I have just stumbled upon a couple of negatives that brought back an almost childhood memory for me.

As a schoolboy I spent my Saturdays and school holidays working for the firm of Putmans Photographers of which I was later to share ownership.  I just loved everything about the photographic process, from taking pictures through to developing and printing the results. I was probably a right pain to the then owners, Frank and Jessie Putman.

However they encouraged my interest and when I reached the ripe old age of fifteen they sent me out on my bike to undertake my first professional assignment.

The task was to photograph a grand old man well into his nineties in his home in Butchers Lane. Set loose with a camera loaded with black and white film and a flashgun I made my way to prove my worth as a potential cameraman.

Mr Balls, a lovely old boy and founder of the then well known High Street hardware store, T H Balls and Sons, greeted me warmly and told me how he wanted to be photographed. I had been told that I should only take two pictures so as not to waste film. This I did and returned to base to eagerly await the film being processed and my masterpieces revealed.

It was these two negatives that I have just discovered some 47 years later.

I can now understand the frivolity that surrounded the cataloging of these  negatives with the title...          
Mr. Balls and his Organ

Earlier this month I received an email asking for help with locating a Walton boat builder from the 1920s.

The message came from Christine Hopkins, who along with her husband David, a marine surveyor, had just bought a "beautiful little East Coast boat". The boat was named Chough, a 24' 3" gaff cutter built in 1928 by Brooke & Hall at Walton.

Now I know nothing about boats, but I did know of Brooke & Hall boat builders. I was able to acquaint  Christine with the firm which is still building boats in Walton but now named Frank Halls & Son. I was also able to send her this picture of their boatyard back in the 20s.

 Today I have received a set of pictures of Chough as she arrived at her new home on the Hamble River and was subsequently moved into a shed for some TLC before hopefully going into the water later this summer.

I mention this here as a tribute to the craftsmen of Walton who built Chough 80 years ago. It's hard to believe that much of anything being built today will still be around in 80 years time.

Good luck to Christine & David - maybe one day they'll be able to sail Chough back to her birthplace

It is said that the past comes back to haunt you - well perhaps this is just such a case.

Sorting through more negatives from the Putmans files to add images to the Old Walton Archive I came upon a couple of pictures taken at the British Legion Children's Christmas Party around 1949/50.

Many familiar faces can be seen on these photos - you can see them in the online archive as larger images- but just one young man dominates both pictures and I'm proud to say that he is my brother, Owen Dawson. 

What's so special about Owen - look carefully.

                              Here's a close up to help you  >

The story goes that he and his mates had all agreed to stick two fingers up just as the photographer was about to take the picture.

BUT he was the only one 'brave' enough to actually do it. He even did it twice!

The unsuspecting cameraman obviously didn't notice this performance and thus it has gone down into history.

So next time you think about doing something silly or rude in front of the camera - remember it may come back to haunt you.

During the past few days I have added hundreds of new pictures to Old Walton Archive and while doing so came upon a negative showing a photo and a press clipping from 1895.

The picture was familiar to me as it has been in the archive for more than 50 years. However, I did not know anything about it. Now thanks to the power of the Internet and a few clicks of my mouse button I have unearthed an interesting story.

This is the picture I refer to. It shows an abandoned lifeboat showing the parent ship's name ELBE and its home port BREMEN on its stern. The press cutting attached reads:

THE ELBE DISASTER
The lifeboat of the Elbe which drifted into the Backwater at Walton-on-the-Naze on February 6, and which then became so much embedded in ice as to prevent its being examined, was at last investigated yesterday afternoon. It proved to be boat No 3 - the one from which the survivors were rescued by the Wildflower.

The photo is credited to T C Brooke

The SS Elbe set sail from Bremerhaven on passage to New York on the night of 30th January 1895 with 354 passengers on board. Sea conditions were atrocious. At 5.30 am as the passengers slept the Elbe collided with another steamship, Crathie, which was en route from Aberdeen to Rotterdam. The Elbe began to sink immediately and the crew were only able to lower two lifeboats, one of which capsized as too many people had clambered into it. The other lifeboat was the one in the picture and which saved the lives of 15 crew members, four male passengers and one lady's maid, Miss Anna Boecker, who had luckily been plucked from the sea after the first lifeboat capsized.

These twenty people were the only survivors. The captain, crew and remaining passengers all perished. Fortunately for the lucky twenty a fishing smack from Lowestoft called the Wildflower found them and took them aboard.

Clearly the old adage of "Women and Children First" did not apply in those days

You can read the full story here. It does suggest that the lifeboat was breaking up when the survivors were rescued. I think we can correct that as it still looks in pretty good shape in the picture.