Printable View
Following the photograph of the barefoot boys by the canal, here are two more taken by the same unknown photographer. Again, the year is 1910. Just a century ago and Britain was the greatest empire the world had seen. The Edwardian confidence, that was so forcefully expressed in the new Pierhead buildings, had seemingly banished [...]
More...
Go out and about today and take photographs of snarling, chubby kids with their face full of over advertised muck. Never satisfied, never happy unless they are dropped-jawed and entertained by the rubbish pouring forth from the box in the corner of the room or at the foot of their own bed.
Making sure that all British children are shod keeps countless children all around the globe shoeless and hard at work. Working in 'slavery' to ensure that the children of Britain can have cheap over-sweet chocolate on everything from dawn to dusk...did I really say dawn?
There is no greater issue that signifies child-poverty these days than the lack of hope. How much worse this is made by all day long, day in and day out telling them what they should have, but giving them no means to get it.
Sorry Colin, good pictures, thank you. :)
Much as I said about the two lad's,the girls look reasonably healthy,.......and happy! How could that be?
Because they're children and they do not understand what being poor is !Quote:
Originally Posted by wsteve55
Some truth in that,but I suspect they were more aware than you think,and better at dealing with life,than many kid's today! At least one positive aspect of ignorance,I suppose!Quote:
Originally Posted by Marty1
Yes, that's probably right. They knew how to survive - or at least tried their best -- but they had to.Quote:
Originally Posted by wsteve55
Our kids are like big softies in comparison to what those kids endured.
With the picture of the girls. The sun was shining, they had a ribbon in their hair and their own small world was their oyster. Whatever sprang into their minds to do was instantly available through the employment of nothing but their imaginations and whatever there was around: every wall a castle every cobble a stage.
The picture of the boys. Market day, as I recall. A day for business and a busy day. Their avenues of imagination turned over to commerce their wild wanderings neglected as their focus was on the hustle and bustle, fun to be had and a shilling to be made.
Into both days intrudes some old bloke with a box on a stick with ideas of his own. What was said, what inducements applied? Might a penny have changed hands? For the girls, in their ribbons, could the photographer add to the excitement of the sunny day? For the boys, what could compensate them for this intrusion into their world? Being, for a short time, the centre of attention or perhaps affording an addition to their spiel?
A photograph is in itself a playground for the imagination of the viewer and these kids were not poor because they were the same as all the other kids they knew. The middle class suburbs were as far away as Africa; a whole other world.
What of the imagination of children today? 'X', marks the spot?
Do we know where the picture of the girls was taken?
My mum was not born until 1938 but these girls are the image of her.
Very good Oudeis !:handclap:
When I see kids like this I wonder what happened to them....and hope that life was kinder to them than the photo shows.
------------------
Child Poverty in the UK, I’m not sure how poverty is defined these days?
Colin’s pictures show obvious poverty and is plain for all to see. ........these people lived from day to day, had nothing not even a pair of shoes on their feet.
North West Tonight last night......... :Wirral Council:
A family with 2 adults and 2 children under 14 years of age living on £342 a week.
approx 3.30 mins
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...ht_14_10_2011/
-------------
I love these pics, they make me smile because these kids are happy, smiling through all the hardships they live in, joyed in experiencing the rare occasion of having a photo taken. Little gems of children, more so than the selfish greedy lazy obnoxious society we now live in. At the same time it makes me sad when I think of what is to follow for these children, not least two wars, and the fact that if they were lucky enough to survive the wars with smiles still beaming, at over a hundred years old, they are no longer with us.