Down Arlesey

This album was compiled by a woman in her early 20s, known throughout as ‘I’ or ‘me’. It covers about three years between 1964 and 1966, apart from two photos, and includes her mum, dad, brother and sister, ‘Phillip and Jeanne’, ‘Gran’ and ‘Granddad, and the dog ‘Major’. Most of the album is of peer-group photos. 

In albums made by people of this age, a person’s partner can change from the beginning of the album to the end. In 1964, she was with ‘Arthur’ in Margate. By 1966, she had upgraded to ‘Gordon’ and Brixham.  ‘Tony’ makes an appearance somewhere in the middle. On the inside cover is a photo of her American penfriend, the preppy-looking Diane Olson. There are two professional black and white souvenir photos, entitled ‘Vestrics Xmas Dance 1967’. In one of the shots there are 16 people sitting at a table full of drinks. The woman beaming most brightly for the camera (top right) is the shutterbug who compiled this album. I think they lived in Arlesey in Bedfordshire, near Letchworth Garden City.  The boating shots were probably taken on Arlesey Moat. There is a lovely POV of ‘Maureen’ coolly lounging back at the bow of a rowboat, her pleated skirt dappled in muted sunlight. 

This album highlights to me just how available interior photography was to the amateur in the 1960s than in former decades. I particularly like the shots inside the holiday chalets. I wasn’t sure whether flash had been used until I saw it bouncing off the painted wooden door. 

Flash photography was introduced first as individual bulbs, optionally mounted on the top of the camera, and then, from the mid-1960s, as flashcubes, and in the 1970s, flip flashes. Flashcubes were enclosed transparent cubes with a flash bulb on each vertical face, which would rotate as each was spent. Once a flash had ‘gone off’, the flashcube could not be touched for about 10 minutes, because it was too hot. Just about every member of my family burned themselves on a flashcube during the 1960s. 

Nigel Martin Shephard