Posters from the Past ........... no 17 ......... Woolwich .......Walking The River

Now the project is simple, take an image of a building we all love and turn it into the style of poster which was popular in the middle decades of the last century.*

And because so many of us have fond memories of the foot tunnels under the Thames, here is our take on how Woolwich Borough Council might have marketed the trip.

Location;Woolwich

Painting; Woolwich Foot Tunnel, © 2018 Peter Topping,  Paintings from Pictures, from a photograph by Neil Simpson, 2016

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk 

*Posters from the Past, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Posters%20from%20the%20Past

Posters from the Past ........... no 20 ......... coming home

Now the project is simple, take an image of a building or “thing” we all love and turn it into the style of poster which was popular in the middle decades of the last century.*

Peter and I have been creating such advertising pieces of art for a while.

I source the original image and offer the caption and Peter does the rest.

So here is our take on a series of posters which could have been commissioned by the Eltham Tourist Board celebrating where we live.

Follow the link Posters from the Past, and you can find others from the Friends of Woolwich, the Thames Foot Tunnels Appreciation Society, and Retired Eltham Librarians.

And a thank you to Jean and Richard Low who one day back in 2012 drove around Eltham taking pictures for the blog, one of which Peter used for our poster.

Location: Eltham

Painting; The 161, © 2020 Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures, from a photograph by Jean Low, 2012

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk 

*Posters from the Past, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Posters%20from%20the%20Past

The Three Austins ….. a herd of elephants …. and a big tent in Peel Park ….. the circus comes to Salford

Now I have to thank Tony Flynn for the memory of the day Mr. Chesterfield and his circus hit town.

Not that I have ever visited one which at 74 must be some sort of record.

Mother disliked the idea of paying to see performing animals which she thought was a cruel form of exploitation and refused even to watch those broadcasts on TV which popped up in the 1950s and 60s.

And that dislike passed to me. 

That said I do like posters and Tony’s example is a fine one, more so because it dates from the year before I was born.

So there is it.

I could go into the history of the travelling circus and even mention the one that regularly came to Chorlton in the interwar years and just after.*

But I won’t …….other than to say I did go looking to find a reference in the newspapers of the week in 1948 when Fiery Jack, Marjorie and her famous Liberty Horses and John’s Dogs, danced, skipped and growled under a Salford moon, but drew a blank.

Instead I found this 1905 picture postcard from Tuck and Sons, the international picture postcard, company but turn away and avert your gaze all those who might get angry at Tuck's mistake.

So, because it is so good I will repost Tony's poster

Location; Salford in 1948

Picture; Chesterfield’s Circus comes to Salford, 1948, courtesy of Tony Flynn and Peel Park, Salford R Tuck and Sons, from the series, Manchester courtesy of Tuck DB, http://tuckdb.org/postcards/122638

*Chorlton and a circus, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Chorlton%20and%20a%20circus

Posters from the Past ........... no 11 ........ coming home

Now the project is simple, take a modern image of a building we all love and turn it into the style of poster which was popular in the middle decades of the last century.*

Although in this case it is the ferry, which for many of us will always be special.

As kids it was the start of the adventure that took you across the river to that “other place” and for countless grownups the way you got to work.

The last time I used it was  when we were heading back north from Deal and having lost the M25 I managed to navigate a route that took us in to Eltham past our old house at Well Hall, and always one to seize an opportunity I suggested we make the river crossing at Woolwich.

And that pretty much restored my creditability.  Tina who is Italian just loved the experience.

And yes I know we had had to queue and the journey takes just a few minutes but she found it magic as did I.

All of which just leaves me to adapt that Samuel Johnson comment about London, “the best prospect any of us can see is the ferry crossing at Woolwich that takes us home.”*

Location: on the Thames at Woolwich

Painting; Coming home to Woolwich, © 2017 Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures,  from a photograph by Andrew Simpson, 2012

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk 

*Posters from the Past, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Posters%20from%20the%20Past

**“The noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees, is the high road that leads him to England!”
Samuel Johnson, A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland and The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides

Posters from the Past ........... no 7 enjoying a film and a night out at the Grosvvenor

Take a modern image of a building we all love and turn it into the style of poster which was popular in the middle decades of the last century.

It was a bit of fun from Peter which has become the series Posters of the Past.*

And today it is the turn of the Grosvenor which was opened in 1915 to a design by Percy Hothersall and with almost a thousand seats was I think the biggest cinema outside the city centre at the time.

Even now long after its days as a place to see films have ceased it is still a pretty impressive building.

Its green and cream terracotta tiles marked it out on that stretch of Oxford Road which apart from the Town Hall opposite and the old offices of the Poor Law Union on the corner of Cavendish Street was a drab spot.

And I just missed going there.

It closed as a cinema in 1968 and I had to be content with using it as a pub which it had become after unsuccessful stints as a bingo hall and snooker venue.

Still some of the original features still exist including the balcony, vaulted ceiling and much plasterwork although they have not been treated well.

I guess the cinema entrepreneur, H.D. Moorhouse would be less than amused.  Pretty much all his working life was given over to picture houses and the films, having started as an accountant he got drawn in with a parts share on one and later a string of cinemas, across the city.

And now his cinema is a pub.

So instead let’s slide back to a time when the price of admission to a night of dreams, fears and adventure was just 6d.

I think it would have to be the 1930s with that wonderful film Things to Come.  Of course yours will be different but as they say “you can be at my film night if I can be in yours.

Poster; The Grosvenor, © 2016 Peter Topping

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

Facebook: www.facebook.com/paintingsfrompictures

*Posters from the Past  https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Posters%20from%20the%20Past

Post early for Christmas ...... to a place in the 1950s

Now I think the Post Office must do things differently from when I was growing up in the 1950s.

Back then delightful and innovative posters appeared every year in the run up to Christmas.

And this is one I like.  

It comes from the collection of David Harrop who collects all things posty and thinks it dates from the 1950s.

A trawl of GPO sites didn’t advance my research and so the 1950s it is.

Today a quick flick through the internet will offer up the details of the last dates to send letters, cards and parcels to every part of the globe.

But back in the 1950s we did indeed do things differently, and posters like this were on display in Post Offices and probably other public places.

And I seem to recall as the 1950s slid into the next decade that information began appearing on the telly, with a mix of serious public announcements with rather silly ones delivered in the form of a cartoon.

And that is all I am going to say.

Location; the 1950s

Picture; Post Early, circa 1950s, from the collection of David Harrop

Posters from the collection

Nothing more than a poster

Pictures; posters from a collection, 1970-1993

One poster .... in a different time

 It was over 50 years ago that we acquired this poster from the off-licence on Well Hall Road.

At the end of the summer when we left home for Manchester it came with us, was blocked mounted and has followed me from homes across Manchester and beyond.

And since l washed up in Chorlton in 1976 it has graced the walls of five different rooms. 

Looking at it now it can be criticised for some of its underlying assumptions, but it remains special.

Location; Well Hall in Eltham, Manchester, Ashton and Chorlton

Picture; Whitbread Tankard poster, circa 1972

Posters from the Past ........... no 12 ......... something is stirring down in Woolwich

Now the project is simple, take a modern image of a building we all love and turn it into the style of poster which was popular in the middle decades of the last century.*

And supposing these figures had been in place in 1946, may be the Tourist and Information Office of the Borough of Woolwich might have used them to draw those who seldom cross the river from the north of the city to see our bit of London.**

Greenwich might have had the Naval College, and the Royal Observatory and later the Cutty Sark but we had the Royal Arsenal, a pretty busy market ,and trams that could take you south to the delights of Shooters Hill, Well Hall Pleasaunce and Eltham Palace.

All of which makes me think I shall nominate some more places for Peter to paint and reproduce as posters from the past.

And of course invite people to submit their own copyright free iconic image

Location: Woolwich

Painting; Coming home to Woolwich, © 2017 Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures,f rom a photograph by Colin Fitzpatrick, 2012

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk 

**Posters from the Past, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Posters%20from%20the%20Past

** Assembly, by Peter Burke, Woolwich Arsenal 2001

Be ahead of the rest .........

Now the project is simple, take a modern image of a building we all love and turn it into the style of poster which was popular in the middle decades of the last century.*

In this case it is a photograph I took recently of a solitary reader in Chorlton Park.

And given the preoccupation many people have with their  smart phones, which deliver everything from the news, to instant communication, pictures and even games, how refreshing it is to spot someone reading a book in the shade in a park on a hot June day.

Peter took the picture and my copy  and transformed it into what you see.

There isn't an International Library Week, but lots of countries do promote National Library Weeks or Days, so I guess we are ahead of them all.

Location; your choice

Poster;  No Signal designed by Peter Topping  from an original photograph, The Reader, 2023, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Posters from the Past, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Posters%20from%20the%20Past

Twenty years of political history ……..

It is 43 years ago that Glyn and Hazel brought back this poster from Paris.

It celebrated two decades of political activity by the Unified Socialist Party.

Now the history of the PSU is easily accessible and so instead I will just leave you with the campaigns and events commemorated on the poster, and the rest as they say is mine and many other’s political past.

Added to which some are very relevant today.

It came back as a rolled up poster, was block mounted a few months later and during the last 43 years has moved around the house, from the dining room, to the kitchen and now upstairs in the study.

And it has appeared on the blog before, bu that hasn't stopped me bringing it on again.

Location; our house

Picture; 1960/1980 NOTRE ESPOIR A20 ANS, 1980, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Posters from the Past ........... no 19 ......... something to come home too

Now the project is simple, take an image of a building we all love and turn it into the style of poster which was popular in the middle decades of the last century.*

And supposing we were asked by the Salford Tourist Board to produce a series of posters which celebrated Salford, this might have been one of them.

So I came up with  the original photograph of the brewery, along with a caption, and the rest was down to the artistic talents of Peter Topping.

All of which makes me think I shall nominate some more places for Peter to paint and reproduce as posters from the past.

And of course invite people to submit their own copyright free iconic image.

Location: Salford

Painting; Trelfall’s Brewery, © 2020 Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures, from a photograph by Andrew Simpson, 2018

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk 

*Posters from the Past, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Posters%20from%20the%20Past

Posters from the Past ........... no 13 ......... Come Home to Salford

Now the project is simple, take a modern image of a building we all love and turn it into the style of poster which was popular in the middle decades of the last century.*

In this case it is those iconic cranes at the Quays which long outlasted the docks but eventually were taken down.

I won’t be alone in wishing they had been retained, so in their honour I asked Peter to give them pride of place in another of our Posters from the Past.

Location; Salford

Painting; Come Home to Salford, © 2017 Peter Topping,  Paintings from Pictures, from a photograph by Andrew Simpson, 2012

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk 

*Posters from the Past, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Posters%20from%20the%20Past

Posters from the Past ........... no 14 ......... This Year Cruise the Twin Cities

Now the project is simple, take a modern image of a building we all love and turn it into the style of poster which was popular in the middle decades of the last century.*

In this case  it is a cruise and a stretch of historic water.

We have Andy Robertson to thank for the original photograph and the rest as they say is pure magic.






Location; on the water

Painting; MANCHESTER & SALFORD...This Year Cruise the Twin Cities, © 2018 Peter Topping,  Paintings from Pictures, from a photograph by Andy Robertson, 2018

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk 

*Posters from the Past, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Posters%20from%20the%20Past

Posters from the Past ........... no 4 a book opens the world

Now the series Posters from the Past has arrived in Eltham, and where better to settle than outside our Library.

It was built in 1906 and many of us will have fond memories of the place.

Our Stella worked there in the 1970s and ‘80s, and a decade earlier I sat in its Reference Library and was also a regular visitor to its music section while Jean regularly reminisces about her time there.

All of which means the Library is a perfect candidate for the new series which takes iconic buildings we know and love and offers them up again in the style of a poster from the mid 20th century.

I would like to think that Woolwich Borough Council commissioned one of their team to produce a poster sometime in the 1930s or 40s, but in the absence of one, here is Peter’s painting and my caption, with our version.

Poster; Eltham Library, © 2017 Peter Topping
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

Facebook: www.facebook.com/paintingsfrompictures

*Posters from the Past,   https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Posters%20from%20the%20Past

Posters from the Past ...... no 21 ....... Deansgate Castlefield ….. Gateway to Manchester

 Now the project is simple, take an image of a building we all love and turn it into the style of poster which was popular in the middle decades of the last century.*

And because so many of us use the tram and will pass through Deansgate Castlefield it seemed a logical choice to use the Metro stop for a poster.

Of course, there will be those from the Friends of the Metro Link who will point out that strictly speaking Cornbrook should be given the title of Gateway to Manchester, Salford and beyond.

It is after all one of the main switching points and I believe is also the hub of the electronic stuff which makes the network function happily.

But I like Deansgate Castlefield better.

Location; Deansgate Castlefield

Painting; Deansgate Castlefield, © 2023 Peter Topping,  Paintings from Pictures, from a photograph by Andrew Simpson, 2023

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk 

*Posters from the Past, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Posters%20from%20the%20Past

Posters from the Past ........... no 9 Catching the sun in Alba Adriatica

Now the project is simple, take a modern image of a building we all love and turn it into the style of poster which was popular in the middle decades of the last century.

And if the original photograph was mine it just adds to the story.

The poster style dates from the 1930s through to the 50s but the building can only be about twenty years old.

But I don’t think that matters because with its clean lines and geometric shapes it could be much older.

We were in the hotel opposite which was built in the 1970s and despite a makeover still carried traces of that decade, including the small cubicle off the foyer, which while it had long ago lost its telephone and table, still retained a stylish 70s sign.

But most of the hotels like the one opposite are much newer and I wonder how they make themselves just that bit different to capture the holiday trade.

And for that matter how this bit of Alba Adriatica stands out from the rest, given that really all you just have is a long stretch of hotels, bars and restaurants which run parallel to the sea, and come to an end with another resort.

So perhaps the town council will take our poster and adopt it.

We shall see

Painting; the Hotel in Alba Adriatica, © 2017 Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures from an original photograph by Andrew Simpson
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

Now I collect or rather I did collect political posters.

But mine came from the moment they were produced and would have spent time in the front window, calling for action or support on a heap of now half-forgotten campaigns, most of which were lost.

So, they are as they say the history “I lived through” and as a result are faded, dog eared and creased.

I am occasionally temped to dip my toe in the water and look on the internet or in those posh places which masquerade as antique emporiums but are really just secondhand shops.  But most of the posters are into good a condition and anyway cost an arm and a leg.

All of which is an introduction to these two posters. 

The first comes from the second General Election of 1974 when after a Tory Government had presided over a three-day week, when power cuts and closed factories prompted the Labour Party to run with “Remember the last time the Tories said they had all the answers”.

The second dates I think from the early 1980s, when the recession was in full swing, and unemployment has passed the three million mark.

Both made their way from a window to a wall and finally a series of resting places before coming out into the sunlight again

Location; the 1970s and 80s

Pictures; “Remember the last time the Tories said they had all the answers”, 1974,  and 100 Companies circa early 1980s, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Posters from the Past ........... no 6 a capital choice of destination

Now the brief was simple.

Take a modern image of a building we all love and turn it into the style of poster which was popular in the middle decades of the last century.

It was a bit of fun from Peter which has become the series Posters of the Past.*

And having made the poster my contribution was to place it in a time before now.

So given Peter’s slogan I suggest a promotional poster from the late 1940s before the age of cheap jet travel, when if you had a month to spare and fancied something luxurious you might well be tempted by the poster in the offices of a well known shipping company in downtown New York.

Tower Bridge is of course one of those iconic structures which is instantly recognizable as London and of course leaves me to offer him a challenge which is to produce in quick succession one of Eltham where I grew up and Rome and Naples which will always be my two favourite cities.

So that is it, leaving me only to say if you have an image of a place which is dear to you and want it included in Posters from the Past send it over and we will rise to the occasion.

There is no prize and the picture must be yours, otherwise Colin Copyright might be after us.
Location London

Poster; Tower Bridge, © 2016 Peter Topping
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk
Facebook: www.facebook.com/paintingsfrompictures

*Posters from the Past  https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Posters%20from%20the%20Past

Posters from the Past ........... no 18 ......... Rome The Eternal City

Now the project is simple, take an image of a building we all love and turn it into the style of poster which was popular in the middle decades of the last century.*

And today  we are in Rome, one of my favourite cities, wondering how the Tourist Office might have marketed the Eternal City.

Location; Rome

Painting; Rome, © 2018 Peter Topping,  Paintings from Pictures, from a photograph by Andrew Simpson, 2008

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk 

*Posters from the Past, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Posters%20from%20the%20Past