Geoff Hastings (14 January 1926 – 25 September 2005), was an English photographer who worked in
Wisbech
Wisbech ( ) is a market town, inland port and civil parish in the Fenland district in Cambridgeshire, England. In 2011 it had a population of 31,573. The town lies in the far north-east of Cambridgeshire, bordering Norfolk and only 5 miles ...
in the 1950s when the town was being redeveloped. He worked for the Air Inspectorate Department in nearby
March
March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March ...
, auditing aircraft parts during the Second World War. After the war, he married and worked in Wisbech as a manager with Cambridgeshire Motors on Elm Road. His house was one of many that was affected by the
1978 Wisbech Flood. His collection of thousands of prints was ruined. Fortuitously, the film negatives were not.
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Photography
Hastings made strenuous efforts to capture the images of buildings in Wisbech during the 1950s and 1960s. Slum clearances and the demolition of redundant buildings were rapidly changing the townscape. The filling in of the Wisbech Canal in the 1960s, removal of bridges and sluice and construction of the dual carriageway and associated road junctions changed the town irreversibly. The closure of the passenger railway and reduction in the freight operations also released land for other uses.
Cycling around the town and nearby villages with a 35mm camera, he captured images of properties destined for future demolition. As his collection rapidly grew he was increasingly able to provide images for local papers and books on local history.
Hastings' photos appeared in local newspapers and in an advert he is described as a 'Journalistic photographer' operating from 4 Opportune Road.
The Wisbech flood of 1978 ruined his collection of prints. After he died in 2005, his family discovered boxes of negatives not reached by the floodwater. These were passed to a family friend, a local history enthusiast. An example of one of his drawings used in a newspaper is on the Cambridgeshire Community Archive Network website.
Art
As well as photography Hastings produced drawings, usually black and white, often based on his photos. Many of these were printed for sale as notelets, often in sets.
A picture of the Richard Young (MP)
Alderman Richard Young, , (1809 – 15 October 1871) was a British merchant, shipowner and Liberal politician.
Early years
He was born on 22 March 1809 the second son of Mary (née Spickings) and John (died 1851), of Scarning, Norfolk. Hi ...
memorial drawn by Hastings accompanied a letter by Roger Powell in the ''Cambridgeshire Times'' in 2012.
Legacy
Images of pubs around Wisbech over the border that are in Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
, are on the Norfolk pubs website. Wisbech & Fenland Museum
The Wisbech & Fenland Museum, located in the town of Wisbech in the Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England, is one of the oldest purpose-built museums in the United Kingdom. The museum logo is W&F.
History
Initially a member-based organisation ...
organised a month long exhibition of Hastings' drawings in March 2012. In October and again in November 2013, an exhibition of Hastings photographs accompanied a talk by William P Smith on the Wisbech Canal in the Tower Ballroom.
A selection of his photos from the 1960s is on Facebook.
One of his photos is used on the ''Fully Booked'' murder website
His images of local pubs feature on the Norfolk pubs website.
Since Hasting's death, other images continue to be used in books on the local history of the town, canal and nearby villages,
The negatives of the films were digitised by Andy Ketley so that the collection could be made secure and available to the public.
Hastings' railway drawings are on the Hornby Railways
Hornby Railways is a British model railways manufacturing company. Its roots date back to 1901 in Liverpool, when founder Frank Hornby received a patent for his Meccano construction toy. The first clockwork train was produced in 1920. In 1938, ...
website.
Hastings is featured in the ''Fading Images'' website of Cambridgeshire photographers and on the Wisbech High Street project website. He is described as one of Wisbech's impressive legacy of pioneering photographers, along with Samuel Smith and Lilian Ream
Lilian Ream, Pratt (1877–1961) was a photographer in Wisbech, Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire. Her studios captured photographic images of Wisbech and the Fens for over 50 years.
Early years
Lilian Pratt was born in 1877 in West Walton, Norfol ...
, who used the town centre and High Street as the subject for many of their photographs.
In 2019, the Friends of Wisbech and Fenland Museum started a project to publish his images and raise funds to preserve the collection of 3,000 images. To support the launch, articles appeared in the '' Wisbech Standard'' and ''The Fens
The Fens, also known as the , in eastern England are a naturally marshy region supporting a rich ecology and numerous species. Most of the fens were drained centuries ago, resulting in a flat, dry, low-lying agricultural region supported by a ...
'' magazine. The first print run of 100 copies of ''Images of Wisbech no.1'' sold out in a week and the reprint of 200 was sold out before a formal book launch could be arranged. The ''Images of Wisbech no.2'' print run of 200 copies was brought forward and quickly sold out. Reprints and additional releases are planned for 2020. An illustrated talk by William P. Smith to coincide with the launch of ''Images of Wisbech no.3'' was held by the Friends of Wisbech and Fenland Museum in Wisbech Library on 13 February 2020. ''Images of Wisbech no.4'' was published in November 2020. ''Images of Wisbech no.5'' followed in October 2021. ''Images of Wisbech no.6'' was published in 2022.
Research into the collection of images is ongoing and unidentified images are posted to local Facebook discussion sites to facilitate accurate identification.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hastings, Geoff
1926 births
2005 deaths
Photographers from Cambridgeshire
Wisbech
People from Wisbech