Beverley
The magazine Practical Photography, which once carried a feature on ToCo alumnus Ken Howard, had a small ads section in which models would advertise. One such was a mature lady advertising her photographic services in Woolwich, east London. I made a booking and tramped up a hill from the railway station for an evening shoot with my trusty OM-1. She was an agreeable lady and upon conclusion recommended I photograph her daughter, Beverley. Another date was made and back I went up the hill to meet her girl. Beverley was a big brassy blonde who would certainly take no prisoners. She had all the attributes of a classic East End barmaid. She was an awesome sight in just her smalls and obviously no stranger to the camera lens. I captured some hopefully great shots of her solo and with her mum, but regrettably I never got to clap eyes on them. The prints never arrived, thieved I had later reason to believe by light-fingered postal workers. Beverley lived in Dartford, Kent and had a small private clientele of amateur snappers to which I eagerly added my name. The introduction turned out to be a fruitful one as Beverley not only became another key entrant to my Spick and Span world, but admitted a couple of her friends too. At this juncture I had started to go down the colour route (though my abilities with the camera hadn’t improved much from my black-and-white days).