For more than forty years author Howard Beard has rescued old postcards and photographs of the Stroud area, resulting in a large archive of images which are willed to the Museum in the Park.
In his eighteenth and final book, Favourite Photographs from the Stroud Valleys, he chooses 180 of the ones he considers most special.
Each picture is a gem and deserves slow and careful scrutiny. Some of the images will be familiar to readers of his many books, or people who have attended his talks, but most are being shown for the first time. Every picture has a local connection, be it to people or to places.
Early forms of transport and long-forgotten occupations give a fascinating view of ordinary life as it used to be and Howard’s dry sense of humour surfaces in his descriptive captions.
The 100-page book, priced at £10 (plus postage if applicable), is available from Stroud Bookshop, R and R Books, Stroud indoor market, The Museum in the Park, or online from: books@stroudlocalhistorysociety.org.uk
By a timely coincidence, in the very week the new book was published, Howard was sent by a friend this press cutting dated September 1986, reviewing his very first book, A Cotswold Camera.
