Welcome to the Website of Alan Burnett: writer, blogger, collector of old photographs, and devotee of all things pointless and inconsequential.
Fishing For Postcards
This week’s postcard comes from the collection of my great-uncle, Fowler Beanland. It shows the Mechanics’ Institute in Keighley, a building with which he would have been very familiar. It was built in 1853, a few years before he was born, and burnt down in 1962, a couple of years after he died. He no doubt studied there while learning his trade as an iron turner. The card is from David Beanland, who, despite the salutation, was Fowler’s nephew rather than his…
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Reflections Of Bradford
Artificial intelligence can manipulate images in wonderful ways, transforming corporate headquarters into Dalí-esque fantasies and Victorian piles into Gaudí-esque dreams. However, you don’t need AI when a plate-glass office block can provide…
Look At That
This is another of my “little flakes of history”: a negative from the 1920s depicting an unknown trio who have clearly found something of great significance in the bushes. “Look at this,”…
When I’m Cleaning Windows
Now I go cleaning windows to earn an honest bob For a nosy parker it’s an interestin’ job Now it’s a job that just suits me A window cleaner you…
Albert Docks
I took this photograph of the Royal Albert Docks in Liverpool yesterday while my wife was browsing a local gift shop. I sent it to my friend Jane, who suggested…
Ferry Cross The Mersey 2
I have somewhere in my possession a photograph of my brother and myself on holiday – always either Bridlington or New Brighton – and I, despite being only about six…
