| Volleyfire | 23 Apr 2017 2:53 p.m. PST |
These are two wartime posters painted by my mother's father, John Henry Bell of Mablethorpe.He was a grain merchant by trade, and spent all day on his own moving 20 stone sacks of corn and pulses to and from farms and the local railway. In the evenings he would be on Home Guard duty manning the 6 inch gun battery on Mablethorpe sand dunes. Then finally when he got home he sketched and painted these by candle light. They were mounted on prams and pushed round the town collecting old pots and pans for scrap for the Spitfire Fund.I thought they might be of interest to some of you. |
| Volleyfire | 23 Apr 2017 2:56 p.m. PST |
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| Rob Richardson | 23 Apr 2017 3:28 p.m. PST |
What a treasure you have there! Thank you very much for sharing them! |
| zoneofcontrol | 23 Apr 2017 4:23 p.m. PST |
Volleyfire:
"I thought they might be of interest to some of you." That would be, Yes! Thanks for posting them with the background story. The posters themselves are really cool. But the story and family linkage make them priceless. |
| wrgmr1 | 23 Apr 2017 7:16 p.m. PST |
Wow, they are a real treasure. Have you ever thought of offering copies to a museum? |
| Volleyfire | 23 Apr 2017 11:53 p.m. PST |
wrgmr1 I happen to live a mile from the former WW2 RAF base at East Kirkby, now home to the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre, and I have thought about loaning them the posters. Currently they are pinned to the wall in my wargaming shed in the back garden.
lincsaviation.co.uk
I'm worried about them fading over time, they've been stored for the past 45+ years and I only put them up last year. |
| boy wundyr x | 24 Apr 2017 6:53 a.m. PST |
Thanks as well for sharing, what history! |
| wrgmr1 | 24 Apr 2017 11:56 a.m. PST |
Simon, lucky you!
Personally I would take them to a reputable copy place and have them copied. Pin those on your wall and lend/give copies to the LAHC and keep the originals in a safe dry place. |
| Volleyfire | 24 Apr 2017 12:59 p.m. PST |
Excellent idea Thomas, I think I will have to hunt down a good copier locally.The photos don't give a good idea of scale, the top poster is pretty big, about 4ft x 2ft. |
 Parzival  | 26 Apr 2017 10:55 p.m. PST |
Any museum might be able to direct you to the best preservation method for these. I would think these would be significant pieces due to their level of detail and connection to real civilian efforts at the time, so a museum might even take on the preservation effort themselves in exchange for the loan for display. Worth a shot, anyway! Fascinating pieces and story! |
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