I have always liked telling stories and so for or over thirty years for me the best part of being a history teacher was the telling of tales. I must admit the marking of student’s work and the process of advancing their levels were always secondary to the sheer pleasure of standing in front of a class and knowing that you held their rapt attention as the plight of Henry V111’s wives unfolded or the fate of thousands of ordinary people were decided in one day and night when Vesuvius erupted and destroyed the cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae.
So I am quite excited at the prospect of collaborating with my old friend Peter Topping. We have known each other for three decades and while I went off and began researching and writing about the past Peter has been painting the buildings and people of Chorlton. His works hang in a number of venues across Chorlton and can also be seen on his facebook site Paintings from Pictures https://www.facebook.com/paintingsfrompictures
It seemed a grand idea to put the stories of the buildings along side his pictures and show both to a wider audience. So tomorrow there will be Peter’s painting of the Lych Gate by the old parish church yard and its story.
In the meantime here is another of his iconic images. It was built as a Temperance Billiard Hall, is now The Sedge Lynn and takes its name from the house that stood close by and whose owner took some wonderful early photographs of Chorlton.
Picture © Peter Topping 2011 www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk
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