Picture perfect past

Jan 11 2008 by Andrew Baldwin, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

DRAWING on previously unseen archive material from the National Monuments Record, this book offers a poignant glimpse into the leisure activities of our forebears.

It was a time when shorter working hours, bank holidays and paid leave resulted in the rising popularity of new pursuits – from boating to seaside holidays, cinema and dining to having a cold beer in the pub.

The photographs span more than a hundred years, from a civilised round of Edwardian garden tennis to a boisterous game of tug-of-war in the 1970s.

Covering a mix of sports, traditional fetes and fairs, the circus, theatre-going, fancy dress and much more, it is a fascinating insight into the lives of ordinary people.

Wonderful images include skating on London’s Serpentine in 1895, the cafe at Scarborough’s Odeon cinema in 1936 and two clergymen playing table skittles in 1971.

The Way We Were series is shaping up to be a wonderful record of the way we have lived in Britain since the Victorian age.

ANDREW BALDWIN