"I am pleased to say we are getting on very well. We spent Friday night at Ipswich and last night here. Hope you are well. Kind regards, Wilfred" 119 years later, the message could nearly be the same. Kind regards, Alan
Month: May 2025
Mrs Foggin’s Bust
This is a scan of one of the Victorian prints I bought - for pence rather than pounds - when I was in Newcastle recently. On the back is a label headed "The Great Britain Art Co" with a name, Mrs R J Foggin, and a set of instructions for reprinting: "As copy, not so … Continue reading Mrs Foggin’s Bust
Sticking With The Coal Wagon
I must have taken two versions of this particular scene back in the 1960s because I have one in colour that features a rather classic 1950s car. I used that as my calendar image on 14 June 2024, so you are stuck with the monochrome version featuring a coal wagon for the 12 May 2025.
Plonked On The Hill
If you have a hill like Castle Hill in Huddersfield, there seems to be an irrepressible desire to plonk something on top of it. Be it Neolithic hill fort or Norman castle, Victorian monument or boisterous ale house, they've all been there at one point or another. The Victorian monument remains and looks rather splendid … Continue reading Plonked On The Hill
That Look
Some years ago I bought a job lot of 1930s film stills. These were the photographs that were used to publicise movies, displayed outside picture houses throughout the world. This particular photograph shows the actress Arline Judge in a role from the 1936 film "Valiant is The Word For Carrie". The film was less than … Continue reading That Look
Framed In Stone
Halifax Town Hall framed in stone. Both the town hall and the half-demolished building on Winding Road (which was probably the works of Haigh, Allan & Co, Brass Founders and Finishers) must be of a similar vintage, but when I took this photograph in 1969, one was going, and one, thank goodness, was staying.
Market Memories
I must have been taken around Bradford's old Kirkgate Market when I was a small child, and I became reacquainted with it during lunchtime strolls around the city when I worked there in the late 1960s. It always appeared larger, darker, and more complex than the Halifax market I was familiar with. During the 1970s … Continue reading Market Memories
Coastal Calderdale
You could easily mistake it for a coastal view - coastal hills giving way to a grey, coastal sea. There's even a schooner sailing off to distant lands. The sea, however, is a sea of gorse and heather, the schooner is the stone built Stoodley Pike monument on the hills above Todmorden. It's coastal Calderdale.
Brookfoot
In the mid 1960s, my brother bought an old Humber Keel barge called "Brookfoot" and converted it into a houseboat and studio. After doing the conversion work in Brighouse Canal Basin he then sailed it to the continent and around the canals and waterways of Europe. This photo is from the first time we saw … Continue reading Brookfoot
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