Earlier in the month, 6th March 2026, a gentleman named Jess Hollinshead invited me along to the Bradeley Reunion at The Bradeley pub. He said that someone was bringing along some photos that might be of interest for my history website. The Photos had been collected and compiled into an album by Colin’s sister.
The wife and I duly attended, met Jess and then Colin Sherratt entered carrying the afore mentioned album of photos. He was with his grandson Jack, and we all got chatting. Rach’s mum, my mother-in-law used to walk from Ball Green to Bradeley school across the fields and she was familiar with many of the family names mentioned. Many of the names are friends on my social media.
I looked through the photos and asked permission to publish them which was granted. I explained that I normally scan photo by photo and then save the electronic images to a memory stick then give the photos and memory stick back to the owner. However, this album was not very forgiving as when Colin’s sister had collected the photos the edges of the inserts had been taped so for me to dissemble would have meant damaging the integrity of the album, so I decided to scan whole pages rather than individual photos.
Now this album, never judge a book by its cover, is amazing. It’s full of well indexed social history but it’s also the weight of thousands of associations, of memories and feelings. This is why we save cherished pictures so that our descendants, our relatives, our peers can all have memories prompted. What an absolute pleasure to have access to this collection and to be allowed to work, conserve, and share these images.
Barry Ashley
Smallthorne History
