When history repeats itself ……. and art imitates art

 "Never work with children or animals" is that famous one liner attributed to W.C.Fields and to this can be added never take a famous artist and assume he never came to where you live.

At the Lowry home to his paintings, 2006

Which brings me to L.S Lowry which my Wikipedia tells me that “Laurence Stephen Lowry was an English artist. His drawings and paintings mainly depict Pendlebury, Lancashire (where he lived and worked for more than 40 years) as well as Salford and its vicinity [often depicting] scenes of life in the industrial districts of North West England in the mid-20th century.

He developed a distinctive style of painting and is best known for his urban landscapes peopled with human figures, often referred to as "matchstick men". He also painted mysterious unpopulated landscapes, brooding portraits and the unpublished "marionette" works, which were only found after his death. He was fascinated by the sea, and painted pure seascapes, depicting only sea and sky, from the early 1940s”. *

At which point I have to say he don’t do anything for me, heretical as that is and I await abuse from Mrs. Treliss of Broughton his industrial landscapes and people don’t do it.

And all this despite heaps of discussions with my chum Peter Topping who over the years has patiently set time aside to explain Lowry and show me examples of his non matchstick work.

Lowry's friends at the Lych Gate in Chorlton

Peter who is also an artist long ago took Lowry to his heart and has celebrated the painter by producing pictures of Chorlton in the style of the man.

These over the years have found their way onto the blog under the banner of “When Lowry came to Chorlton”, and now it seems he may have done.

Last night Peter emailed over his discovery that "I uncovered an Instagram post that someone posted with a B&W drawing with Lowry’s signature and date 1960.

 And someone on ebay selling a print of it.

 On further research I found that he had indeed come to Chorlton and sketched The Lych Gate and called it Chorltonville.

 

In the Library, 2026

Somehow the title had got miss read, or miss printed and catalogued as Charltonville see attached copy below

 There is a known Lowry drawing titled something like 'At Charltonville / The Old Cemetery', dated 1960, and it has appeared in auction listings.

One such listing describes it as 'L S LOWRY AT CHARLTONVILLE THE OLD CEMETRY 1960 PENCIL DRAWING' .

Perhaps Lowry visited our Library

This confirms that Lowry produced a drawing connected with Charltonville (note the spelling) and a cemetery scene around that time.

 L S LOWRY AT CHARLTONVILLE THE OLD CEMETRY 1960 PENCIL DRAWING” does indeed appear online — but only as the title of an eBay listing, not as an authenticated catalogue entry or museum‑verified work. The listing shows a hardback print being sold, not an original drawing, and the spelling ('Charltonville', 'Cemetry') is the seller’s own wording, not Lowry’s, https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/187509554804?msockid=3df35e1922496e41178348a6230a6f34”

So with that in mind Chorlton Library have asked Peter to put on a Pop Up exhibition of some of his pieces in the series “When Lowry came to Chorlton” .

Alas all of Mr. Lowry's paintings including his 'At Charltonville / The Old Cemetery' remain copyright and for all the right reasons I ain't putting them up on here.

So its just down to Chorlton Library to walk where  history repeats itself ……. and art imitates art.

Picture; At the Lowry home to his paintings, 2006, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Painting; If Mr Lowry came to Chorlton, © 2017 Peter Topping, and new paintings from the Lowry series, by Peter, 2026 Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

*L.S.Lowry, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._S._Lowry

Go east young professional and grow up with a town half as old as time

So yes, Go east young professional and grow up with a town half as old as time mangles an injunction often attributed to Horace Greeley about westward expansion and the Manifest Destiny of the United States with that poem about Petra in Jordan.*

Looking down on Hebden Bridge, 2026

Hebden Bridge from Nutclough Road, 2026

To which Eric of Todmorden will mutter "self-indulgent nonsense, and I guess he would be right".  

But all stories need an introduction and in a sense this one hits the button because for ages young professionals have been heading east from Manchester to this small community in West Yorkshire.

My Wikipedia tells me that “during the 1970s and 1980s the town saw an influx of artists, writers, photographers, musicians, alternative practitioners, teachers, Green and New Age activists and more recently, wealthier 'yuppie' types. 

The town centre, 2026

This in turn saw a boom in tourism to the area. During the 1990s Hebden Bridge became a commuter town, because of its proximity to major towns and cities both sides of the Pennines and its rail links to Manchester, Bradford and Leeds”**

I will leave residents to correct or agree with the description but that does seem to be the perspective of outsiders some of whom I count as friends.

That said having visited the place over the years I can see how it is an attractive place to settle down in despite the ever-rising house prices, risk of flooding and unpopular development plans.

Houses that climb the valley, 2026

But who wouldn’t be drawn to what the British Airways flight magazine in 2025 named as the fourth quirkiest place in the world and described as ‘modern and stylish in an unconventional and stylish way’".**

At which point I could launch into a full description of its old English origins, its rise to prominence during the Industrial Revolution and its place today as a cultural, and retail centre, but then I would only be lifting the account from other people’s research all of which is easily available.

So instead, I will content myself with these   paintings by my artist pal Peter Topping.

Crossing the water, 2026

He ventured east from Chorlton recently to reacquaint himself with the place and meet up with one of his sons who now lives there.

And that pretty much is it.

Location; Hebden Bridge

Paintings; Hebden Bridge, @ Peter Topping, 2026, https://paintingsfrompictures.co.uk/

*"Go West,  young man go West and grow up with the country” Horace Greeley, 1854 and “a rose red city half as old as time” John William Burgon, 1845

**Hebden Bridge, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebden_Bridge

Nutclough Road, 2026

Breaking News ....... in Chorlton

Talking books have just taken off in a new direction.

The idea of listening to something worthy like the stories of the classic authors is not new but my old chum Peter Topping has chosen to do something a littler different and well within the quirky side of his character with his 'Musical Poems and Pictures of Chorlton-cum-Hardy', and like his first interactive book it is accessible to the visually-impaired and hard of hearing both young and old.

As Peter says, “After the great success of the first interactive book 'Musical Nursery Rhymes and Pictures by Peter' I was inspired to produce the next book in the series "Musical Poems and Pictures of Chorlton-cum-Hardy". 

Again this book is accessible to the visually-impaired and hard of hearing both young and old. This is Book 1 in the set which features songs about some of my favourite Chorlton places. 

Thanks to GECKO, Chorlton Civic Society, Navilens, Chorlton Arts and Topper Publishing for supporting this project. The book will be offered free to the visually-impaired and hard of hearing people of Chorlton and district, while stocks last. Contact me for details. peter@pubbooks.co.uk”.

And yes by scanning the QR codes you can view a video of each page with lots of pictures from the bok, listen to the text on the page, listen to the songs and sing along with the karaoke subtitles.

Enough said

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Picture; lots of brand new 'Musical Poems and Pictures of Chorlton-cum-Hardy'

A book ….. the project ….. and an appeal

Now, this is one of those deceptively simple projects which is ground-breaking and deserves to be supported.

But rather than rehearse badly what my old friend Peter Topping has already said in support of his “Musical Nursery Rhymes and Pictures by Peter – A Visually-impaired Friendly Book”, I shall just hand over to him.

“The book is called “Musical Nursery Rhymes and Pictures by Peter – A Visually-impaired Friendly Book”

On the front the flash says “Not just for kids – for grown-ups too, this is because each nursery rhyme has its history and the story about its origin, for the adults.

 Each spread in the book has a nursery rhyme, the history, and the picture relating to the rhyme. In the top right is the Navilens code.

 

The idea is that each page or spread in the book has a Navilens Code, which is a QR code with coloured squares around it.

 This can be read with an ordinary QR code reader but you won’t get the spoken introduction, unless you use the free Navilens App.

 This code leads to a YouTube video of that rhyme, which has audio description for the visually impaired.

 Each rhyme has a separate video, which contains audio description, the song of the rhyme, the picture relating to the poem and the history. For the sighted there are karaoke style subtitles and more pictures relating to the rhyme.

 We are trying to raise £300 for the book, which will be given away free to the visually impaired in Chorlton and District (while stocks last).

 

All profits will be put towards print costs and promotion of this book and production of the next book in the series.

 The link to JustGiving is https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/free-books

 Attached Ad for funding, sample spread in book and Navilens code leading to sample page YouTube video”.

And that is all I shall say.

Pictures; Artwork courtesy of Peter Topping, 2024