TOWN PHOTOGRAPHERS PROVIDE A GALLERY OF IMAGES TO BRING ONLINE REDESIGN 'ALIVE'

AN ADDED bonus to a website's new look is helping to bring the "missing" town and countryside back into the homes of Atherstone people left isolated by coronavirus lockdown.

Graphic streets scenes, picturesque landscapes and town events from the past are set to "live on" through images on the revamped Atherstone Town Council site.

A picture gallery by local photographic legends Graham Beale and David Kipping is certain to turn the town authority site into a must-go-to reference point – as well as assisting townsfolk on civic matters.

The town council says the revamped design could not have come at a more crucial juncture.

Council chairman David Wright told Nub News: "We have got it up and running at one of the most important times imaginable while dealing with Covid-19.

"Although our council meetings have been cancelled for the foreseeable future due to the restrictions, our clerks could not be busier.

"They are being inundated with work."

Odette Ghent and Sally Oldham have been behind the scenes helping to mastermind the first phase of delivering a town-wide mission to look after Atherstone's vulnerable population during the coronavirus crisis.

A newly-created community support team – set up by the town council and Atherstone Partnership – is made up of 60 volunteers with the first priority achieved to be able to cover 4,300 households in a communications sweep of the town through door-to-door leafleting.

The plan is to ensure no one among Atherstone's needy who has been isolated by the knock-on effects of Covid-19 misses out on getting help.

All the information for this and all the town council's affairs can be found on the site here.

The photographic gallery includes images from the town's well-known photographers.

Graham Beale needs little introduction as wedding photographer, Atherstone Ball Game chronicler, Atherstone Motor Show, sporting images from Atherstone Town CFC and Atherstone Adders HC as well as a book Atherstone Through Time.

Online furniture retailer by profession, David Kipping has spent 30 of 45 years as an amateur photographer taking pictures of his 'adopted' home town of Atherstone – preferring urban photography and street portraits, half of which are shot in black and white, to "create drama". His Atherstone work can be seen [L] https://kippingphoto.com/atherstone/ [ L+]here[.L].