DISCOVER W.S. THOMSON’S UNIQUE PHOTOGRAPHS AND SHARE YOUR STORIES.

We are teaming up with photographer and history researcher Estelle Slegers Helsen to collect people’s recollections in the Lochaber communities. Old pictures taken by the Scottish photographer William S. Thomson in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s and present-day remakes are visual cues to interview residents. From 21st May, Estelle will wander around for four weeks in the Lochaber area, walk in Thomson’s footsteps and talk to people. In the autumn, the results of the endeavour will be given back to the local communities, highlighting the past, present and future of the Lochaber area.

William S. Thomson (1906-1967) worked and lived from 1945 to 1961 in Fort William and Corpach and is still in the memories of the post WW2 generation. As a landscape photographer, he roamed around Scotland and produced two pictorial books, 20 booklets in his Let’s See series, other publications, calendars and many postcards. His photographs reveal a distinctive representation of the characteristic Scottish landscape and rural features in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.

Supported by the Year of Stories 2022 Community Stories Fund and the West Highland Museum, about 60-70 years later, photographer and history researcher Estelle Slegers Helsen revisits the Lochaber area to remake a selection of Thomson’s photographs. She will cover the whole area, give talks in the local communities and record residents’ stories and recollections.

As a result, the interviews will be added to the West Highland Museum Oral History Archive. In the autumn, Estelle will give another series of talks in the communities, who all get a set of banners with pictures and stories for future display in village halls, community centres, libraries, museums and local shops. The stories will also be shared on websites, printed in the Lochaber Times, made into podcasts in collaboration with Nevis Radio and published in a booklet with then and now photographs. At the end of the year, an event in the Highland Cinema in Fort William will conclude the project.

More info and dates and places for the local talks can be found on the websites www.westhighlandmuseum.org.uk and www.travelintime.uk

This project has been supported by the Year of Stories 2022 Community Stories Fund. This fund is being delivered in partnership between VisitScotland and Museums Galleries Scotland with support from National Lottery Heritage Fund thanks to National Lottery players.

For more information contact Estelle Slegers Helsen: 07943 166 441 and info@newtraces.uk