Today, we know Pembridge as a quintessentially picturesque British village, one of the stars of Herefordshire’s black-and-white trail.
More than half a century ago, its prettiness was not the characteristic that made it the perfect choice for a feature in the Sunday Times Colour Supplement, as photographer John Bulmer explains.
“In early 1966 the Sunday Times Colour Supplement asked me to do a picture story on the quintessential English Village.
“The writer was an old friend of mine from Cambridge, Martin Page, and the Sunday Times put a researcher on to the job of finding the right typical English village.
“It had to have all the things that a village should: a butcher, baker an undertaker etc. and not be full of retired people.
“They searched throughout Britain, and the village they came up with was Pembridge
I was brought up only 10 miles from Pembridge, and had just bought my first house, again only a few miles from Pembridge.
I’d just started my career as a photojournalist in London, and worked as a freelancer for them since the first issue.
The magazine took a while to find its feet, but within a couple of years had probably become the foremost outlet for photojournalism anywhere.
“By early 1966 I’d been several times around the world for them and had shot stories in six of the seven continents.
“I’d worked very little in Britain, so a story quite so close to home was unusual.
“I worked in the same way here as everywhere else. I never asked people if I could take their photographs if I could help it. I did not want to destroy the image in front of my camera.
“I’d like to dedicate this book to the people of Pembridge, who were always welcoming to me, and to the writer Martin Page who was a good friend and died before his time.”
It was when he retired from film-making that John started archiving his old material and thought that his Pembridge photographs would make an interesting exhibition, which was subsequently held in the village hall with some backing from the Pippin Trust.
“I had always wanted to do a book, but having already done a couple, I knew how costly that would be.
“This year photographer Billie Charity revealed how much costs had come down, making the publishing of A Very English Village a possibility, and the book has attracted considerable interest already.
“Generally, the interest in local has increased,” says John, adding that the exhibition also helped, by providing a lot of captions for his photographs.
John has very kindly allowed te Pembridge Amenity Trust to have the profit from sales.
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