Llangollen Community
The Book | The Groups | The Shop
Inspired by Rembrandt and Franz Hals’ portraits, Simon Collinge and Andrew Gale applied the Dutch artists’ dramatic lighting techniques to photograph Llangollen’s various clubs, groups and societies.
The book you hold is a unique record of the people and their activities preserved for posterity, providing both an historical record for the town and a fascinating guide for visitors.
These 90 portraits show how rich and varied an experience living in a small town can be if you simply reach out to find like-minded individuals.
£1.00 from each copy sold will be donated to the community venues that provide meeting places for many of these community groups.
This project not only records for posterity a snapshot in time of the Town's community but also reminds us of the breadth of our interests and the staying power of our societies.
Mayor Jon Haddy
His Royal Highness was most interested to learn more about the people of Llangollen through these very evocative photographic studies.
As Patron of the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod, the Prince of Wales always takes a keen interest in the town and its activities and is very conscious of its special place in the cultural life not only of Wales but of the entire world.
The book you so kindly sent is a further reminder of the particular character of Llangollen and of the dedication of those people to sustain its community life.
Dr Graham Davies
Assistant Private Secretary to TRH The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall
For a limited period we are offering free postage to people living in the LL20 postcode area.
Price: £5.00
Price: £5.00 £3.00 P&P in the UK
Books can be purchased in Llangollen at Courtyard Books, Gales, Llangollen Museum and The Tourist Information Centre or by post.
Price: $6.00 $15.00 P&P
Payments are handled with PayPal, all credit cards accepted.
Andrew is a professional photographer and film-maker based in Llangollen, but working nationwide. Having studied the Philosophy of Science at University College London, Andrew’s interests in the visual arts have always held a passionate mix of the medium’s technical and emotional sides. His photographic portfolio includes a diverse array of commissioned commercial and portrait projects as well as personal fine-art landscape photography. In the realm of film, Andrew directed the feature film Dark Waters, which was shot entirely in the Llangollen area as well as the popular local documentary Your Town, Your Story: Llangollen and has produced numerous music videos. Andrew has found working on this project to be an immensely rewarding experience. Seeing this collection come together has been nothing less than miraculous, this could not have been achieved without Simon’s dedication and production skills. Andrew’s work can be viewed at www.andrew-gale.com
Simon has over forty years media production experience. He left full time employment as Assistant Director of Media at Yale College Wrexham in 2008 and for the last five years has worked as a freelance media producer. He has a wide range of production skills including animation, film and TV production, graphic design and photography. Since leaving the teaching profession he has thoroughly enjoyed “practicing what he preached” and has produced Coed Uchaf – a pictorial record through the seasons of a Jubilee wood near Pentrefoelas. Simon also works as a freelance educational consultant including Additional Inspection for ESTYN and as a Quality Reviewer for Edexcel. He would like to thank Andrew for his creative and technical skills combined with a professionalism and sense of humour without which this shared project would not have been possible. Simon’s work can be viewed at www.memorybox.org.uk
