im a little late watching this im usually on your vids within minutes. Wow well worth waiting. Another great interesting factual piece of history. Thank you martin.
Dave thanks so much. I will forgive you being late 😆👍
Another great video Martin. And from looking at that timepix website I found a picture of a man standing on the doorstep of my childhood home. 20 Years before I was born!
Bloody Hell Paul thats amazing. You can buy the pics from them you know. Not sure what it costs. I need to look at my childhood homes now I never thought of that 👌
The history on Manchester is amazing your doing a great job Martin and doing it in your time there should a documentary on this on tv as you doing it your putting your self out there and doing all the history on Manchester massive respect to you 👍🐝🏴
Gavin thanks very much. I really appreciate yours and everyones comments
Martin. Great insight to the Irk Valley. Lots of hidden history. Glad you left the waders at home this time. 👍😄
Thank you very much. But you don't like my waders 😟😯 ?
Excellent stuff!
I've watched this instead of eating my tea, and i'm impressed.
It's a sausage casserole...
Thanks very Much. I hope the casserole was still hot, when you finally got round to it 👌
I forgot to say Well Done for a very interesting and fascinating well researched video .
Thank you Olan
I was born in Collyhurst in the fifties...200 yards from the bank of the river irk....it was called the "rainbow river" back then, because the McBride dyeworks, up stream in Middleton, used to dump their dye stuffs, directly into the river...so one day the river was purple, next day it was yellow, then red, then blue, and so on,...no lifeform, could live in the irk, at that time...
A very interesting video of many that i've watched again today, although in cornwall its still very interesting to watch. Keep up the good work :)
Thank you very much Mr Flintstone much appreciated 👍
Av watch quite a few of these now you really got me hooked watching.
Am from Newcastle but got a bit in common with culverts waterways.
A do like the history around Manchester.
Have stayed a Fred dibnahs a couple of times.so allot of history there.
But goaod watch cheers Martin 👍
Another top piece of work Martin, its mindblowing when you show us what has gone before us, there is so much history in the worlds first industrial city, even the hydraulic system you showed in a previous video was a real eyeopener, the old council certainly got things going, pioneers if you dont mind the expression, looking back it shows what can be achieved when the right mindsets are applied.
Saying that, my Grandparents houses in Moston still had the outside privy untill the early 80,s :)
Keep up the good work, who knows what you may uncover in the future.
Thanks very much David. My mind was blown a few times on this video. That area has changed so so much
Martin Zero it has indeed, the industry was massive around that area, all gone really, so the changes are dramatic, even when industry was there, there was still poverty, but theres something about that part of Manchester s history that cries out.
Love the intro tune on this.
Research Mather n Platts Newton Heath. Thanks again for a superb production.
Cheers David. Yeah good tune that. Mather and Platt 👍
Another great video Martin, that timepix site is amazing - thanks for the heads up!
saw those excavations the other week, went back the following day with my camera and it had all been filled in!
Yeah I went back Sunday daytime to film an extra bit for this and they had been filled in. Starting again now just nearer to the Ragged school
Another superb production.
Martin i fell upon your vlogs tonight and there fantastic ,I love anything to do with the history of Manchester ,I'm a mancunian myself and im just a stones throw from the city centre .ive been reading a lot about the industrial revaluation and the scuttlers around bengal St and the gangs of Manchester in the 19th century. Keep up the great vlogs pal .
Hi Danny thanks very much mate. Glad you found me. Yeah I love all that stuff Industry and history 👍🏼
Another fab video Martin. Love the old photos
Thank you Joy (Mrs Speakman) 😀
Excellent mate. Love the before and after timepix, very cool.
Yeah good site that 👍 Thanks Ned
Timing is a strange thing. It was only last week that I drove along Dantzic Street, Collyhurst Road and Smedley Road before joining Queen's Road. I hadn't been up there for years, yet here you are right there.
Nice one Martin - top banana. Great style and incredibly informative - a lovely video...
Thank you John 👌
I have watched a bunch of your videos. You have such passion for your subjects. If you read the phone book, I would listen attentively. Love your videos