Avro Vulcan etching

‘Avro Vulcan’

I’ve been recently working on a small edition of ten prints for the International Print Exchange.

My etching aquatint print for this year’s exchange depicts the Avro Vulcan nuclear bomber which was assembled in Stockport and in service during the Cold War. I posted the edition this afternoon by special delivery as there’s a bank holiday this weekend so I didn’t want to miss the deadline.

Fingers crossed 🤞

Photowalk: Tiviot Dale church to Lancashire Hill

Early this month, I went on a photo walk from the centre of Stockport where Tiviot Dale railway station used to be located to Lancashire Hill and back.

I dropped off my car on a warm and sunny Friday morning for its first annual service and then proceeded to walk from the garage to the starting point passing underneath the famous railway viaduct along the pedestrian path.

Pedestrian and cycle track going underneath Stockport viaduct

As I started my photo walk, I tracked my progress using an exercise app to record the length of the walk and the time it took.

The walk was roughly distance of 2.5 miles with an elevation of 166 feet.

Route tracked on Strava

I made my way walking over a motorway bridge on Lancashire Hill Road from where I could see the M60 ring road. I walked up some steps past a wall of carved sandstone and made my way to Dodge Hill.

From here I walked up a steep road with a series of back to back houses to my right and a road bending off to the Saint Mary’s Roman Catholic Church and school on the left. The church has a distinctive sloping design and can be seen in many old photos of when the Tiviot Dale railway line was in full use. 

After viewing the whole of Stockport’s skyline through a mesh fence, from the vantage point of the church’s car park, I sent off on my travels once again.

Dodge Hill was first mentioned back in 15th Century. In the middle of 1800s, members of the Dodge family emigrated to the USA and were involved in setting up Dodge City in Kansas and amongst other businesses the Dodge Motor Company.

History of Dodge Hill

I took a detour down Love Lane, to view Heaton Norris park. I then made my way back to Lancashire Hill Road and travelled up to the roundabout at the top of the hill.

On my way I passed a large building called Foodline which provides baking for the catering industry. The windows were plastered with flour. To get to the other side of the busy roundabout, I walked down an uninviting subway. This led me to the centre of the roundabout with paths leading in all directions. Once I was on the correct path I came out near a retail park which was featured in a recent BBC television series called Small Prophets.

I visited the Wickes store to buy a new drill bit and some bolts to repair a rabbit run.

I return back down Lancashire Hill passed the beige and green tower blocks along the way as the road went down towards Great Egerton Street and then finished my photo walk at Tiviot Dale Methodist church.

‘Avro Vulcan’ print

Avro Vulcan

Here is a small etching aquatint depicting the Avro Vulcan flying in a tropical setting. The Vulcan bomber was assembled in Stockport at Woodford and used as a nuclear deterrent during the Cold War.

I am eventually going to produce an edition of 10 prints from the zinc etched plate I created on Saturday.

The size of the print is 10 x 10 cm and is printed on Fabriano paper which makes the print slightly lighter than if printed on ‘bread and butter’ proofing paper.