Stones that have soaked up their fill of hard work, paths that are squeezed like luxuries between fields, valleys that hide a world of roads, railways, rivers, and canals, and a mill chimney tower that proudly proclaims - This Is Halifax.

Like some monumental sculpture, this collection has been assembled. Perhaps the steps leading up to the Church where the light can be seen. Or maybe the lamp lighting the way to the steps of reason. Or maybe a quiet corner of Sheffield 40 years ago.

It has the look of a cast outing from Last Of The Summers Wine. It was a group of Sheffield ladies, out for a walk 40 years ago. “Didn’t Doris Greaves live there?” asks one. “Yes, but they knocked the house down and moved her into the flats”, replies one of the others. “She’s gone … Continue reading Watching The World Change

They knew how to enjoy themselves in those days - days of pierrot shows and tenor vocalists. And there is Great Cousin Ivy (cello and pianoforte) with a semi-detached smile.

The 2023 Halifax Charity Gala will take place today. To celebrate the occasion, this is a photograph I took at the very same event 56 years ago. That's a long time ago and a long time to have been left hanging in the balance.

I spent a fair amount of yesterday in Sheffield and Barnsley, so this seems to be a suitable calendar image for today. It's 40 years since I took it, but still the skyline will be familiar to those who know Sheffield.

Detail from a 10,000 Pengo banknote issued by the Hungarian government in July 1945. At the time, Hungary was suffering from hyper-inflation and the note became worthless within a few days of being issued.

A classic image from a classic vintage postcard, which was posted to a Miss B York of Doncaster on the 21st June 1904. The message was intriguingly simple: "Let me know how Aunt Sally goes on". I'm not sure about Aunt Sally, but Miss Louie Pounds, the actress depicted on the front of the card, … Continue reading Let Me Know How Aunt Sally Goes On

Memories are rarely in sharp focus, especially memories from half a century ago. Time, places and people all get blurred in the transition between a captured moment and a captured memory. I can't remember taking this photograph, but I know the three subjects, and, I suspect at least two of them will be reading this.