Liz Wood

Watch It's No Joke Living in Barnsley - BFI Player Barnsley-born actor Brian Glover returns to his Yorkshire hometown in this RTS-winning portrait of 1970s working-class northern life.

The BFI have got this online as well, came out a year later in 1976 but somehow missed out the skiing and canoeing (there's a hot tub but it's got 11 footballers and Brian Glover in it) share.google/UJH6IV6ysQhn...

Finally found a use for that 25 year old dictaphone cassette in a drawer...

Two cyanotypes, one with feathers and the other with various plants (including fern, ivy and grasses).

Two cyanotypes of various plants. Ivy features, as do grasses, brambles and something that was growing in the carpark. One of them also has netting over it.

Two more cyanotypes, one with a bottle and two thin, stemmy plants, the other with a broken pair of glasses and some watch bits.

Three cyanotypes, one with an unravelling micro cassette and a pair of headphones, the others with bits of lace and some sewing paraphernalia.

Faffing-with-cyanotypes-as-a-minor-distraction attempt two

It *might* be possible to get a new copy from www.merlinpress.co.uk/page/backlis... for those with less Ellen Wilkinson in their local library

I might have to get a copy out of the work library soonish if there's an unexpected shortage...

Very much a sideline, given the main topic, but interesting to see him posing with a stereoscopic viewer as one of the tools of his trade.

Waves from somewhere that is apparently Beyond.

Bearing in mind that my musical tastes are notoriously not upbeat, Isabel Campbell (with bonus Mark Lanegan), Arab Strap, Gerry Rafferty (Night Owl for preference)

Photograph of an upside down mug on a damp bench. The mug is white with a silhouette of a pigeon and the caption 'All I care about are pigeons and maybe four other people...'.

Going to work I got into the habit of nodding to this pigeon mug, left each day on a bench by the office. The spot on the bench varied, once or twice money was left on top.

The mug has been missing since new year. This week it reappeared in slightly tea stained glory, a low key moment of #TinyJoys

Report of the Lurgi Study Group, October 1963.

'Tis the season

Possibly Burll Ginsburg (Burl with a bonus l)

I'd go with Anne Macover for the second person.

I think that's the fourth box filled so far. They invested heavily in steel embellished, spikey stationery items.

Box of stabby metalwork.

The office is probably familiar with the percussive clunk of metalwork by now...

Yellow cardboard folder with document clamped in with metal fastening. Two stabby metal prongs are fixed to the folder for no useful reason.

Pile of orange folders with stabby prongs sticking out, ready to impale the palm of a hand.

Wielding a pair of pliers at these 1980s files in sympathy.

OK, English-speaking folks, I'm trying to think of a nice, short-ish poem for my adult audience. I thought of Wordsworth's Daffodils, or of Frost's Road not taken, but if you had to choose one poem for a French audience with an intermediate level, what would be your pick?

As a sharer of the office space, can I strongly discourage the sprout and cheddar option.

You might be able to fashion something from panettone and Dairy Milk if you get desperate.

Two bottles of Jacquard cyanotype chemicals next to some processed photos.

Thanks! It's surprisingly straightforward and pleasantly distracting - definitely recommend if you're interested.

Some cheapish photographic chemicals, watercolour paper or fabric, and the sun (or a UV lamp if it's January) is more or less all you need.

Harwell cardboard box glowing suspiciously. A UV lamp is plugged into the top.

Cyanotypes inside the impromptu lightbox, developing.

Yes, I may have borrowed part of the dark room from work.

Three cyanotypes in a tray, one with cogs, one with a couple of thin plants with small flowers at the top, and the third with feathers and what appears to be a small seagull.

Cyanotype of ferns, because every attempt at this photographic process appears to require at least one image of ferns.

Three cyanotypes of plants, including ivy, grasses and something else that was growing near the house.

Three cyanotypes, one involving grasses, one with cogs and skeletal fish, and the third featuring a fern and a selection of lizards.

Have typically picked the time of the year with least sun to start playing around with cyanotypes at home

Black and white image of a Victorian knitting frame, still used to demonstrate at the FWK Museum.

Here to share more about our work celebrating the craft and graft of framework knitting, plus our new programme of events, workshops and exhibitions coming up in 2026.

Black, orange and white cat on a knee, ignoring the camera.

Feet up, cat installed, that'll do for today.

Back to 'Coal Country'...

Exploring the Miners' Hall, Barnsley, with the @sslh.bsky.social

Have bought a chocolate log, some tangerines and a poinsettia and am counting that as Christmas shopping done

Archivist waving a wooden mace around in an archive store

Yet again, I'm surprised that I have an appropriate use for this photo

Hi everyone! As some of you may know, our organisation, YHP, is focused on the promotion of the scholarship of Black British History.

We have some amazing projects which we can't wait to share with you next year. But the research, editing etc. for these projects are done on a volunteer basis.

When I lived in Lincoln and the fog was down, the Cathedral tower would suddenly loom up in front of you, as you toiled up the hill.

Once a group of laughing characters in early modern costume appeared round the stonework (they were extras for the Da Vinci Code but it was momentarily weird).

Ben Tillett's mace in an archive strongroom, being welded by some idiot.

Ahh, Ben Tillett's mace...

www.diffordsguide.com/cocktails/re...

A. J. Cocktail Recipe Discover how to make an A. J. using Calvados apple brandy, Pink grapefruit juice and Sugar syrup (2:1) in just 5 easy to follow steps

On a similar theme

www.diffordsguide.com/cocktails/re...

Outstanding niche 1920s / 1930s trade unionist work

A derailed version of the 'Flying Scotsman'?