Old photographs of Gobowen

[Simple Simon 36]

Has anyone got old photographs of Gobowen that I can borrow?

I'd like to build up a portfolio of old images of the village that I could include on the covers of the parish newsletter.

I'd be really interested in images of the old petrol stations with vintage cars, the railway station with steam trains, some of the old buildings, village life, anything.

I can clean up ripped or tainted images digitally. Dust off your old albums and please get in touch with me via private message.

Many thanks.

[Community Online 65]

When we collected some information for the Gobowen history page here http://www.gobowen-online.co.uk/history.htm we used the book in the library. I assume it is still there.

[Simple Simon 36]

I remember looking at these when they were first posted some years ago. They're fantastic! I'll check out the library soon.

My one concern is copyright.

[Maggie 65]

Have a look at the new exhibition in the Qube which has lots of old photos from Oswestry.

We have run a couple of 'Show and Tells' in Chirk Bank, and Helen East has done similar things in Weston Rhyn, Selattyn, Bronygartth and Chirk Bank for the After Offa project. These are a day or afternoon, advertised widely, where local people come in, have access to some material you have already collected, and are encouraged to bring in some of their local things and photographs. You need access to a decent voice recorder and scanner for documents and photographs, but this is usually better done later when you have more time. However this is best method to 'flush out' old photos that I know! The Chirk Bank Memories slide film and our podcasts came from Show and Tells in Chirk Bank as part of project on World Heritage Site. (They are linked in the Weston Rhyn section somewhere). The Qube exhibition is based on material gathered at Show and Tells. Most importantly Show and Tells are great fun.

Copyright is a very difficult issue. Some web sites state what the copyright is for photographs, (e.g. peoplscollectionwales has creative commons on most that they own which means you can use them, anything from Shropshire Archives needs permision from them to use ). Copyright of photos rests with the owner of the original, so in practice when someone brings in photographs to a Show and Tell when you scan them you need for the owner to sign that you can use the image. In Chirk Bank, Aqueducks received a pile of old photos of the canal which someone had found in a rubbish skip. They have been given to us. We are doing everything REASONABLY possible to trace any prior ownership of image (and they appear to be previously unused photos, not copies), after which we will assume ownership and they will be listed online as creative commons. But it is a minefield and that word 'reasonably' is used a lot!

(This would be the sort of project for which you could get funding; let me know if you want some help with that)

[Simple Simon 36]

This really all stems from a colour photocopy of a photograph of the now demolished church that used to stand in the grounds of Hengoed Cemetery. I've cleaned it and sharpened it to put on the cover of the spring issue of the parish newsletter.

As Lee says, there's a folder in the reference section of Gobowen library featuring old photos of the village. I've asked about copyright and the staff are going to look into it for me. If possible, I'll scan them and clean them up for possible publication in the "Roundabout" and may upload them here.

[Maggie 65]

This gentleman came into museum yesterday

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/73/a6041873.shtml

Oswestry museum will soon have some photos copied from his collection from his days working for Hathaways pumps (on Gobowen Rd and Pentre Wern). Very interesting and sad how the engineering skills which were important in the area have now all been lost.