goff

Thanks for that Cliff Ton, can use it in the book I am trying to write. After a year or two of hesitation I am gifting the original posters to The Cinema and Theatre History 'CATH' archives at De Montfort University, Leicester where they can be conserved and looked after. It was a choice between them and the British Film Institute. A pity that Nottingham Trent have no such facility. At the BFI I would have had to give to the nation and they would have disappeared into the archives permanently. At De Montfort I will be gifting them on a 10 year loan and the university plan an exhibition of the

Thanks Cliff Ton, got it now.

Hi DJM, can't see stafford in link to replace it . I am not very computer literate I am afraid. Can you give me an idiot proof link?

Very interesting DJM. I am well on with writing the story of my father and his posters, which I hope eventually will be an illustrated book. The story of Stafford's is of course an important part of it, as father worked there from 1923 till 1941. Your family dates however are confusing as it is difficult to fit them with what I had found. Particularly the number of John's and Daniel's. I have it that in the 1820's Daniel and his son John had a printing business in Bingham. Presumably this is the Daniel born in 1791 and the John must have been his brother born 1796 rather than his son, who wa

Hi, Managed to attach this one, Richard Greene and Alice Faye in Little Old New York. Will send others separately. Second is of Nottingham Exhibition .

Hi Cliff Ton, I clicked on the link you gave above and chose one of the first sites that came up. Can't remember the name and today clicking on your link doesn't work. I use an Apples iMac and I did load an image on to the hosting site, and there was a notice saying I could downsize the file, but then I couldn't see a way to do that. My original images sizes are huge but I have been able to downsize them on my computer but they are still more than 0.5 MB. I will try to see if I can downsize them further on the computer.

Hi Cliff Ton, Thanks for that. I have already contacted the Magic Circle. After a little to and fro-ing, I got in touch with Londonpaul. It is proving quite exciting for both of us. He has many Stafford's posters relating to magic shows. His are mostly from an earlier era, but we have swapped images and info, both learned new things and will continue to keep in touch. I am trying to put images on this page through one of the hosting sites but struggling to downsize them even though that is mentioned on the site. Will keep trying.

Hi Londonpaul. The exhibition in Nottingham got a lot of interest within the university but disappointingly not much from the city although it is very much a Nottingham story. I have been told by the BFI that the collection of posters is of national interest, probably unique, and i am now trying to write a book. I would willingly send you images but this site only lets me put on a very small file size and my skills are not good enough to do anything. I could send images to the magic circle museum if I had their email address?

Hi All, will try getting images on but for now go to https://www.boningtongallery.co.uk/exhibitions/the-big-head-man for details of the exhibition which starts Friday 5th April at the Atrium, Bonington gallery, Nottingham Trent University. You will see there is a RSVP for the preview on Thursday 4th, when I will be there.

Hi Scott, very interesting. As you will have seen my posters are all Stafford's and date from circa 1935 to 1942. I also have some images of early Stafford's posters going back before 1900. It seems early posters survived and post war ones too, but not those from the 1930's. It was probably because of the critical paper shortage in WW2 when used paper was recycled and sometimes posters reprinted on the back. My exhibition in Nottingham will run through April but I guess it would be a long way for you to go. Is there some way we can swap an image or two? Mine seem to large to put on this s

I have just come across this. I am researching my past as part of my father's story with Stafford's ( see that forum ) I went to High Pavement in 1953, first at Stanley road for two years then to Bestwood. I remember the school song well although not the English translation. I remember singing it at the Chapel on High Pavement in town where the school originated. Although my voice hadn't broken I was relegated with other 'remnants' to sing with the basses as I was tone deaf. I enjoyed the school, finished up with 10 'O' levels and 2 'A' levels and moved on to University. I came from the counc

Great news! At last there is to be an exhibition in Nottingham of my Dad's posters next spring. It will be at the Bonington Gallery, Nottingham Trent University, at the Shakespeare St. campus. You might remember that before he started as an apprentice artist at Stafford's, he went to the Nottingham Municipal School of Art for a year or two. That became the Nottingham College of Art and is now part of Nottingham Trent. The exhibition will start on the 3rd or 4th April 2019 and run until 4th May. There will be some of the original posters on display and prints of many of the others. There will a

Almost certain now that we will be having an exhibition of my father's posters that he created at Stafford's in the 1930's at the Bonington Gallery at Nottingham Trent University in the next 6 months or so. It is very much a Nottingham story so I am really pleased that this is likely to go ahead.

You might have seen I have posted about my father who was a lithographic artists for Stafford's the printers before the war. He became a long distance lorry driver during the war but just afterward was a driver for Whatmough's. I am trying to write his story. I think he delivered in Nottingham but also further afield. Did Whatmough's make sweets as well as having shops.

Hi All, for anyone interested we are holding an exhibition of my father's posters at The Spring Arts and Heritage Centre, Havant near Portsmouth. I know that's a long way from Nottingham but the exhibition is on every day ( except Sundays ) from now until December 23rd, if you happen to be going that way. You can see details on their website under exhibitions. I will also be giving a talk to the Burton Joyce U3A group next June 12th. That's a bit nearer Nottingham! I am still hoping to hold an exhibition in Nottingham eventually.

Hi Tabby, that's another little titbit to add to my father's story. The marbles were used to clean the stone or metal plates the posters were printed on after a run of prints. They were put on a tilting bed and the marbles run back and forward. No doubt the marbles suffered. Apparently deafness was commonplace for those that worked in that room! I continue to find out little bits here and there. I knew my father was sent to London for a time to do adverts for Oxo. I have 4 of them. Now I have found from Premier Foods who now own Oxo that there were probably at least 20. They have no posters bu

Hi All, The item on the One Show concentrated on the 'human interest' aspect of my discovery of the posters and my father's story. I would have liked them to show more about the posters and the printers and the printing process. For a more balanced piece, google That's Solent TV, look under videos on their Youtube page and scroll down. You can also find it if you google Goff Gleadle. I have learned more and am still learning. Stafford's was possibly the largest poster printer in England at the time and was responsible for 50% of cinema posters printed in England between the 1920's and 60'

Hi All, Further to the posts I did about my father's posters, the BBC One Show are to broadcast a film they did of my exhibition, this coming Tuesday 7th February at 7pm on BBC1 goff

Hi All, The exhibition of my father's posters (see my previous post ) went very well. We had lots of visitors and much interest from local radio and TV. The BBC One Show came down to film us and there will be a piece going out on national TV in the next two months. I will let you know as soon as i hear the date it is to be shown. In the meantime if anyone has any information about Stafford and Co. I would love to hear it. Goff

Hi Roger. pleased to see your post. Continuing to find out more about my father and the posters . Have now 50 scanned. That is pretty well all of them. They are all different and include Oxo adverts, films with Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, Richard Greene, Spencer Tracey, Loretta Young and many others. I managed to obtain a copy of Peter Barrie Waite's book on the History of Stafford and Co. from a Nottingham library through my local library in Portsmouth. There was a telephone no. in the front and I spoke to the author! He told me much of what you report and was keen to get as much informa

Hi All, An afterthought. My father lived of course in Nottingham but my sister, 9 years older than me and born in 1933, remembers the family moving to London with Stafford's when she was very young. The posters date from 1937 to 1941 and are marked Stafford's of Nottingham and London so it seems likely he was asked to to move specifically to do these commissions. Did Stafford's expand at this time? It was probably meant to be a permanent move but then the war came along.

Hi Connoisseur and All My father was a lithographic artist at Stafford's in the 1930's. He started as an apprentice there in 1923 aged 14, and was immediately sent to the Nottingham Municipal School of Art which later became Nottingham College of Art. He was the 'Big Head' man. He drew the portraits of the stars or advertising characters for film and advertising billboards, others would do the lettering. He kept samples of his work. I have around 40 posters drawn by him. He left the company during the war and unfortunately never went back. The posters which date from 1937 to 1941 are large