Honouring the Past!

Wirral Photographers started many years ago with an eclectic bunch of enthusiasts wanting to share and further each others talents. Whilst our members have changed over the years and it’s been difficult getting us all together for field trips now and again, we recently came out to honour one of our own who sadly passed a few years ago.

The Crew - Anthony, Dave, Les, Tom, Barry

Steve Lewis will be sadly missed, but his wife Heather, was able to put together a retrospective of his work and have it shown at the Nantwich Museum. All proceeds from sales and donations were being given to the hospice that looked after Steve in his final days and where Heather donates her time as a volunteer.

Part of Steve’s Exhibition (Tom Lee)

Dave inspecting one of Steve’s landscapes (Tom Lee)

Steve has his own gallery page (here) on our website still; in recognition of his talents.

Those of you who follow our Blogs, will know of our BLT (Butty League Table)! We have to feed the body you know; and we keep tabs on the venues we choose to eat out on our trips. Finding a cafe that will accommodate us is no mean feat when we all come out to play! Our stop off on this occasion was Ginger and Pickles Bakehouse in Mill Street, Nantwich, where we tucked into some ‘Bacon Doorstops’, and yes, they were!

The butty shop! (Tom Lee)

The ‘Bacon Doorstop’ (Tom Lee)

Well as you know Wirral Photographers enjoy their food when they are out and about and honour those establishments that look after us the best, with excellent simple food. All members on any given trip vote and the total are fed into our Bacon Butty League. Well, the votes are in and counted and with a whopping score of 92 they have moved into third place in the table. (See the BLT here).

Whilst Nantwich has some great historical buildings and history, we didn’t find that it ‘rocked our boat’ as some of our other venues, so moving on, we were only an hour away from our next port of call - The Anderton Boat Lift in Northwich, another key to honouring the past

The Anderton Boat Lift (Tom Lee)

The Anderton Boat Lift is one of only two working boat lifts in the UK and is affectionately known as the Cathedral of the Canals. Designed by Edwin Clark in 1875 to transfer boats and barges between the River Weaver and the Trent and Mersey Canal across a height of 50 feet. It was in operation for over 100 years until it closed in 1983 due to corrosion. However, it opened to the public again in 2002 after a huge renovation project began in 2001.

A boat turning at the foot of the lift (Barry Quatermass)

Impressive engineering (Dave Newby)

Industrial Might (Dave Newby)

The Cement Factory facing the lift (Barry Quatermass)

Abandoned Lock Gate (Barry Quatermass)

Two huge water tanks, each possessing watertight sealable doors, work as counterbalances to transport the boats up and down. Whilst the lift was not in operation during our visit, it’s nevertheless an impressive sight and many of us decided to capture images on ‘film’ - yes we still use old stuff as well as digital!

Abstract of counterweights (Anthony Clarke))

Metal Landscape (Anthony Clarke)

Abstract Counterweights (Anthony Clarke)

We found the site to be geared towards families and a lot of the site was given over to kids play areas, however the boat lift itself didn’t disappoint. The engineering involved must have been challenging for the Victorians and awe inspiring in the past; much as it still is today. There is also an informative exhibition on the site outlining the history and technology involved in its construction.