Sunday, 19 February 2017

The Unseen Photographs of Joseph James, Farmer of Caldbeck



Every now and again, a box of ephemera comes across my desk containing something really special. This week, I was sifting through a bunch of papers, and hit a particularly rich seam of farming photographs from the 1920s and 30s. They came from the house of Joseph James, who farmed at Nether Row Hall, Caldbeck until he retired in 1941 (and I know that date because the pile also contains the auction catalogue from his retirement sale of stock).

There are just 30 or so photos, but they are just so vivid and full of history, it almost hurts to look at them. What's more, some of them come with their negatives... 

Here's a selection of them: please forgive the quick and dirty photos-of-photos, which doesn't do them justice. The first couple are printed as postcards (though were never, as far as I can find out, commercially available), the rest are smaller snaps.










These photos (and the rest of the batch) are FOR SALE as a lot: £40. Contact me if you're interested.

Wednesday, 15 February 2017

Withnail at Uncle Monty's: tickets on sale date revealed!




The Picnic Cinema 30th anniversary screenings of Withnail & I at Sleddale Hall in Cumbria (aka Crow Crag, aka Uncle Monty's cottage in the country) on the 21st and 22nd of July 2017 are sure to sell out very, very quickly. Now, thanks to an advance email to subscribers of the Picnic Cinema publicity list, we now know exactly when these gold-dust tickets will actually go on sale:

FRIDAY 24TH FEBRUARY at 10am SHARP!

The link you'll need to bookmark is

RIGHT HERE

Good luck in nabbing one, Withnailers! With only about 100 tickets available for each night, you'll need to be fast.