How JimmyÕs 1936 photos ended up in Italy
Blast from the past: Images from Jimmy HodgsonÕs photo album which was found on a market stall in the northern Italian region of Piedmont
THE final piece in the puzzle about how a slice of Cumbrian history ended up on an Italian market stall appears to have clicked into place.
A photo album created over 70 years ago by Wigton petrol pump attendant Jimmy Hodgson was uncovered in Borgosesia in the northern Italian region of Piedmont.
Maria Caterina Ferro and her husband found the album of black and white stills showing groups of men, women and children in Cumbrian surroundings.
The words ÔWigton 1936Õ are written on the inside cover along with JimmyÕs old address Ð 4 Strand Terrace.
Mrs Ferro contacted The Cumberland News to reunite the album with its owner and an appeal saw a flood of responses from people identifying Jimmy as its creator.
Yet how the album travelled 1,000 miles to land on foreign shores has remained a mystery, until now.
A friend of the late Jimmy has revealed his theory that the album was the memento of an Italian prisoner of war working near Wigton during World War Two.
Ian Thwaite, of Longthwaite Crescent, Wigton, said: ÒThere was a lot of Italian and German prisoners of war who all worked on the farms around Wigton.
ÒMy dad looked after MasonÕs Garage where Jimmy worked and we lived over the road. The prisoners would leave their bicycles with us while they went to the farms, then collect them at night.
ÒJimmy befriended a lot of them and would have them in his house and make them tea and coffee. Then they would hang about and talk Ð he always had a good fire going and they were happy to sit and chat.
ÒHe would have given a prisoner of war the album to take home with him Ð thatÕs how it would have ended up there for sure.Ó
As a young boy Ian, now 74, was drawn to the house and would sit with the men. ÒThey were just boys really. They didnÕt want to be in the war, Jimmy looked after them.Ó
A well-loved Wigton character, Jimmy refused to install electricity in his house and was often seen riding around WigtonÕs streets on his bicycle. ÒHe was always on the wrong side of the road Ð he was a law unto himself was Jimmy.Ó
He was also an accomplished photographer. ÒHe had a German Leica camera that he thought was magic. He would go round town taking pictures and turn them into slides. He had a bit of a gift.Ó
JimmyÕs photo album will be returned to his hometown and will take pride of place at Wigton Library.
Shirley Thornhill, of the Solway History Society who will now look after the album, said: ÒIÕm sure all the people who remember him will be interested to see it.Ó
©Cumberland News, UK