Week 29: Haynes Road (2016)

It was June 17th last time I posted on the 52 Rolls Project, but I’ve still been shooting just about enough to claim a roll for each of the intervening weeks. Those films will be off to the a lab (once I decide which) tomorrow. For week 29 though, I’ve shot, processed, scanned and blogged the pictures today, so roll #42 definitely counts.

If you remember way back to week 7, you might recall a post containing shots of cyclists before and after a ride. They were leaving from the Leicester Forest Cycling Club ‘headquarters’ in Haynes Road, Leicester. It’s actually an anonymous, red-brick building that stands at the end of a row of Victorian terraced houses and is owned by Leicester Walking Club (that’s not red-socked rambling, it’s that strange speed-walking sport that someone in the Olympics is usually getting disqualified for having a style that isn’t quite daft enough).

Both clubs have been around since the 1920s but their respective states of health seem to be reflected by their websites (you followed the links, right?). I don’t remember that last time I saw someone out training their wiggley walking, but cycling is the new golf. It’s what middle-aged men do with their time and money these days, and while that might have made being an administrator of a cycling club easier, I’m not sure it’s all good news. More on that another day.

Anyway, as both sports happen for the most part outdoors, neither has much use for a clubhouse, other than as a place to store ageing event equipment and to hold the occasional meeting. The place hasn’t been cleared out for decades and so has gathered piles of useless junk and some incredible cobwebs. There are hundreds of signs – some the modern, lightweight plastic type that we use currently, but also there are hand-cut, hand-painted direction arrows. There’s a turntable with a small collection of Jim Reeves records. And a massage table that now has chairs around it like some peculiar, soft-play boardroom.

For as long as I’ve been visiting, I thought would make for an interesting way to waste a few frames…

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Gubbins:

YashicaMat 124G, metered using an iPhone app (there isn’t a lot of light, so shutter speeds were generally 1/4s to 1s). My very favourite Fuji Neopan Acros, processed in Ilford Ilfotec HC and scanned at home.

Click here to see my previous entries on the 52 Rolls Blog.