These are stories in progress and ideas that I am presently working on. I may be unsure of the actual direction of the story as I feel my way into the idea. It’s just intended as a sketch pad for me to refer to every now and then.

Ken Allen, 88-year-old owner of Essex Engineering Works Ltd, on his factory floor that has now ceased to trade. From 1946 to 1956 his company made 150,000 small sewing machines each having around 35 components, all presswork and machining was done in house. From 1946 until September 2025, it made hundreds of thousands of terminating tools and hundreds of millions of fixing clips. From 1959 until it ceased trading, the company made and sold all over the world around 1.2 million coin slide mechanisms. Each mechanism having around 35 components, all presswork and machining again made in house. Ken now lives in a flat above his silent factory, the machines all left in situ. Ken hopes to turn his factory into a museum about manufacturing.  Click on the picture to see more.
I am continually fascinated by small business owners, the backbone of the economy. Hard working people plying their trade often from vans. The phrase ‘white van man’ was coined in 1997 and quickly popularised by the tabloids to represent the voice of the working class; often van-driving tradesmen that had negative connotations of aggression, sexism, racism and poor driving. Today this view is outdated. You’re as likely to see a women driving vans working in trade as you are a man. What interests me is how all the necessary tools of their trade are crammed into these vans. Only the van owner knows exactly where each specific tool is hidden, in what to everyone else looks like a chaotic mess. I plan an ongoing series of portraits, which means I will have to start to always carry my Rolleiflex with me, not a bad thing.

In the 1990’s I lived in Forest Gate, London. Close to my house is Curwen Avenue, a small cul-de-sac of 24 small terraced houses built between 1900 and 1929. Each time I walked past it I thought of the picture series shot jointly by Daniel Meadows and Martin Parr in 1973, titled June Street. A simple idea, the best ones always are, they photographed each family in their front room. With a nod of respect, I hope to do the same in Curwen Street. Not sure if it will be in colour or black and white, probabaly both if I get access. Click on the picture above to get a feel for the story as I work my way into it.
 

Café Royal Books have published June Street, Salford 1973. You can buy it by clicking on the picture above.

 
 
 
 
All Rights Russell Boyce