Almost forty years ago I was doing some teaching for what was then Sheffield Polytechnic. The course was based at Wentworth Woodhouse, one of the largest and most spectacular country houses in Europe. At the time, only six or seven rooms were being used for teaching; the other two hundred and ninety-odd were unoccupied. I'll … Continue reading Some Classroom
Month: November 2023
The Keys To The Park
"Now Mr Mayor, I have to present you with the keys and possession of this park for the benefit of the inhabitants of this borough and its neighbourhood for ever. Right happy shall I be to find in years to come many a poor and tried but honest man, wandering here and enjoying the cool … Continue reading The Keys To The Park
Telephone Line
Blue days, black nights, doo-wah, doo-lang;I look into the sky (the love you need ain't gonna see you through);And I wonder why (the little things you planned ain't coming true) ....
O.D.E.O.N.
You can say what you like about the building: some say ugly, some say daring, Pevsner said "jumbled"! Now it is just a sad and boarded-up shell. But for me it will always be six-penny choc ices and the Saturday morning Cinema Club. 2, 4, 6, 8; who do we appreciate? O.D.E.O.N.
Gladys At The Seaside
This photograph of my mother at the seaside was taken eleven years before I was born. A scribbled caption on the reverse of the small print says "Shanklin, Isle of Wight, 1937". Looking at the photograph now, 86 years after it was taken, it is almost like reaching back through time and watching the prequel … Continue reading Gladys At The Seaside
Faith Demolished
Another of my photographs of Rhodes Street, Halifax, taken - I think - in the early 1970s. The call for faith on the church notice board was clearly short-lived: the church was demolished shortly after the photograph was taken.
Found On The Sands
This image comes from my stock of found photos, or photos of unknown origin. They are prints - and in this case a negative - that I have acquired in one way or another of the last half century. I don't know the subjects, nor where the photograph was taken (but I suspect someone will … Continue reading Found On The Sands
Rhodes Street, Halifax
I think this is Rhodes Street in Halifax, but it was 50 years ago and, like the emulsion on a sepia photograph, my memory fades. It's another era: a time once removed from the modern digital age of today.
Rum Rails
The rum distillery prided itself on being authentic, traditional, hand-crafted and all the rest. The sugar cane was cut in the fields by hand, trundled along a precarious railway line and then crushed by a waterwheel press. The boiling vats were stirred by hand and the finished rum was bottled by a machine brought to … Continue reading Rum Rails
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