Talking To Gladys

Scanning and retouching old photographs is a little like doing a jig-saw puzzle - it allows you to get up close to detail. Cast a passing glance at a photograph from eighty-odd years ago - you can use this photograph of my mother, Gladys, on the seaside sands as an example - and you might … Continue reading Talking To Gladys

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

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

Happy Birthday Albert

It would have been my fathers' birthday today - he would have been 107 years old! This photograph must have been taken in the late 1920s in Bradford, Yorkshire when, as a teenager, he would have been looking forward to what life would bring him. It brought him a long and happy life and a … Continue reading Happy Birthday Albert

Constantly Updating Amy

This photograph of Amy and Wilf Sykes must have been taken in the mid 1930s. Amy Beanland was born in August 1904 in Keighley, Yorkshire, the eldest daughter of Albert and Kate Beanland (my mother Gladys was Amy's younger sister). Wilf was born in the Yorkshire town of Pontefract, the son of a local policeman. … Continue reading Constantly Updating Amy