Motoring in the grand times, recalled in this picture from June 1958 taken on a Veteran Car Run from Donnybrook to Bray. Mother holds a mechanic's flat cap while he takes a spanner to the wheel.The picture is from the Lensman collection recently published, The 1950s Ireland in Pictures. Available in bookshops throughout Ireland and online at www.irishphotoarchive.ie, price €14.99
The 1950s Ireland in Pictures is published by O’Brien Press, and contains 130 images from the Lensmen Photographic Archives. The publication includes images from the world of entertainment and theatre; Olympic achievements and sporting events; horse-racing and show-jumping; politics and religion; industry and agriculture, and much more.
Christy Ring, Laurel and Hardy, Ronnie Delany, Tom Barry, Joseph Locke, Noel Purcell, Maeve Kyle, Leo Rowsome, Cyril Cusack, Siobhan McKenna, Vivien Leigh, Noel Coward and Michael MacLiammoir are among the well-known personalities in the book.
The 1950s marked the last decade of ‘old’ Ireland when all communication was local. It was prior to the introduction of television and the massive growth in international communications that ensued.
The 1950s Ireland in Pictures is a companion volume to the The 1960s Ireland in Pictures published in 2011. This major series continues in 2013 with collections of iconic photographs from the 1970s and 1980s.
