Postcards of North Laine: winning images

Celebrating 30 years of the NLCA

By Mark Erickson, NLCA joint secretary 2006

In 2006 the North Laine Community Association (NLCA) announced a competition to select images for postcards of North Laine. The postcards were part of the 30th anniversary celebrations of the NLCA and provided a valuable service to locals and visitors alike. Previously postcards depicting North Laine had not been available.

Sponsorship

Southern Water's very generous sponsorship of the project meant that we were able to print enough postcards to give a free set to each of the 2000 households in the area. There were also some left over to sell to local retailers, with some of the proceeds returning to the NLCA.

The winners

Over 250 images were submitted as entries, and professional photographer Nigel Swallow of North Laine Photography acted as our judge to select the winning images, which are all shown here. Nigel was asked to find a range to make a 'set' of high quality images which would show the varied and often offbeat aspects of North Laine - streets, houses, shops, leisure and people - and also be of interest to visitors who might buy the cards in the future.

Many thanks to all those who sent in photographs. The selection process was very difficult but finally our congratulations went to Aneta Bedkowska, Charlotte Drew, Melanie Klein and Henry Law, whose images (below) were printed and distributed.

[Previously published in the 'North Laine Runner', No 183, Nov/Dec 2006]

Note: Sets of these postcards, shown below, are still (2008) available for sale at Rainbow Books, 28 Trafalgar Street, in North Laine.