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Memories of Bristol to fight Alzheimer's!

	Cover picture showing High Street from Bristol Bridge, November 1951

Photos of Bristol over the years, ranging from post-war damage to the Festival of Britain and even the ‘Berni Bus’, are being used to raise money for Alzheimer’s research.

BRACE has just published a 2011 calendar featuring photos donated by a Bristol family. These are previously unpublished photographs of Bristol from the 1950’s to the 1990’s. There are some wonderful photographs including images from the Festival of Britain, the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and the Clifton Suspension Bridge with its old style lighting.

All the photographs were taken by Geoff Packer who was a keen and gifted amateur photographer. Being one of the younger photographers in Bristol during the 1950s, his interest lay in capturing aspects of Bristol in colour while most of his contemporaries were still using black and white film. His hobby was a labour of love and he hoped to publish a book of memories of Bristol one day.

Sadly, Geoff died in 1991 at the age of 67, long before the cost of colour printing became viable for such books of local interest. Luckily, his family had taken great care with the photographs and over the last few years his daughters, Jan and Shirley, have been able to review and catalogue them and have had huge pleasure recalling with their Mum, Doreen, the places and events that he captured.

The Packer family have been supporters of BRACE over the last few years and were more than happy to allow BRACE to use some of Geoff’s photographs for the charity’s 2011 calendar.

Jan Packer said, “I have been a supporter of BRACE in my small way over the last few years and when they approached me to ask if they could use some of Dad’s photographs for the 2011 calendar, his family couldn’t think of anything nicer. We hope that BRACE supporters will enjoy the memories of looking back at past times in Bristol as much as we do.”

BRACE Chief Executive Mark Poarch said, “We are very grateful to Jan and her family for allowing other people to share Geoff’s photographs. For anyone who knows Bristol and finds the past fascinating, they are irresistible. It also seems somehow appropriate that a charity fighting diseases that destroy memory should raise funds by publishing images of bygone times in Bristol that will be vividly remembered by many people.”

This unique calendar is now available for sale (price £5) from the BRACE Appeal Office, or from the charity’s website (www.alzheimers-brace.org).