Town Hall Tavern Manchester was the venue for Pete Nugent’s 75th birthday party and right good do it turned out to be. The Town Hall Tavern is a very old established pub on Tib Lane just off Cross St near to Albert Square. The pub is run by the Pete’s son Nick, who has had a wealth of experience in the hospitality business and I think he may have even worked as a barman here in his younger days. The pub provides superb ales and great local dishes, perfect for a business lunch or a nice place to relax after some heavy shopping. Nick has recently taken over the running of the pub and it looks like Manchester has one of it’s most famous pubs back up and running with a talented chef and fantastic bar staff to help him.

The entertainment was provided by a jazz sextet The Tame Valley Stompers and went down a bomb. Although jazz is not everyone’s cup of tea these guys keep you entertained with some wonderfully interpreted music. The Jungle Book’s ‘King of the Swingers’ was my particular favourite of the day followed by a memorable adaptation of ‘All of Me’.

There was nice mix of old and young people with all styles of fashion (no laughing at the band’s waistcoats) to bring a colourful and warm atmosphere to the Town Hall Tavern. The chef laid on a superb buffet with some of the tastiest rare beef I have had in years. All this was washed down with some fine cask ales and even a few of the international bottles of lager for refreshment!

Well I will post a few shots of the party showing the splendid ambience of the pub and hope that you will visit it yourself to try out the experience. All this was made possible by Pete’s wonderful family and friends.

 The birthday boy making one of his speeches, happy birthday Peter!

]]> http://tomastleyphotography.co.uk/blog/2012/05/01/town-hall-tavern-manchester/feed/ 0 http://tomastleyphotography.co.uk/blog/2012/04/03/tenby-wedding-photography/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tenby-wedding-photography http://tomastleyphotography.co.uk/blog/2012/04/03/tenby-wedding-photography/#comments Tue, 03 Apr 2012 15:23:34 +0000 Tom Astley http://tomastleyphotography.co.uk/blog/?p=1913
Tenby Wedding Photography My latest Tenby wedding photography took place last weekend in Pembrokeshire as an assistant for David Purslow Photography and below are some of the shots taken throughout a wonderful day of photography with the happy couple, Vicki & Dan. After being held up on the infamous M4 motorway due to a serious accident, we arrived…]]> Tenby Wedding Photography

My latest Tenby wedding photography took place last weekend in Pembrokeshire as an assistant for David Purslow Photography and below are some of the shots taken throughout a wonderful day of photography with the happy couple, Vicki & Dan.

After being held up on the infamous M4 motorway due to a serious accident, we arrived in the beautiful seaside town of Tenby a little weary. But a quick beer sorted out the problem and we were soon set for a fantastic day of beautiful wedding photography in Tenby.

On arriving at the venue, the Giltar Hotel, we set about getting some fantasic shots of the beautiful bride to be, Vicki. As you can see from the shots, she certainly looked gorgeous and her husband Dan, is a lucky man indeed. Vicki teaches year 4 & 5 and her personality matches her chosen employ as she found it easy to control a couple of big kids like me and David during our brief stay capturing her bridal preps in a lovely bedroom suite overlooking the bay.

The weather was a little dull and overcast but with Spring temperatures rising, it turned out a great day for a wedding. Her car was a delightful old REO and was the perfect carriage to take he to a lovely little church just outside Tenby at St Issell’s in Saundserfoot. The cars were provided by Top Class Cars in Pembrokeshire and have a wonderful collection for any wedding occasion.

After arriving back at the Giltar Hotel, we had a superb meal but then it was off to the beach to get some portraits of the loving couple. At this point my duties were as a voice activated lightstand for David Purslow to help him capture some brilliant shots to enhance the mood of memorable day for Vicki and Dan. You can see some of David’s images here – David’s Blog

Just a few images from the day in South Wales.

I created a 1920′s style glamour wedding photography shot, this week, when I attended a wedding photography bridal shoot at the wonderful Cressbrook Hall in Derbyshire and the theme was 1920′s style dresses. I decided to use the opportunity to create a glamour shot from that period with an extremely narrow depth of field. The shot is of the gorgeous Lynsey Wells who runs Bimbo Design. It is just natural light from a huge window behind me & you can see the windows in the catch-lights in her big blue eyes. Shot at f1.4 and I think you will agree, it helps with the glamour look and makes post processing easy.

I am please to announce I have received a Bronze award for my winning photograph from the iPPN.co.uk professional photography network. iPPN is a network for professional photographers throughout the world and is run for the purpose of helping photographers with their business and skills as a photographer.

Entering competitions is not done to win awards but to judge your self against fellow professionals and receive feedback on your images so that you understand how a viewer sees your art.

My image was taken at a wedding in Hertfordshire at a lavender farm in the lovely town of Hitchin. The sight of two young bridesmaids, playing in a harvested lavender field, provided a wonderful scene against a slowly setting sun. The older girl is beckoning her sister to to go have some fantastic fun with her and I thought it was a magical moment to capture. It shows trust from the younger sibling and no doubt gave their parents some well deserved respite during a hectic wedding.

My images reflect the style of photography that I take at weddings which results in a superb portrayal of a wedding day journey. This is just one moment from such a day, which blends in perfectly with my story telling photography.

]]> http://tomastleyphotography.co.uk/blog/2012/03/04/ippn-award/feed/ 0 http://tomastleyphotography.co.uk/blog/2012/01/25/photography-portraits-mayor-of-rochdale/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=photography-portraits-mayor-of-rochdale http://tomastleyphotography.co.uk/blog/2012/01/25/photography-portraits-mayor-of-rochdale/#comments Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:42:34 +0000 Tom Astley http://tomastleyphotography.co.uk/blog/?p=1683
The Mayor of Rochdale Portraits I had the fortune of providing some photography portraits for the Mayor of Rochdale, Mr Alan Godson, in his chambers at the Rochdale town hall in the heart of East Lancashire. Rochdale has become quite eclectic over the years but it still has a proud tradition of providing a Mayor…]]> The Mayor of Rochdale Portraits

I had the fortune of providing some photography portraits for the Mayor of Rochdale, Mr Alan Godson, in his chambers at the Rochdale town hall in the heart of East Lancashire. Rochdale has become quite eclectic over the years but it still has a proud tradition of providing a Mayor with ceremonial dress and chains. This particular chain is from Middleton, which is now in the Borough of Rochdale.

The Mayor is elected for a term of one year at the annual council meeting in May and is the first citizen of the borough and always has precedence in the borough unless royalty or the Lord Lieutenant is present.

This year Councillor Alan Godson, supported by the Mayoress, Ms Gillian Brown, will be raising funds for Middleton Heartline, Springhill Hospice, MAD Theatre Company and Demesne Digital Mammography fund.

To help raise funds towards his chosen charities this year The Mayor, Councillor Alan Godson has been set a challenge! The challenge is to get Coronation Street to write a line into their script which says

“Who do you think you are the Mayor of Rochdale”!

Councillor Godson says “I am asking you to sponsor me in doing this and if I am successful all the money you kindly donate will go to my charities.  It’s a difficult challenge but with your encouragement I will try to deliver it. We can all hopefully (fingers crossed) laugh out loud when the episode is aired. Laughter is something I am passionate about we all need a good chuckle now and then. So please get behind this, tell all your friends and family and together we will try to get this written into the script.”

Please download a sponsor form and show your support for four amazingly worthwhile local charities, your generosity goes a long way to help them help so many people and is greatly appreciated.

Donations can be made direct to

The Mayor’s Office
Town Hall
Rochdale
OL16 1AB

Telephone: 01706 924668

Registered Charity Number 1043910

Mayor’s Charity Ball 2012

This year the Mayor’s Charity Ball will be held on Friday 10^th February 2012, in the Great Hall, Rochdale Town Hall. Tickets are £35.00 each. Dress code is lounge suit, and the music will be provided by Johnny Sax. This is proving to be a very popular theme and we anticipate a sell-out.

If you wish to attend the ball please contact Michelle on 01706 924668 in the next few days to secure numbers or alternatively download a ticket application form  and return it to the Mayor’s Office as soon as possible.

Please contact the Mayor’s Officer to find out more about the Mayoralty or for any other civic or ceremonial information.

Rochdale is famous for quite few things no more so than the birthplace of the Co-Operative known originally as The Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers way back in 1844.

A few famous folk to mention would include, Gracie Fields, there is even a Gracie Fields Theatre in the town, Bill Oddie, Anna Friel, John Virgo and Lisa Stansfield was brought up in the town.

Mayoress sitting is Ms Gillian Brown.

Last night I visited a roller derby jam for the first time and I have to say it was good fun and quite enjoyable. This is fairly new to Britain but is massive in the USA where they even have pro leagues. Don’t ask me about the rules but the general idea was to get your skater with the star on her helmet to the front of the bunch and then try and lap the opposing players to score points (I think!!!).

The Rainy City Girls  are from Greater Manchester and have just got their very own track and is based in Oldham town centre which they have renamed The Thunderdome. Here is map for directions. Map.

There was quite a good crowd in, possibly 200 and the price was £5 in advance and £7 on the door with under 14′s free, this was very reasonable I thought. The lighting is not brilliant for photography but hey ho I did my best and I feel I have some good shots. There is no fixed seating but there are places to sit on large gym cushions around the sides but be warned…you will need to do your DVT exercises to stop you getting cramp as I found out!

Refreshments are for sale at half time along with plenty of merchandise. There seems to be a good following of other teams watching so you get the feeling of a great friendly atmosphere. There are plenty of staff on hand to help with any questions regarding rules etc and they have a raffle too with went incredibly smoothly for a raffle. On the whole it is good couple of hours fun and I would recommend you go and have a look if you feel bored with same old routine sports on TV.

London Brawl Saints Girls won the bout but it was exciting throughout and I hope to go along again soon.

All my shots were taken without flash and at iso 6400 which usually produces a mixed bag of results but these have turned out OK and I hope you enjoy viewing my photographs.

Hi all, this year I am going to be partaking in the Movember campaign and here I will blog my accounts and hopefully I will be able to produce a daily photograph of my progress. Movember is global as you can see from this link World Wide Movember so there is no excuse for any of you brave gents to get growing.

Men’s health is a big issue as we all know that us men think we are above  nipping to the quacks for a check up because we can’t feel anything physically wrong. But we need to change and educate the process of the way our attitude is toward the idea of being true to our bodies and getting as much help as is possible which can only help future generations of our master sex….. hahaha!

I have lost some good friends this year to cancer and a couple have had the dreaded prostrate cancer in which over 10,000 deaths a year occur in the UK alone. We need to change the way we think and this Movember campaign is just the cause to create a better understanding of men’s health for mummy’s brave little soldiers. This weeks growth is in the memory of my good mate Brian ‘Jimmy’ Riddle who was taken from us far too early, I hope my muzzy will be as good as yours.

I have my own page where you can keep track of progress on the official Movember website and from here you can donate (anonymously if you wish) to the cause which will raise money for charities concerned with the project. I am also posting on my Twitter & Facebook accounts so there is no excuse for you miss out on my endeavours.

Now for the fun part, the growth after day 1. Not much to show yet.

 Which Style should I go for?

Don’t forget to visit my donation page and please give as much as you can for a worthy cause.

My Donation Page  Please click for the link to open in another window.

It looks like we missed the best part of the colours on the trees as many had appeared to have already dropped to the floor and it was a little on the damp side too but we did manage to get some good Autumn portrait photographs and Charlotte’s Autumn Fashion Collection goes on sale next week….lol.

The 1st shot has Charlotte holding a 16 spot Orange Ladybird Halyzia 16-guttata …how posh! Alkrington Woods is a fabulous place for a Sunday morning walk.

Here are a few photographs from the day.

Here is a portrait in the sun of the lovely couple, congratulations Lucy and Leon.

Lucy and Leon Portrait