Author: Alan Burnett

Raymond At The Sink Works

This is a photograph of my late father-in-law, Raymond Berry, which must have been taken in the 1950s whilst he was working at a ceramic glazing company in Elland, West Yorkshire. Raymond - on the right in the photograph above - eventually left the glazing company and went to work in the local mill. The … Continue reading Raymond At The Sink Works

Art Finished In Penmaenmawr

This delightful print, which I suspect dates back to the 1870s, came into my hands for a few pence via an eBay job lot of old photographs. It is the work of Blas Rangel, an early studio photographer who was born in Singapore in 1840 and was active in several towns in Britain in the … Continue reading Art Finished In Penmaenmawr

Tantobie Footballers

  Footballers in those days were a different breed: thick shirts, thick woollen socks and thick heads that could withstand a laced-up leather ball. Tantobie were a village team with quite a reputation: the great Billy Smith (1895-1951) grew up in the same Durham pit village.

Pin And Chain

Photographs only came along only once in a while. This was the age before smart phone selfies, an age when a portrait was an event. An event to get out your Sunday best and put on your best pin and watch chain.   ​

The Great Stainland Water Fight

Whenever I walk passed a pub - or better still sit down with a pint in a pub - I can't stop thinking about the tales the building has to tell. What love or what loss, what joy or what sadness took place in such buildings? When I walked by the Bull and Dog in … Continue reading The Great Stainland Water Fight

Nellie, Empsie And A Carroll Connection

This fine old vintage postcard dates from the first decade of the twentieth century and features photographs of Nellie and Empsie Bowman, a couple of stage and music hall stars of the era. Nellie and Empsie, along with a third sister Isa, were the daughters of Charles Andrew Bowman, a music teacher, and Helen Holmes. … Continue reading Nellie, Empsie And A Carroll Connection

Crouching Photographer, Hidden Dog

I reach into an old box of 35mm colour slides and pull out three random slides for scanning, all of which date from the 1960s. The first was taken in the Autumn of 1968 and shows my bedroom at Fircroft College in Birmingham complete with Cuban posters and a picture of Karl Marx that was … Continue reading Crouching Photographer, Hidden Dog

Bookmarks For The Summer Of ’18

Photographs are the bookmarks of life: they are there to remind us of passages that are important for one reason or another. I have a feeling that there will be all sorts of reasons why I remember the summer of 2018, but, for the moment, it will be the weather. Even if it now rains … Continue reading Bookmarks For The Summer Of ’18

Albert And Gladys Take To The Continent

Our Sepia Saturday theme image this week features a group of people sat around a table in Norway. My submission features a couple of people sat around a table in France. The people are, in fact, my mother and father, Albert and Gladys Burnett, and the photographs dates back to 1962 and a family holiday … Continue reading Albert And Gladys Take To The Continent