General Information
During the year 2000 D J Clark built a visual record of the Lancaster &
Morecambe district using photographs and information submitted by those that
feature in the pictures. The project was conducted in association with Lancaster
Museum and has been archived for future generations to look back at the district
at the turn of the new Millennium. For more information on the project visit
the information page. If you find a caption is
wrong or there is a fault with the page please e-mail D
J Clark.
Date:
March 24th 2000
Location: Ashton Hall, Quarry
Street
Photographer's Diary
After an hour to clean my cameras and gather my thoughts I was back on the road, this time to photograph the concert I was so keen to capture. It was now the forth night of a concert given by different primary schools. It was strange in that the performers outnumbered the audience. They took up most of the seating area, and the parents were crammed upstairs and at the back of the Hall. The Ashton Hall was large, Grand and for most parts quite impractical. The balcony's were off limits as they were thought to be unsafe, the lighting was week though made up of fancy candelabras. But the place oozed history, with huge paintings and fancy trimmings.
The 52nd annual concert started and I shot from the balcony. I spotted Hilton Dawson the MP and had a quick word before disappearing down to the stage area. The children sang, the recorders played and the dancers danced. It should have been fun, but I found the most excitement on the stair wells before the concert started. Some children looked like they were press ganged into it and only a few individuals really sang their hearts out. A sad truth maybe that adults presume that this is what children want to do but in truth they would rather be listening to Robbie Williams and playing computer games.
At the end of the concert their was the appropriate applause and the vote of thanks was given by Mrs Betty Morrow the president of the organising committee. She came across as very much in charge, a school teacher from the past, and one that frightened me.
I left quickly at the end and went home for a Curry.