Atherton & District Amateur Photographic Society

When we first saw the signs for Historic Tyldesley we were puzzled, thinking what on earth was historic about Tyldesley. But there's Damhouse, Astley Green Colliery, the old graves from the burned down church opposite Damhouse, Chaddock Hall, Gin Pit, probably much more. But that's just an example. One picture please from everybody, substituting Tyldesley for where your own home town is. So, Historic Tyldesley, Atherton, Leigh, Salford, wherever you like, but something historic be it a building or whatever fits the brief and it being something from where you live.

Deadline is midnight on Wednesday 30th June.

Have fun with it and see what you can come up with.

The Promenade, Leigh Rd Atherton. The larger building used to be the communal baths for the miners now a residential home.

Westhoughton, where I live is full of history. This is a memorial in Westhoughton Church Cemetery to the Pretoria Pit Disaster, December 1910. The inscription says ‘Sacred to the memory of 344 men and boys who lost their lives by an explosion at the Pretoria Pit of the Hulton Colliery Co. on the 21st December 1910, 24 of whom sleep under this monument, being unidentified at the time of burial. This monument is erected by public subscription, as a token of sympathy with the widows and relatives of the victims, 171 of whom are buried in this cemetery, 45 in Wingates, 20 in Daisy Hill, 3 in the Congregational Churchyards, and the remainder in various burial grounds’. So incredibly sad.

Nine arches Newton Le Willows

Astley Mining Museum

The Gardeners Cottage - 1840 Worsley Now in the hands of RHS Bridgewater Grade 11 listed building.

The Boar's Head was built in 1900, to replace the previous Boar's Head.

I forgot to say: the Boar's Head is in Leigh.

Many thanks to everyone who contributed images for this, always appreciated when more people join in. The whole premise of this forum competition is to share images on a theme, hopefully something that will stretch our imaginations and perhaps throw up some ideas that are a bit outside the box. The winner sets and judges the next one, thus keeping it going.

So without further ado, let's see what we have for Historic........

Daz Hanson has achieved a couple of important things here. A bit of background info, a good point of view and for any historic image a bit of context by making sure we see the building in its environment. This image shows us just enough of the subject to give us a good idea of how it interacts with its surroundings. The technique is sound, the choice of black and white is a good call and the only thing I would suggest is that a little more sharpness would be good.

Lesley also gives us that background info, puts the subject into its environment and also gives us a very nicely done black and white conversion. The end result has a touch of the surreal about it. Very impressive.

Graham's railway arches have been shot in some very attractive lighting, which makes the point that a record shot can also be an attractive picture. It is very atmospheric and there are many similar places around, where our industrial heritage towers above a no doubt pleasant but often slightly worn landscape. We can also take a bit more information from the shot, we know that this is a railway viaduct and we also know that it is electrified, so no doubt still in use.

Sue R doesn't find Astley Green Colliery the most fascinating of places, but she certainly has an eye for pulling a fine image out of the bag. When I think of the number of times I go to this location, and yet here is an image that I have just not seen. Sue has though and it hits the spot with fine, dramatic colour.

Janice has clearly been down to RHS Bridgewater and has made a very striking picture of the Gardener's Cottage. Excellent composition and good attention to making sure everything is geometrically straight. It's a great location and will become even better as it matures.

Mel may well have been attracted to the vivid red of the brickwork of this fine building in Leigh. I have been as well and I guess that many of us have also shot images. It is sharp, well exposed and shows off a very attractiove bit of architecture. Pulling back slightly to show just a little of the surroundings would make for an historic record. Would we correct the converging verticals? Possibly a tweak using the Transform tool?

Gordon has been down to the clubrooms and whilst he was there made good use of our own heritage. It's well arranged, the shelves are absolutely straight and it shows good attention to detail. A good thought in that the ADAPS clubroom itself is part of Atherton's heritage, so full marks for looking at our own place and actually seeing it. It can be so easy to visit somewhere constantly and yet never really see it at all.

Anne has also been observant and noticed the irony of the Tyldesley Monument being in Wigan. In a world where Leeds Castle is in Kent, Liverpool Castle at Rivington and Bolton Abbey in Yorkshire, I suppose we shouldn't be surprised. The upward viewpoint adds power to the monument, giving it gravitas and importance. The tecnique is good, colour and sharpness are good and the detail in the sky gives a good backdrop. It is true that the context previously mentioned is not there, so probably a second image to show more os the surroundings would complete the historic record, but in the context of this competition a fine image as it is.

Now we need a winner, so we know who will set the next competition!

I've got to conclude that the image that stands out for me is Sue R's very dramatic shot of Astley Green.

A close runner up would have to be Lesley's monument.

Thank you all for joining in, and I pass the baton to Sue to set the next competition.