In July the photography group excursion was in two parts. In the morning a group of nine visited Hopetown in Darlington to explore the museum created there to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway. We found an interesting variety of subjects to photograph, with the added challenge of working around a number of school visits in progress at the same time. We spent a pleasant couple of hours there, including a break for some lunch, before moving on to the day’s “main event”, a visit to the Tees Cottage Pumping Station at Broken Scar, where another two members of the group joined us.
Here, the challenges were somewhat different. No school visits, we were the only visitors allowed in that day, but fascinating machinery in cramped, indoor locations testing our photographic technique. The wonderful old pumps and ancillary equipment such as the boilers and forge, all housed in magnificent buildings, provided plenty of interesting subjects and we spent a happy couple of hours there making images and being educated by the immensely helpful volunteers who hosted our visit. If you have never been there, I would strongly recommend a visit to one of their open days, when you can actually see the pumps working!
Our next outing will be to North Shields Fish Quay, on Tuesday, 4th of August.
Report by Alan Kenwright
