Humans of Frome – Sue Bucklow

Sue grew up in the North of England. Her young life set to a backdrop of rolling countryside and the industrial landscape of shipbuilding yards and railways.

Her father, his father and even his father before him were shipbuilders. The family’s rich engineering heritage had an indelible effect on Sue who recalls visiting some of the world renowned shipbuilding yards when she was a small child.  She remembers standing in the great hulls of partially built ships, her eyes lighting up with the memory of the vast scale and sheer awe inspiring nature of these enormous vessels bound for far flung international waters.

The table is laden with books as we speak, she holds up the book that she says changed everything for her.  It’s a book of photography by Edwin Smith, with words by Olive Cook, Olive’s words as special to her as the stunning black and white photographs of vernacular architecture.  The book was gifted to her from the school library when she left to go to Leicester Polytechnic.

At Leicester she studied the History of Art – whilst most of her fellow students were heading towards film and TV careers, Sue had her sights set on the BBC Hulton Picture Library.   Sadly, the Picture Library was in the midst of a move when the ambitious Sue wrote to them to ask if she could do her second year work placement there.  A serendipitous chat with a college professor led her to the V&A where she worked closely with Chris Bucklow who was the Assistant Curator of photos in the Dept of Prints, Drawings & Photographs.  Their shared surname, and two exceptional children are testament to how well that work placement worked out!

At the end of her Polytechnic years Sue wrote to the BBC Hulton Picture Library and to her amazement landed her dream job.  The job saw her delving into the depths of this world famous photography archive which she helped to conserve and catalogue, she also had the pleasure of had the pleasure of helping research exhibitions on photographers like Bill Brandt and was one of the driving forces alongside Bruce Bernard, the renowned Picture Editor of the Sunday Times magazine in the 1970’s  in the mounting of ‘The Treasures of The Hulton Exhibition’ at The Barbican Gallery.

In 1995, Chris became an artist full time and the pair moved to Venice where they lived and worked together for two years.  Moving to Frome in 1998, Sue commuted to London to work freelance at the picture library, selecting photo’s for exhibitions at the Michael Hoppen gallery.   Her neighbour, Derek Gill, affectionately called  Mr. Museum by Sue, enticed her to work on some small photography exhibitions for the museum which was just the beginning of her long affection and commitment to Frome Museum.

In 2000, an encounter with Jo Plimmer & Katy Duke led on to The Singers Links project, the first of many Heritage Lottery Funded community projects that the duo steered.  In 2009, they mounted the incredible Benjamin Baker exhibition at Rook Lane Chapel and galvanized local interest in the town’s famous engineering hero.

In 2012, Sue helped gather Oral Histories for the ‘Home in Frome’ project a thoroughly Frome affair all the while silently and voluntarily dedicating much of her spare time to the improvements made to Millennium Green. Said improvements saw Sue scything, wassailing, planning and running events and bringing the community together to make something of this overgrown wasteland.

This week sees the culmination of over two years of extensive work in the guise of the ‘Home of our Delight’ the latest exhibition at Rook Lane Chapel, a project that explores the stories of the young men marked on the Mells village memorial, and of their families. Another Sue Bucklow & Jo Plimmer project with ‘community’ at its very heart.

Sue has recently stepped down from her duties at Frome Museum which is a real shame. Her enthusiasm for our Frome Town treasure trove is infectious and I have loved many of the wonderful projects she masterminded there.   However, I’m excited to see what comes next and am certain in the knowledge that we the people of Frome will benefit from whatever it might be she puts her mind to.

I’m certain her father, his father and his father before him would be proud of the little girl who, so inspired by the immensity of those ships, has set sail on her own voyage of discovery of the world, collecting, cataloguing and safe-guarding all that she gathers for future generations to come.

Visit ‘Home of Our Delight’ at Rook Lane Chapel until 22nd October 2016.