Author: Alan Burnett

The Tower On The Rocks

This strange little vintage postcard has an awful lot of white border and a somewhat anonymous rural scene, that could be here, there or almost anywhere. It only becomes of interest when the message on the reverse is read. It is addressed to Stanley Nunn Esq of Mandeville Road, Enfield in North London. You need … Continue reading The Tower On The Rocks

Pink Stone And Blue Cobbles

This is a somewhat colourful picture postcard of the Victoria Hall in Halifax which dates from the first decade of the 20th century. Such cards were hand-coloured, and one can suppose that the colourful imagination of the colourist got the better of them on this occasion. The card was sent to Mr G H Smith … Continue reading Pink Stone And Blue Cobbles

Stone Trough, Stone Dead

This is a new scan of a photograph I took over 50 years ago, and it shows the Halifax Charity Gala parade in 1965 passing the old Ramsden's Stone Trough Brewery building (RIP) at Ward's End, with the ever-present Victoria Theatre in the mid-distance.

Lunevale

It is my birthday today, so it is a perfect excuse for a birthday selfie. This photograph - and no, it is not a selfie - must have been taken almost sixty years ago, and I am pictured on the brow of the appropriately named Lunevale, which was the ferry that ran from Fleetwood to Knott … Continue reading Lunevale

Fowler’s Album

My interest in vintage postcards started sixty or more years ago when, as a child, I would be taken to visit my mother's Uncle Fowler. Whilst the grown-ups talked, I would look through the album of old picture postcards he had. When he died, the album came to my mother, who - knowing my interest … Continue reading Fowler’s Album

Heath Grammar School

This postcard dates from the first decade of the twentieth century and shows the familiar frontage of, what was, Heath Grammar School, on Free Schools Lane, Halifax. Although the school dates back to the 16th century, the building as depicted on this postcard will only have been thirty or so years old when the photograph … Continue reading Heath Grammar School

Dark Forgotten Mills

A strip of medium format negatives dating from the 1980s is the next to go on my scanning machine. I took these photographs whilst on a walk down Shaw Lane in Halifax, at a time of transition for the town. The last of the mills that had been at the heart of the economic and … Continue reading Dark Forgotten Mills

Walking Man With Blue Spots

Back in the days when picture postcards were all the rage and the demand for colour photographs outstripped the technological ability to be able to deliver them, monochrome photographs were hand coloured. Most were done with skill and care, but occasionally short cuts were taken. It was nearly going-home time and the weekend was just … Continue reading Walking Man With Blue Spots

Coincidence At Clark Bridge Mills

A strange set of coincidences took me on a virtual trip to Clark Bridge Mills in Halifax yesterday. It started with my never-ending quest to prune my bookshelves - the Good lady Wife keeps threatening to bring in a structural engineer as she believes that the beams and floorboards can no longer support the weight … Continue reading Coincidence At Clark Bridge Mills