Four reasons to like Accrington, Lancashire

Hand-whittled pencils, cycling shoes, grandma's own sauce and airweave cotton: Lancashire's got it sussed. Paul Vincent of S.E.H Kelly tells us what draws him to the land of mills time after time.

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People like Accrington. This is probably because of the famous 'Accrington Stanley' advert for milk, or whatever it was, back in the 1990s. It is, in its own right, a nice place, in a nice part of the world, and I often pass near it on the way to various mills and factories in Lancashire and Yorkshire. Here's what I like about it:

Lancashire sauce

I was introduced to Entwistle's Lancashire Sauce by Mr. Entwistle. I was in his shop in Ramsbottom, and the prospect of a sauce made to the recipe of his ma – one fit for condimentation with seemingly any type of food – was too good to pass up. Excellent sauce from a very nice man.

Mamnick shoes

Mamnick is the brand of a man called Thom who, along with shirts and steel objects, makes shoes. Cycling shoes, to be precise. No cyclist, me, but I have it on good authority that, with these shoes, Thom has truly "nailed it". Old-school, in a way, but timeless things, really.

Trickett pencils

There's a chap in Accrington called Iain Trickett, who sells some wonderful things on his website. These pencils are a good example. I think they are out of stock at time of writing, but I believe they are soon coming back, which is good news, because they are terrific and tactile and hand-whittled by a man who lives in the woods.

Airweave cotton

We have used cotton from Lancashire for a few years, but only late last year did we find this stuff: airweave, which is a type of holey cotton – light and dry but hard-wearing, and a replica of military cloth from years ago. Plain and sober cloth, and just the thing for casual jackets. Watch this space.

Paul Vincent is approximately one half of S.E.H Kelly, a clothing brand founded in 2009. They make garments with makers of the British Isles, in their workshop in east London, and in a few shops in Japan. 

sehkelly.com

A camera strap fit for Ernest

Handcrafted by a photographer-turned-strap-maker, these deliciously coloured leather camera straps are perfectly designed to complement your favourite piece of kit. 

What is it about this seemingly ordinary leather camera strap that catches our eye? Why is it a thing of beauty? 

Well, for a start off, it comes down to a thoughtful design process and attention to detail. Using traditional materials and techniques in their Oregon workshop, the Great State Strap Co has crafted each strap with the company’s ethos in mind, focusing on comfort, function and aesthetics.

Founder and photographer Gary Tyler knows that making a strap to endure daily outdoor use requires quality leather, so he's very picky about where his materials come from. He finishes the leather in-house using carefully chosen vegetable dyes and oils, creating an appealing array of tasty-sounding colours, such as honey and dark chocolate.

The straps are cut, bevelled and burnished by Gary and his team for a comfortable feel and polished look. The adjustable strap means you can sling it over your shoulder and keep your camera safe on more adventurous photography excursions.

We think the Boot Strap would look particularly fetching with a Fuji X100. Oh yes. 

Great State Boot Strap, £59, Harrison & Fyfe

The One Jumper Project

It was a simple idea. Travel round the country and photograph a range of people against a simple background, all wearing the same jumper. Chris Blott from Quiggleys tells us the story behind the One Jumper Project.

What inspired you to start the One Jumper Project?

“Photography was always going to be at the heart of Quiggleys and I had been trying to think of a project to use on the site. One day, while driving, the idea was there. I don’t know where it came from but there it was. Take one jumper and a canvas on a tour of the country and photograph whoever I could persuade to wear the jumper. What else could I call it? I found the background on a friend’s scrap yard; it was being used to cover an old submarine.”

Have there been any unexpected results from the project?

“I love photography projects that allow for the unexpected. I love the serendipity of stopping on a street and seeing who walks past. Without exception, something good or unexpected or surprising would always happen – stuff that I could never plan or contrive.

I found myself using whatever was at hand to hold the background in place. These little clues about the location were one of my favourite aspects of the project – the massive bolt from a shipyard and the rounded pebbles from the beach at Saltburn.”

So introduce us to this jumper then, it’s Kinny right?

“Kinny was the flagship piece to launch Quiggleys. It is a great jumper, a classic chunky cable knit. We made one as a sample and that’s the one used in the project. Tragically the factory who were going to make the jumper let us down and we never got any, other than the one sample. Not surprisingly we are now working with a new factory and are planning the Kinny Two for next autumn. Whether the One Jumper Project continues with original Kinny or the new Kinny is still to be decided.”

Andy Schofield

I photographed Andy in the tiny, spectacular Yorkshire village of Staithes – famous for being the town where Captain James Cook first worked as a young man and discovered his love of the sea. Andy was simply walking down the street as I drove past. He is a roofer and agreed to wearing the jumper. By the time I set up he was on top of a roof.

Matthew Tronsdale

I was driving in Whitby and glanced left, through large gates, and saw a man walking in paint splattered overalls. I went back but couldn’t do my shot as the men were working; I’d have to come back the next day. I hadn’t really thought it through – the only shot I managed to get was of the guard dog with the jumper round its neck. There was no sign of Matthew, until two minutes before lunch was up when he walked in and thankfully agreed to wear the jumper. Amazingly, he managed to keep a straight face in front of eight jeering ship builders.

Stylist, London

I managed to lose this guy’s name. I had set up on Brick Lane in London. This guy is a stylist and took one look at the jumper and decided to wear it as a scarf, of course. Thankfully he hadn’t seen the shot of the guard dog wearing it.

Kristina Antananityte

This was shot in Cornwall. I know Kristina as she's a model and we were working on a commercial project. I have photographed Kristina so many times but this is my favourite picture of her because it’s not selling anything. No hair and makeup, no client, no agenda – just a straightforward portrait that took two minutes.

Steve Graham

This is probably my favourite from the series, both in terms of the shot but also how it happened. I had arranged to photograph a surfer at Saltburn beach on the North Sea coast. As I waited for him, Steve walked past. It was that simple. A two minute shoot, great light and the oddity of the jumper and a wetsuit – perfect.

Jamie Harvey

This was shot at Murthly Castle, just north of Perth. I was on a totally different shoot and hadn’t really planned to do any One Jumper portraits. Jamie’s mum was working on the shoot and had brought him as it was half term. So I set up and photographed Jamie, more as a bit of fun than anything else. It is now the one image from the set that always gets a reaction. It was also the first shot for the project so a strange place to start.

Chris Blott studied in Glasgow and has spent 25 years working as a photographer, before establishing Quiggleys in 2013. "Maybe I’m lazy and can’t be bothered setting up lights but whenever possible I’ll work with daylight. It never lets you down and is infinite in it possibilities. As people we understand daylight, we recognise it and identify with it."

Second World War silk maps

When Sara Jane Murray brought home what she thought was a damaged silk scarf rummaged from a vintage fair, she soon realised she held in her hands a remarkable piece of history, and an emblem of British ingenuity

Ok, so I have a bit of a obsession with rummaging around in junk shops. I love unearthing unloved stuff. Especially unloved stuff that has a map on it. Or a globe. I have been known to stare at a globe for a very long time.

Over the years, all this accumulated stuff had to compete for space in a small Victorian cottage with two large dogs and Mr Austerity who, although rather lovely, was starting to tut as yet another 1930s enamel biscuit tin in the shape of a globe obscured his view of Newsnight. In order to restore marital harmony, I started selling at a vintage fair in Kent. 

Unfortunately, this was not the happy ending of an uninterrupted view of Jeremy Paxman that Mr Austerity had dreamt of. One danger of selling at vintage fairs is that your eye is often drawn to the myriad of interesting items on sale, and it was at such an event that I came across what I thought was a damaged silk scarf depicting a map. 

It was only when I got home I realised what I'd bought. The piece of silk was an Escape and Evasion map from the Second World War. A pilot or member of the Special Forces would have carried one of these maps in case they found themselves behind enemy lines.

MI9 British Military Intelligence Officer, Clayton Hutton invented silk escape maps during the Second World War. Clutty, as he was often called, was a true British eccentric. MRD Foot and JM Langley, in their 1979 memoir MI9: Escape and Evasion said of him: "His task was to invent, design and adapt aids to escape and evasion… his enthusiasm was as unlimited as his ingenuity, or his capacity for getting into trouble with the staid authorities of service and civilian officialdom." *

Hutton came up with the idea of escape maps after he persuaded the British Museum to collect over 50 true First World War escape stories from various second hand bookshops in Bloomsbury. He then delivered them to Rugby School Sixth Form and asked the pupils to read the books and summarise the key elements. In every account of a successful escape, the protagonist was in possession of some sort of map.

Hutton then went to Bartholomew, a world-famous map making company who, after Hutton charmed them with his eccentric wit and patriotism, waived their copyright on maps for the war effort. Hutton printed the maps onto pure silk. It was the ideal material as it was noiseless and rustle free, folded up small and was easy to hide or sew inside clothing. In blagging several rolls of parachute silk for the project, he apparently required: "A short circuit of the official system…and certain commodities acquired during the pre-war period, amongst them dozens of cases containing marmalades and jams." **

The maps were issued to the RAF and Special Forces in the Second World War and beyond. Troops sewed the maps inside the lining of their uniforms, or concealed them in the hollowed-out heel of their boot. They were even concealed inside monopoly board games and sent to Prisoner of War Camps under the guise of charitable donations.

The more I learnt about this fascinating tale, the more I wanted to share it. Further research revealed that some army regiments and ex-military personnel still had stocks that were either damaged or simply unwanted. I started to collect as many as I could, with no real plan of what I might do with them (the irony of which was not lost on Mr Austerity when I arrived home with three boxes containing over 1,000 of these maps).

And so Home Front Vintage was born. We now remake the damaged maps into cushions, notebooks, ties and lampshades for people who value British heritage and provenance. Each item we make comes with a short history, preserving the integrity of the maps and ensuring the story survives.  

And the best bit? We recently received an email from a 93-year-old ex-RAF officer who was carrying one of the maps when his plane was shot down in 1944. He'd seen our products at the RAF Museum and wrote to tell us how pleased he was that the story was being re-told. He also sent us a copy of his unpublished memoirs which, we think, is one of the greatest stories never told.

*M19, Escape and Evasion 1939 -1945, MRD Foot and JM Langley, Book Club Associates, 1979
**The Hidden Catch, C Hutton, Digit Books, 1957

Sara Jane Murray is the designer-maker at Home Front Vintage and lives in Kent with the long-suffering Mr Austerity and two delinquent English pointers. Her perfect weekend would involve long walks in weather cold enough to wear mittens, log-burning stoves, Yorkshire pudding and half a bitter shandy, if you’re asking.

homefrontvintage.co.uk

A saddle bag fit for Ernest

What's this? Harris Tweed? Fashioned into a splendid saddle bag? Hold us back, dear readers, hold us back...

Ernest Saddle Bag, £128, Walker Slater 

Created by tailors Walker Slater, this herringbone Harris Tweed saddle bag makes a beautifully classic accessory for any foraging trip, mini adventure or jaunt into town. For those of you that don't know, herringbone is the iconic v-shaped pattern we've all come to adore about Harris Tweed. The bag attaches to your bike and can also be carried as a shoulder-bag, making it perfect for trips to the fields in search of mushrooms or for carrying home that spur-of-the-moment market purchase or even just for getting your sandwiches to work unscathed. Useful and stylish it most definitely is, but when you also consider the artisan craftsmanship of the tweed that makes this bag, it becomes a whole lot more special.

Harris Tweed has a proud history, woven and dyed by hand in the Outer Hebrides since 1910 and made from 100% pure virgin wool, it is the only fabric in the world to have its own Act of Parliament. The act protects the skilled artisans and historical production process by ensuring that the Harris Orb used to brand the fabric only applies to tweed that has been dyed, spun and hand-woven on these Scottish islands according to Harris standards. By making the most of this classic tweed and contrasting it with leather and canvas trimming, Walker Slater have fashioned a timeless and elegant bag for any adventurer. We at Ernest Journal love it (and not just for the namesake).

Ernest Saddle Bag, £128, Walker Slater.