My mother worked in the mill, so did my father. My Auntie Annie, Aunty Miriam, and Auntie Amy all worked in the mill, as did my grandfather and great-grandfather. The mill - its noises, smells, heat, dirt and grease - forms the warp and weft of my family tree. Our Sepia Saturday theme image this … Continue reading Sepia Saturday : Dark Satanic Mills
Category: News From Nowhere
Storm Clouds Over Livorno
Extract From A Holiday Diary:We arrived early in the morning at Livorno to be greeted by a storm of epic proportions. It was rather like the God Vulcan tossing thunderbolts at his mate Jupiter, whilst Persephone had a screaming fit because someone had trodden on her toe. Nero and Augustus would have cringed in the … Continue reading Storm Clouds Over Livorno
Picture The Scene If You Will
Picture the scene if you will. It is the summer of 1588 and Britain faces the threat of naval defeat and invasion as an armada of Spanish ships sails up the English Channel and an army of 30,000 soldiers wait in the Netherlands to capitalise on the expected defeat of the British Navy. The British … Continue reading Picture The Scene If You Will
A Few Words On The Retirement Of An Artist
My career as an artist was relatively brief by modern standards: it started yesterday tea-time and ended this morning at about ten o' clock. The body of my work is equally elusive, comprising as it does of just the one picture, illustrated above. Whilst some take to the charcoal stick and paint brush, driven by … Continue reading A Few Words On The Retirement Of An Artist
Posing On A Beach
Our Sepia Saturday theme image this week shows three men posing on a beach in California. My submission is one very young man posing on a beach in Yorkshire. The young man in question is my brother, the artist and sculptor, Roger Burnett. The date must have been sometime I'm the mid to late 1940s, … Continue reading Posing On A Beach
The Midget Gem That Is Lily Brayton
This midget gem dropped through my letter box yesterday, along with a dozen or so more old vintage postcards (is there a word for people who are addicted to buying useless ephemera on eBay?) I have never come across a "Midget Post Card" before, but they appear to have been popular for a short period … Continue reading The Midget Gem That Is Lily Brayton
Creativity Is An Act Of Defiance
I was walking through Elsecar yesterday when I spotted a pencil that had been left on a wall. It looked as though it had been left there intentionally, rather than accidentally dropped, and when I examined it I discovered a printed legend on the main body of the wooden shaft: "Creativity is an act of … Continue reading Creativity Is An Act Of Defiance
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
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