What could be the final book in a fascinating series on the history of Barton upon Humber has just been launched.
The book, The Railway Comes to Barton on Humber: 1844 – 1914 has been written by railway enthusiast and historian Anthony Berridge and edited by fellow historian Geoff Bryant.
Speaking at the launch, held at The Ropery Coffee Shop, Mr Berridge reminisced that it was many years ago since he was first approached to write a book on the coming of the railway to Barton.
“At last it is published despite a loss of data and subsequent distress,” he went on.
“In writing this book it was difficult to know what to put in and difficult to know when to stop,” Mr Berridge revealed. “But the book runs from five years before the beginning of the railway in 1849 and I stopped at the start of the Great War in 1914.
Mr Bryant recalled how Barton’s rich vein of books on its history came into being.
“It was in 1960 when the local WEA tutor Rex Russell published his first book “Schools and Education in Barton. He brought out books about every other year and at the end had published well over 100 books about Barton,” he said.
Between 1970 and 2008 Mr Bryant, Mr Russell, and local wildlife expert and artist Miles Hopper published more literature through the auspices of the WEA.
“Included in that was, in 1994, “The Early History of Barton upon Humber” from the year dot to 1986 and at the time thought that would be that,” Mr Bryant recalled. “Then I thought why finish in 1086?”
“Myself and a few others, historians and others interested in local history gathered in my house one night in 2001 and decided that we would carry on from 1086 – and we thought it would all go in one book but it soon became clear we needed more than one book and so nine titles were drawn up and eight of those nine titles are now in publication . Medieval Barton is still outstanding.”
The WEA produced the first five books to be published in the series and when it ceased to publish such publications in its name, Liz Bennet of The Ropewalk stepped in and further books were published under the auspices of Fathom Writers Press.
More publications followed in 2009, 2011, followed by Mr Berridge’s book.
“I think there is more history of Barton to be written although this book is the last one I shall edit. We have hardly touched on industry or farming, “Mr Bryant continued.
The book is available to buy from The Ropewalk, Wilderspin National School and 8 Queen Street, all in Barton, and costs just £9.
The annual exhibition by The Ropewalk Studio artists. Featuring work by:
David Alcock
Sally Beaumont
Emily Connor
Debbie Grice
Richard Hatfield
Gill Hobson
Judith Land
Darren Langton
Tim Needham
Julie Oxenforth
Michael Scrimshaw
Shirley Trumble
Keith Woodcock
The Ropewalk’s popular Christmas Art Market will showcase the work of more than 40 makers and artists.
Taking place over the weekend of Saturday December 7 and Sunday December 8 those makers and artists selected to take part will be selling original handmade gifts, cards and artwork (more…)
Helen Martino would describe her work as being ‘sometimes serious and sometimes playful’. For many years Helen worked as a functional potter, making batches of domestic pots on a wheel. Now she sees herself as more of a maker in clay, hand building each piece individually by using soft and flexible sheets of clay. These sheets of clay are freely cut, curved and sometimes twisted, this is how Helen is able to create different perspectives and distortion within her work. The surface is painted with slip, underglaze pigment and resists. Depending on the piece silver and gold lustre may also be incorporated.
Helen is fascinated by body language and how this can be communicated. She observes Mogul and Persian miniatures and admires how they are able to tell a story within one image. These artworks often show a significant event within the life span of a person or family. Helen’s sculptures are also intimate like the miniature and show a single event that can be applied to the past, future and present, allowing the viewer to determine the story of each artwork.
Working in Cambridge, Helen exhibits widely across the UK and is the founder member of Cambridge Open Studios. She will be exhibiting in the Box Gallery in November.
Yorkshire born and bred, Eleanor Tomlinson is a traditional artist and illustrator based in East Yorkshire. Inspired by the beautiful Yorkshire countryside she has grown up amongst, Eleanor predominantly works in ink and watercolour to specialise in capturing and celebrating UK wildlife and the local countryside. Eleanor’s distinctive style using ink and watercolour, combines traditional, well-loved subjects with a contemporary, illustrative twist. Her use and composition of contrasting white space brings a narrative and sense of movement and energy to her pieces. Eleanor’s artworks have also been developed into a wide range of cards, stationery, limited edition prints and homeware collections alongside her original pieces which are being sold in an array of independent shops and galleries across the UK.
LAND, SEA AND SKY
The theme for this exhibition ‘Land, Sea, and Sky’ was chosen because its wide-ranging associations might be interpreted in many different ways, and in part because the theme was seen to have some relevance to the location of The Ropewalk Gallery. No size limit was imposed and artists were invited to respond to the theme in as wide a way as possible, to be as traditional or as innovative as they wished both in process and format. The final selection includes three dimensional and large format pieces as well as more conventional prints.
Printmakers Council was founded in 1965 by a group of prominent printmakers to raise the profile of printmaking as an art form and to provide an exhibition society for members. For over fifty years PmC has continued to pursue these aims through a rolling programme of exhibitions, lectures and practical workshops.
Two new exhibitions with links to northern Lincolnshire are opening this Saturday (Sept 14) at The Ropewalk arts centre in Barton upon Humber.
In the Artspace is Re-Tellings, a solo exhibition by Grimsby based artist Sue Stone whose work is inspired by people, place and time. (more…)
