Old Pond publishing days

Hadleigh, Suffolk, new Kindred book advance information

Hadleigh: the Portrait of a Suffolk Town. The photographs of Peter Boulton

Selected by David Kindred

Commercial photographer and film-maker Peter Boulton recorded Hadleigh and its people in the 1940s and ’50s. This thriving country town, ten miles west of Ipswich, gave him scope to photograph the activities that were typical of so many towns at that time.

During the Second World War Peter Boulton photographed the wartime sandbagging of major buildings, the work of the Royal Observer Corps and the celebrations of VE Day. His later photographs show the craftsmen of the town, including work at Brett Weavers where coconut matting was woven.

There are many evocative photographs of groups of people – at carnivals, fetes, school sports, dances, the Coronation celebrations and the Hadleigh Show. The Hunt winds its way through the town and there are accidents and incidents such as the disastrous fire at Toppesfield Mill in 1954, the cover picture.

David Kindred has also selected photographs from a dozen of the surrounding villages such as Kersey, Boxford and Monks Eleigh. He has based his captions on the log left by the photographer and has consulted the Hadleigh Town Archives and the Hadleigh Society for supporting information.

David Kindred worked for forty years as photographer and picture editor on Ipswich and East Anglian newspapers. He writes two popular weekly articles featuring local nostalgic photographs and is the author or co-author of ten books, three of which have been published by Old Pond.

Paperback book, 242 x 168mm, 128 pages with 250 photographs. ISBN: 978-1-906853-12-9. IN STOCK at Old Pond, £12.95.

Among those at a tractor sale and demonstration at the White Hart, Hadleigh, in 1947 were Jack Gray, Mr H Wright, Mr Widdicombe, Jack Green, Johnny Green, Bill Bateman, Leslie Widdicombe and Jack Wells.

Horseman Mr Fleet lived at Long Pond Cottages, Lower Layham and worked a short walk away at Overbury Hall Farm. This photograph was taken in 1948.

Farmer Victor Fairfax (left) with a line-up of Guernsey cattle at Brook Farm, Great Waldingfield in 1949. Soon after the Second World War Mr Fairfax and his wife Christine bought three farms totalling about 350 acres.

Part of the production line at Brett Weavers in October 1947. Brett Weavers made a wide range of goods including rope, coconut matting and sacks. During the First World War they also made army uniforms.

Good friends at the Hadleigh Secondary Modern school sports day, June 1954.

Asda to boost classic tractor prices?

A quote from the Independent newspaper, Business section 2 June: 'Asda's shares scheme delivers £43m bonus.... Staff plan to spend their cash on treats, such as second-hand tractors and attending Elvis conventions in Las Vegas.'

The first two programmes from Tractor Barn

Two new DVDs from Tractor Barn duo Stephen Richmond and Jonathan Whitlam are In STOCK at Old Pond

Farming Diaries: a life on the land
Presented by Stephen Richmond

68-year-old John Want shows how he runs a 350-acre arable and cattle farm single-handed. He has been on the farm all his life and first of all tells Stephen how his mechanisation has advanced over the years.

Film-maker Jonathan Whitlam caught John every month to show his key operations, including:

mill-and mixing cattle feed, drilling grass seed and beans, spraying, spreading fertiliser, cutting, baling and wrapping silage, harvesting winter wheat and baling the straw, combining beans, drilling winter cereals, ploughing and drying beans.

As we would expect from Stephen and Jonathan, there is plenty of footage of machinery in action, for John Want is a Ford and New Holland fanatic, a man who ‘can’t wait to get started in the morning’.

DVD, 94 minutes, released June 2009  £15.95

Working Tractors Volume One
Presented by Stephen Richmond

Stephen Richmond and Jonathan Whitlam have been making tractor and machinery programmes for over eleven years. They have now started releasing material from their extensive back catalogue.

Their first programme has thirteen detailed records of tractors at work: a Fordson E27N Major, MF 6150, D Brown 1390, Marshall 904XL, Case IH CVX 1135, Ford 6640 XLE, Fordson Model N, NH 110-90 (and a Case loading shovel), Claas Ares 826RZ, JD 6920, Leyland 154, NH 7840SLE and a JD 7920.

The farming operations captured include ploughing, cultivating, drilling, cutting grass, muckspreading and baling.

DVD, 75 minutes, released May 2009  £9.95

Two engineering archive films from Old Pond

Now IN STOCK at Old Pond are two outstanding Scottish engineering DVDs from Panamint Cinema.

A Romance of Engineering
National Library of Scotland

This archive DVD comprises four films made for Scottish engineering companies.

Men of Iron (c. 1947) deals with iron propeller manufacture at the Blair factory of Andrew Strang & Co.

A Romance of Engineering (1938) shows the production of steel components at William Beardmore & Co’s Parkhead forge where turbine and diesel engine parts, and railway axles were made.

James Watt (1959) is a film about the life and work of the inventor of steam engines.

The final item Story of a Steel Wire Rope (1946) illustrates the manufacturing of Martin Black & Co.

DVD, b/w, 97 minutes, released June 2009  £19.95 

Cruachan: the hollow mountain
National Library of Scotland

Two archive films dealing with hydro-electric schemes in Scotland.

First, from 1952-56, the construction of the Glen Moriston dam by the Mitchell Construction Co. Plenty of machinery in view as well as an explanation of construction techniques and footage of underground work. B/w, with narration, 33 minutes.

The second film, Cruachan (1966), covers the construction of the ambitious pumped-storage hydro-electric scheme at Loch Awe, Argyll. The engineering detail is particularly strong, including the manufacture and finishing of steel castings, cables, circuit breakers and switch gear. Colour, fully scripted, 48 minutes.

DVD, 81 minutes, released June 2009 £19.95

Sweet tractor music

Every band should have one, more regular than a metronome: http://tinyurl.com/dk4occ

Scania book now in stock

Scania at Work: LB 110, 110, 140 & 141 by Patrick W Dyer is now in stock at Old Pond, £19.95. For more information see blog 4 February. 

An outstanding review of the Demolition Giants DVD

In the June issue of Earthmovers magazine editor Graham Black has given a whole page to a review of Steven Vale's programme Demolition Giants. Here are some quotes from the article:

'This is the best demolition DVD that I have ever watched ... effectively 1 hour 25 minutes' worth of good quality television that can be watched any time you like, over and over again for £15.95. No American hype and no comedians, just the sights and sounds of the tall structures being ripped apart by massive machinery, acompanied by an informative documentary-style English-language voice-over.'

'The footage of the extremely tall rigs at work is simply stunning, particularly the giant machinery in Holland.... However, for those with a professional interest in the subject, it also provides a unique insight into cutting-edge European demolition technology; it is a business essential. What was a stylish and worthwhile touch was the DVD extras, including an interview with David Kocurek. If you want to know about high-reach demolition rigs, this East Anglian engineer is a well-respected world-class expert.'

If you aren't already receiving Earthmovers magazine, go to www.earthmoversmagazine.co.uk. You'll find that they are now adding exciting video footage to their website.

For more information about the Demolition Giants DVD and a Contents list look at our blog of 8 February. To buy online go straight to Old Pond

DVD Massive Earthmoving Machines Part 4 advance information

This DVD deals with some extreme Mountain Movers from Hitachi, Komatsu, Cat and Liebherr. They are at work in the coalfields around Fabero, northern Spain, and the talc mine of Luzenac in the French Pyrenees. You will find two sets of photographs in our blog of 3 July 2008.

Massive Earthmoving Machines Part 4 Mountain Movers, by Steven Vale, DVD, approx 90 minutes, ISBN 978-1-906853-06-8, IN STOCK at Old Pond at £15.95 (inc VAT). 

The programme contains some truly memorable footage recorded by Jonathan Theobald and Roger Wiltshire, the team who worked on the first three critically acclaimed programmes in the series. The script is by Steven Vale whose previous work includes the Aitik DVD and Demolition Giants.

Contents

SPAIN
FABERO COAL MINE
Hitachi EX5500 excavator (520 tonnes) – only ones in Europe
Cat 789C dump trucks (200-tonnes capacity)
Komatsu D475A dozer (100 tonnes) – biggest in Europe
Cat 5110B excavator (130 tonnes)
Cat 988F wheeled loader
Plus Tamrock drills, a blast, numerous other excavators and coal loading.

TORMELEO COAL MINE
Komatsu PC3000 hydraulic excavator (250 tonnes)
Cat 16M grader
Hitachi Zaxis EX850 hydraulic excavator (85 tonnes)
Komatsu D375A dozer (70 tonnes)
Komatsu WA800 wheeled loader (100 tonnes).

CERREDO COAL MINE
Hitachi EX3600 hydraulic excavator (360 tonnes) – rare machines in Europe
Komatsu WA600 wheeled loader (53 tonnes).

FRANCE: LUZENAC TALC MINE
Liebherr R994B hydraulic excavator (340 tonnes)
Komatsu HD985 dump trucks (105 tonnes capacity)
Cat 777C dump trucks (95 tones capacity)
Cat 992G wheeled loader (100 tonnes)
Numerous Liebherr excavators extracting and loading talc with special front shovels.
Drills, a small blast, and a novel bucket and cable transport system.

FABERO EXTRA
O&K 120-C hydraulic excavator (220 tonnes)
Demag H185 hydraulic excavator (200 tonnes)
Demag 95 hydraulic excavator.

Ice Road Truckers Season 2 DVD in stock

Old Pond has now received stock of this 9-hour epic 3-DVD set (see blog 3 March for more details). Ice Road Truckers Season 2 is available at £19.95.

Demag AC350 crane at work

On 29th April, yacht Gaia is perched outside the Spirit Yachts boatyard in Ipswich Dock. Gaia is 30 metres long, 'Spirit 100' class, a classical beauty constructed of laminar wood.

A different sort of beauty (left): the Terex / Demag AC350 crane arrives at 7 a.m. on 30th April. It has been hired by Quinto from NMT crane hire.

The counterweights are transported by two DAF 105.510 tractors (right) with Broshuis trailers. Each can carry up to 70 tonnes, a 90-tonne gross weight.

The weights are 6 or 10 tonnes each (left). The total for this lift is 122 tonnes.

The crane weighs 100 tonnes and cruises at 50 mph.

The lift was quick and trouble-free in the hands of operator Trevor Hill. That's just about £4 million he has at his fingertips (right), or two years' work for the boatyard. The crane's mast is extended 33 metres.

Even if (like me) you don't know anything about yachts you may remember the boat at Venice in the Daniel Craig Casino Royale. That was from this yard, a 54-foot version.

The crane was extended to its full 56 metres to handle the 40-metre mast (left). If you look at the detail of this photograph you may just make out a Terex / Demag G107 steadying the lower part of the mast.

Someone's enjoying his work: up the mast (right) to free the tie.

This day's work was recorded for Old Pond's  first crane DVD in which Steven Vale will look at the large wheeled cranes. This is a 350; we expect him to find some 1,000s or 1,200s.

If you have really deep pockets and appreciate the best in yacht design check out Spirit Yachts.