On our trip up north last year we stayed a few nights in Inverness. At the War Memorial I noticed a few changes since I had first photographed it in 2018.

The Edith Cavell gardens are now more open:-

Flower bed with Gaelic inscription stone. This translates as Field of Remembrance:-

There was now a ‘ghost’ soldier:-

Plus three memorial benches.

Two for the Great War:-

And one for 1939-1945:-

Kingussie War Memorial with Indian Memorial to left:-

The memorial is a celtic cross on a tapering pillar atop a square base:-

Dedication:-

Great War names:-

Second World War names:-

Nearby Memorial Bench to Great War dead:-

In the way north from Killiecrankie we passed through Blair Atholl and I spotted its War Memorial.

Of course I stopped to photograph it.

A Stone of Remebrance inscribed 1914 – 1918, with memorial plaques on a wall behind:-

Great War Names:-

Second World War Names:-

More from the Alfred Buckham exhibition at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

I just love photos of Great War era battleships. This is USS Wyoming with the Forth Bridge behind. Buckham added colour to this by hand:-

Christ Statue, Rio de Janeiro. Buckham enhanced the photo to highlight the figure:-

Botafogo Bay:-

Buenos Aires City Hall:-

Teotihuacan Pyramids:-

Pre-Inca irrigation ditches, Peru:-

Caldera of Popocatépetl:-

Last week we went to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery to catch the exhibition Alfred Buckham, Daredevil Photographer. It’s fantastic. The images are breathtaking.

You’ll need to be quick to see it, though. It’s only on till 19th April.

Buckham’s career started in the RFC (later the RAF) in the Great War. He took his photographs from an open cockpit, leaning out of the aircraft with his leg strapped to the seat as his only safety concession. After the war he began taking photographs of British scenes, images which lent a new perspective to otherwise familar places. He later made a trip to South America.

One of his most famous pictures is of Edinburgh. Unfortunately my photo is marred by the reflection of a blue light:-

This is not simply photography. It’s Art. His final images were carefully created by layering of negatives. Hre are the three he combined for that Edinburgh shot. Again, sorry for the blue lines:-

This is the original Edinburgh photo unenhanced. Not anything like as dramatic:-

I’m a sucker for airships so these photos of R101 and R100 delighted me:-

Cleadon is a village in South Tyneside, just north of Whitburn where a friend of ours lives.

We had never actually stopped in Cleadon – apart from to buy petrol once – until Oct 2024.

While stopping to photograph Cleadon’s War Memorial I spotted this minor Art Deco building:-

Cleadon War Memorial is a stone pillar on a pedestal. Details of the memorial are on this website.

View from side:-

Names of Great War dead and those who served:-

Second World War names:-

Dedication:- In memory of those young men and women from Cleadon Cottage Homes who served
during the World Wars 1914-1919 1939-1945.
“They that put aside today
All the joys of their today
And with toil of their today
Bought for us tomorrow.” – Rudyard Kipling

Blanchland is the site of an old Abbey which nowadays acts as the local church.

Blanchland Abbey:-

Rear of Abbey:-

Blanchland’s War Memorial sits beside the Abbey’s entrance pathway:-

It commemorates the village’s Great War dead. Dedication and names with inscription, “All they had they gave.”:-

A stone wall with two columns surmounted by a pediment with wreath.

Radcliffe was a town in Northumberland just south of Amble.

Its War Memorial was relocated to Amble’s War Memorial garden in the 1970s when the former mining town was demolished and its residents moved to Amble.

Amble is a town at the mouth of the River Coquet (pronounced to rhyme with croquet) in Northumberland.

It can be seen from the top of Warkworth Castle:-

Amble’s War Memorial is a clock tower set in a memorial garden:-

Great War Dedication. Second World War names below:-

Great War names, Adamson – Henderson:-

Great War names Henshell – Wintrip; plus T Bain, R Coulson, J Feretti:-

Warkworth is a village in Northumberland. Its War Memorial is a cenotaph in a recessed corner near the Church:-

Closer view:-

Dedications and names:-

Warkworth also has a War Memorial Hall. Entrance doorway:-

There is a side entrance down a path to the right:-