Thomas of Guildford update

Since posting news of the research into Ifor & Joy Thomas (Guildford School of P hotography) we have been delighted with the response which is already in. Several members of the family are now 'in the frame' - excuse pun- and Jack & I have had our first very productive working lunch at the National Library of Wales where we met half a dozen of the top staff who were all asking how best Ifor & Joy's achievements can be honoured in the coming years. Ideas were kicked around and I came home to start sorting things out in the archive which we were given 30 years ago and are only now examining in detail. (Thanks William for the acid free storage envelopes)

Jack continues to recall names from his student days and fires off emails most of which get enthusiastic replies with the usual crazy Thomas anecdotes & lists of what they have in THEIR possession. Almost everyone gives a few more names/email addresses.

We are very interested in Ifor's involvement in films - it was the award winning Dylan Thomas film (1960 ish - Jack Howells) which started all this off late last year. My box of goodies here includes several handwritten shooting scripts for films which may or may not have been followed through. The real challenge now is to explore the possibility of Dylan and Ifor knowing each other as they were from the same area of Wales and went up to London to Study/work at the same time. We know that Dylan Thomas himself lectured during the war as well as writing scripts for propaganda films. As the Reimann School, London, taught film as one of its subjects and Ifor was on the Staff of Photography there is it certainly possible that this was a link apart from possibly socialising in the same pubs and so on. Paul Ferris, who has written extensively on Dylan Thomas, lives here in Hay-on-Wye and I shall quiz him as my first port of call ref. this area.
I shall keep you updated.

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  • We have now been contacted through this website by the daughter of Ifor & Joy Thomas and also by the daughters of his favourite brother. All good stuff. Thank you BPH!
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