Friend photographs “Austerity Olympians”
Some of the athletes who took part in the 1948 Olympics in London are the subject of an exhibition which opens next week in Walthamstow as part of a national tour.
The photographs and accompanying interviews are the work of Katherine Green, a local social documentary photographer and member of the Friends.
Over the past few years, Katherine has tracked down some of the surviving British athletes, including Edwin Bowey (wrestler), George Weedon (gymnast), Jimmy McColl (footballer), Tommy Godwin (cyclist), Dorothy Tyler (high-jump), Cathy Brown (swimmer), John Peake (Hockey), John & Dorothy Parlett (runners), Donald Scott (boxer), Lionel Price (basketball), Roy Romain (swimmer), Ron Cooper (boxer), Gordon Thomas (cyclist), Audrey Beever (gymnast) and Denise St Aubyn Hubbard (high diver).
As participants in what were nicknamed the Austerity Olympics, in recognition of the post-war conditions in which the Games were held, the interviewees have stories to tell of training while getting by on rationed food, working full-time as they prepared and even making their own kit.
The exhibition, entitled 1948 Olympians, runs from Thursday, June 21, to Saturday, July 21, at the Tokarska Gallery, 163 Forest Road, London E17 6HE, a two-minute walk from Blackhorse Road station (Victoria Line and Barking to Gospel Oak-Barking overland line), buses 123, 158, 230). It is open from Thursday to Saturday every week, noon to 7pm or by appointment. Admission is free. The exhibition is funded by Arts Council England.
There is also an opportunity to buy Katherine’s Olympic work in a book in hardback or ebook form by supporting its publication. Visit www.unbound.co.uk to find out more.
June 14, 2012 | Category: News | no responses
