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
And Bert Played The Piano
It's Wednesday 12th May 1937 and the entire country is celebrating - it's the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. Whilst most eyes were focussed on the grand events in London and the other big cities, The Stage decided to look at the entertainments provided for the good folk of Halifax on that … Continue reading And Bert Played The Piano
Long Wall, Elland : It’s The Trees
This photograph of Elland from Long Wall dates back well over 100 years, but it is still a view that most people familiar with the town will recognise. The tramlines are long gone and the mills are long abandoned. The biggest change, however, is the one that is always noticeable when you compare old photographs … Continue reading Long Wall, Elland : It’s The Trees
Fed Up
You know the feeling: you've been sat there at least an hour while he has been messing about with that camera of his, poking bellows, fiddling with plates, head hidden under a black cloth. And it's not as though you have nothing better to do - that oak table won't polish itself and there is … Continue reading Fed Up
The Swinging Sixties – On Godley Bridge
Most people of my generation can look back to the swinging sixties with memories of rock and roll plus or minus the usual accompaniments. It appears, however, that I spent the decade standing on top of Godley Bridge taking photographs of an ever-changing Halifax. Here's yet another from 1966.
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