Here’s a couple of quick ones for Saturday afternoon, that relate to posts from the last week or so – and pretty interesting they are too.
First of all, do you remember this remarkable image supplied by Margaret Thompson?
A wonderful image shared by Margaret Thompson of Brownhills from where the Miner is today, looking down the High Street towards Shire Oak. Click for a larger version.
Well, photo restoration whizz and top pal of the blog Lisa Ashby has waved her magic wand over it, and behold:
And… wow. The same image restored by Lisa Ashby. What a terrific job by a very talented lady!
I think you’ll agree is a vast improvement, and I thank Lisa most profusely – it should be noted that Lisa its available to carry out restorations of images for anyone who’d like projects undertaken, and if you drop me a line I’ll hook you up. Lisa’s previous remarkable work can be seen at this article here and her stunning restoration of the Royal Oak image a few years ago.
Lisa has also been in touch regarding the ‘Who’s that girl?’ conundrum from last weekend, where we were debating the identity of the rather well built lady in he right centre of this 1926 image of what is believed to be a Walsall Wood soup kitchen:
A much debated image of a group outside the old Wesley Chapel in Walsall Wood. Image from ‘Memories of old Walsall Wood’ by Bill Mayo and John Sale.
Lisa had this to say:
I just read your article about ‘Louisa Holden’ (not Julia)[Must stop posting when tired, so sorry – Bob] and my belief that she is in the soup kitchen photo…. The same mystery woman does also appear in the the other soup kitchen photo standing behind the table on the right.
Here are those soup kitchen photos and a photo of Louisa and my great grandfather, William Holden which was taken a good 7 or 8 years later.
Composite image of the lady in question, supplied by Lisa Ashby. Click for a larger version.
Louisa’s health had started to get worse and she was getting on for 54 so she would look similar but not exactly like she did in the photos. The shape of her face is similar, the lines around her mouth are similar, her build, her forehead, the way her hair line raises on the right side of her face all would suggest she is the lady in the soup kitchen photos.
I also noticed that the lady in the photo you posted in the ‘Who’s that girl’ piece is taller than the average women of her day, but Louisa was short and the lady in the photo is shorter than the guys around her.
It’s also possible that on the photo taken outside the church that William is standing on her right hand side, by the time the joint photo was taken he was ill with pancreatic cancer and so would look similar but show signs of age and illness. Until someone can prove to me that it is not Louisa in the photo, I will always believe that it is!
Cheers
Lisa
Well Lisa, you’ve made an excellent case there, and thanks for your well thought out reasoning, which I’d appreciate reader input on: comment here, please or mail me: BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot com. Cheers.