Nostalgic Newsletter

John Moreels is returning to our programme in February to present his 3rd instalment of Nostalgic Views of the North and you may wish to have sight of his latest Newsletter, which summarises the onerous responsibility of the Stewardship of such a unique collection.  It may inspire you to help!

Photo Memories Organisation. 'NOSTALGIC NEWSLETTER' www.photomemoriesarchive.org.uk                  Nov. 2015 Issue 3 Ward Philipson Photographic Archive Project - Images of North East Heritage 1770 -1960's.                It is now 2 years...since we started this project in October 2013 and the feedback we have had from everyone is fantastic. THANK YOU! without your enthusiasm for the project I know we would not have achieved the large number of images on the web site. The scanning and restoring of the photographs by the volunteer group is very hard work and at times quite boring. Unfortunately many of the glass plates and negatives are damaged and/or deteriorating. Some beyond repair and many requiring many hours of restoration. At present we have over 7,000 images on the site - way above the number we were expecting when we set out on the project. The feedback and information in identifying many of the images by you, our supporters, has been a great help. Help we hoped would come when we launched our web site, thanks to the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund. Well, that help did arrive BUT we still need more information and help in identifying places, people and views. Do you know anyone who could spend a couple of hours on their computer at home and add information to our photographs? It would be very much appreciated. Thank you to the many visitors to our site, which continues to increase year on year. This year we will have had over 20,000 unique visitors and over 400,000 page hits, a significant increase to visitors we had in 2014. This will hopefully increase again in 2016 as we have just launched our presence on Facebook and Twitter, see logos below for access. More information later in this newsletter. PLEASE KEEP ADDING THE COMMENTS – WE NEED YOUR HELP! www.photomemoriesarchive.org.uk Our presentation team are overwhelmed…. with the requests for talks and presentations throughout the whole North East area. Unfortunately, due to illness, we had to cancel a few presentations in the last few months of 2015, but we hope all will be O.K. for 2016. Thank you for the get well wishes from many of you, we hope to have John back to his usual self after the new year and the medical attention he is getting takes effect. Anyone who was affected with the cancellations can contact John and Sheila and try to rearrange a new date in 2016.  During 2015 we visited over 40 groups and organisations with total audience of over 2,500 people at venues including Whickham, Durham, Ponteland, Slaley, Darlington, Riding Mill and Acomb, to name a few. It is surprising how many people in the area have memories and facts relating to other parts of the region. They either lived or worked there before moving to their current location. Minds full of information and facts we can now record and share with future generations. Thank you for the hundreds of feedback comments we have received, they are really appreciated. See some of them on the web site: www.photomemoriesarchive.org.uk We enjoyed every one of the fascinating groups and we hope everyone who attended did too. Until we had the web site our only contact with our ‘Co-opted Researchers’ was at these events. The enthusiasm and feedback at the presentations was really the force which kept us going with the project. Thank you! Westgate P.A.S.T. need more volunteers .....  Westgate P.A.S.T.  volunteers have been a great asset to our project and without them life would have been very difficult and an even greater challenge. Despite some volunteers having health problems they have continued with the never ending challenge of scanning, restoring and researching the deteriorating images. The success rate is increasing but the ‘stack’ awaiting work never seems to get smaller. They are based in Newcastle upon Tyne and need more volunteers and we need your help. Please contact Arthur Frelford on 07811 366248 or visit our web site to make contact.and find out how you can help as a volunteer. www.photomemoriesarchive.org.uk Thank you to the many organisations and groups who are using our images and supporting our project....One of our main aims is to save and share the Ward Philipson Photographic Images. During the last year we have supplied copy images to many local and national organisations, including: B.B.C. Television who featured Bamburgh Castle on Coast, Baltic 39 in High Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne with images of the Wards print factory in 1905, Local Care Homes displaying images while helping dementia patients and the many publications throughout the world featuring our photographs. We are now on Facebook and Twitter, thanks to our volunteers who understand social media. Your help in promoting the social media sites would be appreciated. You can access our pages by clicking the logos at the bottom of our newsletter. Thank you! Web Site Improvements..  We listened to your comments and you will notice the upload speed of the images has improved. When we started with the project we did not appreciate the number of images which would be uploaded onto the website. We don't like changing things if they are not broken, but in this case the improvements have worked. Thank you for the many positive and complimentary comments about our speed changes. Most of us are not computer ‘geeks’ and we like everything clear and simple. We have also tried to make the site user friendly for everyone including ourselves. That includes trying to identify and find specific images. Tagging is an art and whatever tags our volunteers add to the images they could easily add more. Our unique ' Tag Directory' (see photograph above) lists all the tags currently being used - including the spelling mistakes - and by clicking this link you can select the range of images you are looking for. We know there could be more and there may be spelling mistakes. If you find any or would like a tag attached to a specific photograph just let us know in the comments box and we will try and accommodate your request. Our visitor numbers increase every week, probably with the help of Facebook and Twitter, and the site is being accessed from all over the world, mainly by ex-pats. Their knowledge of the images adds to the facts and comments being added. Please share us with all your friends, family and colleagues wherever they are in the world. Book your Talk/Presentation for 2016… We already have over 40 talks booked for 2016 and will be restricting our talks in 2017 to concentrate on urgent requirements of the Save and Share Photographic Project. We will also be developing NEW talks for 2018 ! Sounds a long way ahead, but this project will take us many years. We have a few dates still available for 2016, please contact John or Sheila - our presentation team - if you would like to book a talk.  If you would like details of our NEW talks, when available, just let us know. we will develop new presentations as we continue to discover new images and the image subjects continue to expand, with new areas/towns being discovered among the photographs every month. If you or you know of a group who would like to share and join in our project, please contact: John or Sheila tel:191 386 7297 or send your details tojohnmoreels@outlook.com  Durham Cathedral from Durham Station – can you help us date this photograph? The railway station in Durham City. The first stop to visit one of the great experiences of Europe which has been recognized by the award of World Heritage Site status. The station has changed considerably and we are sure someone who is railway enthusiast could identify and date the image. We now have over 7,000 images on the web site with around 25% of them undated. We have identified most of the photographs but there are still some which need clarification. Look in tags 'new' and 'new2' if you can help. There are many more on the collections pages of the web site awaiting your comments, facts and memories. We would love to hear from you, please add to the comments box below the images.  It is Christmas Time... and we have the ideal gift..... ‘Nostalgic Views of the North’ book 3… Are you looking for a Christmas gift which will be viewed throughout the years? Our books are in great demand as presents for any occasion, especially at Christmas. You can order direct form us at a special discounted price. Please see details below or on our web site. Photo Memories Organisation volunteers would like to wish all of you, your family and friends:   A Very Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year for 2016. SAVE £3……. SAVE £3……….SAVE £3 LIMITED EDITION Signed copies of BOOK 3 are now available at a special discounted price of £11.95 (post and packing FREE). Full details available on our web site. Ideal for any gift for someone in your life. Order before 15th Dec 2015 for Christmas delivery. To order your copy send a cheque payable to: Photo Memories Organisation' c/o Sheila Moreels, 7, Coventry Road, Durham. DH1 5XD or contact us directly by e mail -johnmoreels@outlook.com Tel: 0191 386 7297. www.photomemoriesarchive.org.uk Do you use social media?......Do you have lots of friends on Facebook and Twitter?.......Send them a Birthday Wish with our special birthday card available FREE on our web site. Select 'birthday' in our tag directory and download the image. www.photomemoriesarchive.org.uk