Month: July 2019

Back To The Past At Coley

COLEY HALL (Back View)Vintage Postcard (1920s) Unused It is many years since I first walked down Coley Lane and caught sight of Coley Hall. Memories from those days have already turned sepia, and therefore discovering this old picture postcard of the rear of the Hall, seems somehow appropriate. These days the Hall looks very smart, … Continue reading Back To The Past At Coley

A Few Words On The Retirement Of An Artist

My career as an artist was relatively brief by modern standards: it started yesterday tea-time and ended this morning at about ten o' clock. The body of my work is equally elusive, comprising as it does of just the one picture, illustrated above. Whilst some take to the charcoal stick and paint brush, driven by … Continue reading A Few Words On The Retirement Of An Artist

Posing On A Beach

Our Sepia Saturday theme image this week shows three men posing on a beach in California. My submission is one very young man posing on a beach in Yorkshire. The young man in question is my brother, the artist and sculptor, Roger Burnett. The date must have been sometime I'm the mid to late 1940s, … Continue reading Posing On A Beach

Cruising Faces

I am not sure where this little print came from - no doubt it was part of some job lot of old photographs I bought. It shows the crowded deck of a boat, and must have been taken at some point in the 1920s. It could be a ferry, but the people seem a little … Continue reading Cruising Faces

Through The Mill From Shroggs Park

If there is a nineteenth century park or public building in Halifax, there is a fair chance that it was set out or erected by one of the Crossley Brothers. If not, it will be a near certainty that it was the work of Colonel Edward Ackroyd. Their names are woven into the very fabric … Continue reading Through The Mill From Shroggs Park

The Midget Gem That Is Lily Brayton

This midget gem dropped through my letter box yesterday, along with a dozen or so more old vintage postcards (is there a word for people who are addicted to buying useless ephemera on eBay?) I have never come across a "Midget Post Card" before, but they appear to have been popular for a short period … Continue reading The Midget Gem That Is Lily Brayton

Through The Viewfinder

This photograph comes from a collection of old photos bought as a job lot on eBay for less than the price of a pint. I am a great fan of the novel "Sweet Caress" by William Boyd, and as soon as I saw this photograph I thought of Amory Clay, the heroine of that fine … Continue reading Through The Viewfinder