Pollie Toothill

I organised a summer outing in Saltaire for my camera club. We were joined by two of the local costumed guides from Saltaire Village Experiences and we all had a lot of fun, trying out different locations in the village for photos. The guides are well used to conducting groups of people on walks around Saltaire and sharing its history, mostly real but occasionally somewhat 'embellished', I think. So not only did we get some photos but we also got a few interesting snippets of info. 

This is 'Pollie Toothill', wife of Sylvester Toothill. If she'd known what a rum character her husband would turn out to be, she may not have married him. His father, Edward, was the curator at the Saltaire Institute (now Victoria Hall) so they lived in the basement flat there, with her in-laws. Sylvester was often mentioned in the local press; seems he led Pollie a bit of a dance, living in different locations and having several scrapes with the law! She seemed cheerful enough though, and was apparently a bit of a chanteuse, entertaining villagers with performances at the Institute.

In real life, Joanne is also a bit of a chanteuse, working as a singer (aka Lucienne de Ville) specialising in French chansons, jazz and swing. She also works in schools promoting science and engineering via exciting and fun projects. She's a lovely, bubbly character and I'm happy that I caught some of that life in my portraits of her. 

More information on Saltaire Village Experience and the Walks can be found HERE.