HALESWORTH’S MYSTERIOUS PHOTOGRAPHER UNCLOAKED
The Museum Talks series, organized by the Halesworth and District Museum, got off to a great start in the Spring, drawing enthusiastic audiences. And now, already, it’s time to think about the Autumn talks.
The first will be given at the United Reformed Church on Thursday 26 September. Vic Gray, the Museum’s publicity officer will be showing a selection of photographs by the town’s forgotten Victorian photographer, Fred Johnson. He has just been rediscovered through the generous help of Mrs Ivy Limmer, formerly of Quay Street and now of Beccles. Mrs Limmer is the owner of a fine Victorian album of photographs of the town and surrounding area which had been lost from view since the man who compiled it left the town over a hundred years ago. The talk will describe how the Museum has tracked down the name of the photographer and the details of his life, as well as showing a selection of images from the album.
The best of the Halesworth photographs are now to be made available in a book, ‘Fred Johnson’s Halesworth: Images of a Suffolk Market Town’ which will be launched at the talk and will then be available from the Museum and from the Halesworth Book Shop.
Make a note too of the second date, Thursday 31 October when local archaeologist, Gilbert Burroughes, will speak on ‘Knowledge from the Ground: Our Blyth Valley Ancestors Revealed’.
Vic Gray’s talk, “Rediscovering Fred Johnson: Halesworth’s Victorian Photographer “, at the United Reformed Church, Quay Street on Thursday 26 September, will begin at 7.30. As in the Spring, admission will be £3 or £1.50 for Friends of the Museum. Refreshments will be available.