Old Pond publishing days

Old Pond book publishing schedule August-December 2011

The publication of Ron Creasey, the last of the horselads, previously announced for autumn 2011 has been delayed until spring 2012.

August
Know Your Diggers, Paul Argent. Paperback 104 x 155 mm (landscape), 96 pages inc. 45 photographs. ISBN 978-1-906853-81-5. £4.99. In stock

October
The Working Horse Manual 2nd edition, Diana Zeuner. Paperback 245 x 189 mm, 256 pages inc approx 260 photographs and line drawings. ISBN 978-1-906853-42-6. £24.95. In stock
Walking with Giants: Europe's massive earthmovers, Steven Vale. Hardback 280 x 220 mm, 320 pages inc. 400 photographs. ISBN 968-1-906853-83-9. Due early October £29.95. In stock
Ipswich: the changing face of the town, David Kindred. Hardback 280 x 220 mm, 176 pages inc approx 320 photographs. ISBN 978-1-906853-95-2. Due 22 October. £19.95. In stock

November
Roadscapes II, Alan Spillett. Hardback 210 x 290 mm (landscape), 160 pages inc approx 180 illustrations. ISBN 978-1-906853-99-0. Due early November. £24.95. In stock

Spring 2012
Ron Creasey: the last of the horselads, William Castle. Hardback 234 x 156 mm, approx 208 pages inc. line drawings and 39 photographs. ISBN 978-1-906853-96-9. Approx £19.95.
The Ford Transcontinental, Patrick Dyer. Hardback 210 x 265mm, 144 pages inc. approx 195 photographs. ISBN 978-1-908397-10-2. £19.95.

Old Pond DVD release schedule August-December 2011

August
The Pea Files, Stephen Richmond and Jonathan Whitlam (Tractor Barn). DVD approx 100 minutes. ISBN 978-1-908397-03-4 £16.95 inc VAT. In stock

September
Deadliest Roads, The History Channel. 3-disc DVD set, approx 6 1/2 hours. ISBN 978-1-908397-05-8. Due 24 September £19.95 inc. VAT. In stock

October
Looking at Logging Part One, Pete Connock and Martin Phippard. DVD approx 75 minutes (CP Productions). ISBN 978-1-906853-97-6. Due October £16.95 inc VAT. In stock
The Maize Silage Campaign, Chris Lockwood. DVD approx 90 minutes. ISBN 978-1-908397-01-0. Due early October £16.95 inc VAT. In stock
International Harvester Tractors 1906-85, Stephen Richmond and Jonathan Whitlam (Tractor Barn). DVD, approx 75 minutes. ISBN 978-1-908397-08-9. £16.95 inc. VAT. In stock

November
Classic Tractor Review, Stephen Richmond and Jonathan Whitlam (Tractor Barn). DVD approx ?? minutes. ISBN 978-1-908397-07-2. £16.95 inc. VAT. In stock
A New Introduction to Beekeeping, Paul Metcalfe. DVD approx 114 minutes. ISBN 978-1-903366-95-0. £19.95 inc. VAT. In stock

December
Honey: a beekeeper’s guide, Paul Metcalfe. DVD approx 70 minutes. ISBN 978-1-908397-06-5. £19.95 inc. VAT. In stock
Special Transport, Gertjan Houtman. DVD approx 70 minutes. ISBN 978-1-908397-09-6. £16.95 inc. VAT. In stock

Alan Spillett's new book of truck paintings Roadscapes II advance information

Roadscapes II: Landscapes of the Road, Alan Spillett. Hardback book, 160 pages with 180 illus., ISBN 978-1-906853-99-0. Now in stock at Old Pond at £24.95.

Artist Alan Spillett’s paintings of lorries have mostly been commissions from people who wanted a particular vehicle depicted for a personal connection. His scenes range from the days of the horse-drawn carriage to the trucks that thunder up and down our roads today, and are the work of a ‘jobbing painter’, he would have you believe.

Yet these paintings capture much more than just the vehicles and their colourful liveries. They depict life on the road throughout the seasons, capturing to the full the experiences of so many drivers. In each picture, the lorry is the star turn and the background is the stage – often dramatic depictions of exact locations that are the workplace of the lorry driver: the countryside, landscapes of the road, and street scenes as well as the cafés that help to sustain them. An ERF artic loaded with bricks following the old coach road from Fishguard to London, passing near the original line of the road where the mail coach ran a couple of hundred years before, or an AEC MkV 6-wheeler and trailer fleeting past the Ardlui Viaduct at the top end of an autumnal Loch Lomond – these are strongly evocative images.

The paintings are accompanied by captions describing the context of the pictures. There are also features on aspects of trucking and truckers, photographs and poetry inspired by the life of a trucker, adding up to a fulfilling read. Alan’s images range widely through England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland – with a few from even further afield.

The paintings in Roadscapes II have not been published in book form before, and many have been prepared specially for this new book. Together they continue to reveal Alan’s lasting passion for commercial road transport, as well as the respect for the lorry drivers, hauliers and their families who have been his colleagues, friends and patrons over the years.

Alan Spillett spent the first twenty or so years or his working life in the 1960s, '70s and '80s as a long-distance lorry driver before becoming a full-time painter, portraying the subjects he knows best – lorries and the open road. Over the past 27 years he has painted hundreds of road transport subjects and, with his wife Colleen, has displayed his travelling picture gallery at steam and country shows far and wide.

Alan's first book, Roadscapes, was published in 2005. Visit www.roadscapes.co.uk to see more of Alan’s work.

Ipswich the Changing Face of the Town new book advance information

Ipswich: the changing face of the town, David Kindred. Hardback 280 x 220 mm, 176 pages inc approx 320 photographs. ISBN 978-1-906853-95-2. Now available from Old Pond at £19.95.

Ipswich, the county town of Suffolk, has hosted famous engineering companies and major insurance groups; it is a progressive town which has transformed itself over the past hundred years. Today, new buildings jostle alongside those which have managed to survive for centuries. Where horse-drawn vehicles and trams once thronged the streets, pedestrians, cars and bicycles now compete for space.

To help us appreciate the extent of change David Kindred has selected over three hundred photographs from the 1890s to today. These are arranged by area so, for example, you can see clearly the difference the architectural choices of the 1960s made to St Matthews Street or Carr Street.

Have these changes been for the better? In the 1950s the community around ‘The Mount’ was demolished to make way for the police station, Wolsey Theatre and Civic Centre. The great dock whose quays until quite recently were filled with the clamour of commercial activity is now a marina and the base of our new university.

Progress and change always come at a price. The remarkable collection of fully captioned photographs allows us to discuss whether the benefit has outweighed the cost.

David Kindred has over forty years experience as a professional photographer in Ipswich, having enjoyed a long career with the East Anglian Daily Times and the Evening Star. He has built up the town’s leading archive of photographs. More books by David can be found in the photographic books section of the Old Pond website.

 

 

 

 

The photographs in this blog, all included in David's book, are, from the top: St Matthews Street 1897; Rope Walk 1934; Ipswich from the air 1965 and 1994; the Dock 2009 and 1964.

Know Your Diggers new book in stock

Know Your Diggers, by Paul Argent, the postcard-size book for novice enthusiasts about excavators, backhoes and other contractors' machines is now in stock at Old Pond at £4.99.

Filming Massey combines

A couple of weeks ago we were down in the Taunton, Somerset area again, continuing to film Massey Ferguson machinery and implements. It was harvest time, so we concentrated mostly on combines and balers.

We said Massey Ferguson, but we actually started with an Massey-Harris model (left), a 726 owned by Mike Lawrence and Edward Jones, and driven by the latter. This has an Austin petrol engine with Newage conversion to tvo.

Dennis Burston (right) had his 1960 MF 780 Special up and running, an 8ft 6 ins cut converted from tvo bagger to diesel tanker.

The MF 31 combine (left), owned and driven by Mark Mancini, was made in Germany. We were filming on land owned by Geoff Garland, and owe him thanks, not least for keeping the rain away.

David Matravers came over to demonstrate the 1965 MF 788 (right) he owns with his son Gordon.

Finally, here is George French (left) on Dennis Burston's MF 187 combine. George says he has known the machine all its life - and we believe him!

Room for poetry

Poetry: there are those who were put off it at school and those who are willing to give it some room. Alan Spillett, whose book of paintings Roadscapes II is nearly ready for the printer, falls into the second camp. Among his supporting features , Alan quotes lines from 'Roundabouts and Swings' by Patrick R Chalmers:

For "up an' down an' round," said 'e, "goes all appointed things,
An' losses on the roundabouts means profits on the swings!"

Another person in the appreciative group is Kate, daughter of tractor book author and magazine editor Stuart Gibbard. If you have been to the Spalding model tractor shows you will have seen her helping out on the Gibbard Tractors literature stand. One of Kate's ventures is Book a Poet, 'a comprehensive resource for organisations and individuals to book poets for every occasion'.

When I've been out in the fields with the video filming crew some lines from 'The Breaking of Nations' by Thomas Hardy have been known to come to mind:

Only a man harrowing clods
In a slow silent walk
With an old horse that stumbles and nods
Half asleep as they stalk.

Only thin smoke without flame
From the heaps of couch-grass;
Yet this will go onward the same
Though Dynasties pass.

Riotous behaviour among the railway navvies

There are plenty of earlier examples of riots and riotous behaviour in Britain's history. An interesting account I have been reading lately is in Terry Coleman's book The Railway Navvies (first published by Hutchinson, 1965).

The scene was the wave of railway construction in the mid 1840s. The pick, shovel, drilling and explosives work for the great cuttings, embankments and tunnels was undertaken by labourers - or navigators - who were poorly housed, often exploited and worked in dangerous conditions. Their fights and riotous assemblies were fuelled by alcohol and could involve thousands of men. The countryside was terrorised. Exemplary sentences were handed down by the bench.

The Port of Ipswich its shipping and trades - new book published

The Port of Ipswich its shipping and trades, Richard W Smith and Jill Freestone, Malthouse Press, Suffolk. Large-format paperback, 280 x 210 mm, 384 pages inc. approx 400 photographs. ISBN 978-0-9539680-4-6, £30.

Available from Robert Malster, Malthouse Press, 17 Reade Road, Holbrook, Ipswich IP9 2QL. Please make cheques payable to R. Malster and add £5 for UK post and packing.

Also available from the Ipswich Transport Museum.

This is an important book for those interested in the development of Ipswich or more generally in ports and shipping. Although the history of Ipswich shipping dates back to Saxon times, this book deals with the past two centuries. This is a period that saw the town's engineering companies, based around the Dock, grow to have worldwide fame and then decline; a period that started with sail, went on to steam and ended up with a 'Waterfront' jangling with moored pleasure yachts.

Richard Smith has spent twelve years researching this subject. He and his co-author, Jill Freestone, have presented their work under the following headings: the port and its trade - pilotage and other business - towage on the Orwell - the coal trade - grain and animal feed - chemicals and fertilizers - the timber trade - building materials - general cargoes - public utilities - engineering - oil - pasengers and yachting - the port at war.

Throughout the book there are tables giving details of sailings and cargoes; appendices tabulate LNER steamer sailings, visits of Royal Navy ships, deep-sea arrivals 1939-43.

The Port of Ipswich contains a wealth of photographs. It is hard to find a general adjective to indicate just how  impressive this book is. 'Awesome' comes to mind, reflecting the amount of work that has gone into writing and publishing it. I just cannot recommend this book highly enough.

Kind words for the Ford 7000 DVD

In the August/September issue of Ford & Fordson Tractors magazine editor Peter Love writes: 'I thoroughly enjoyed watching this 100 minute DVD and recommend it to you all ... the best DVD of its kind produced in years and a welcome addition to everyone's collection with an interest in Ford tractors.'

The programme Peter is reviewing, The Story of the Ford 7000, produced by Tractor Barn boys Steven Richmond and Jonathan Whitlam, is available at £16.95 from Old Pond Publishing.