It only took a picture…

Fiona King is working on a fundraising project to digitise a collection of local photographs by Graham Herbert. Graham Herbert recorded Dorset life for three decades and one photograph caught Fiona’s eye.

She explains, “It was a row of thatched cottages and there was something familiar about them.”

She found out that these were in East Chaldon. It was where the artist and sculptor Elizabeth Muntz lived. The cottages were next to the farm where Fiona’s father, Peter Childs was born and lived until he was eight years old.

She continues, “I talked to my mum about it and she reminded me that he used to sit for Miss Muntz and visiting artists, too. In fact, he was a good artist himself and often used to sketch me as a child.

“When his father died, dad, his mum (Violet) and his sister remained in the village, having to move out of the farm because it was tenanted.”

Fiona’s grandmother died when she was two and her father passed away nine years ago.

“I’d love to know more about the pictures that Dad sat for. There is a painting in the Dorset County Museum by Elizabeth Muntz of a mother and child and I can’t help wondering if it’s my family.

“And I have found out that Elizabeth Munz ‘s archives have been transferred to Dorset History Centre, so I will be taking time to see what I can find.”

“The Herbert collection is a valuable part of the local history and it would be a shame to lose this connection with the past. Archives are essentially stories, often personal ones which is why we keep them.”