This week's pictures from the past

Down she comes . . . we can date this photo of the demolition of the old Free Bridge at Jackfield exactly – it was taken on September 9, 1993.

In its day it was a pioneering bridge of ferro-concrete construction, but deteriorated to the extent that it had to be demolished and replaced.

A remnant is retained on the south bank of the river as a sort of memorial to it.

What happened here then? Surely the lorry didn't fall off the car?

The photo comes from the Furrows Collection and was loaned to us by Shrewsbury transport historian Roy Pilsbury who, apart from that it's likely to have happened somewhere in the Shrewsbury area, knows nothing about it.

"Looking at it, it looks as though the car had stopped and he didn't," says Roy.

Roy says the car is a Ford Consul Mark I. "I think the lorry is a Guy Vixen or something like that. Definitely a Guy.

"I would think it's only a furniture lorry. I like the kids looking at the side."

This picture was taken at the gala charity premiere of the film A Christmas Carol at The Empire cinema, Shrewsbury, on December 7, 1984. The Earl of Shrewsbury, on the right, was meeting some of the stars. From left are Roger Rees, Frank Finlay and Edward Woodward. The movie was filmed on location in Shrewsbury.

Here's a graphic illustration of the impact of the gradual subsidence which has blighted Jackfield for years.

This photo was e-mailed in by our regular contributor Paul France who tells us: "It shows the 'old' road which went in front of St Mary's Church in Jackfield down to the Half Moon pub.

"Access to the 'bottom end' of Jackfield is now via 'the boards' which is a flexible road surface manufactured from baulks of timber like railway sleepers joined by steel hinges allowing the road to flex. It broadly follows the line of the old Severn Valley railway line.

"The picture was taken in the early 1980s."

"The Meet at Cleobury Mortimer" is the caption to this postcard which was franked in October 1908.

The message on the back was: "Dear Gert, You didn't let me know if you arrived home safe the other day. How long did you stay at the Francs (this name uncertain).

"I suppose you had a ripping time.

"This is a photo taken at my first meet. I came down in the motor.

"You can't see me as I have gone to the back of the Talbot for my horse (clothes horse)."

The reference to a "clothes horse", the writing is uncertain, is in brackets in the original. The postcard was not signed and was posted to a Miss Cotterell, of Melrose House, Cook Street, Wednesbury.

It was loaned us by Bridgnorth postcard collector Ray Farlow. Incidentally the registration of the old car in which the chauffeur is loafing is AWD 1.

Don't worry – one of them is a health & safety officer.

Actually, it must be 100 years or more since this photo was taken of children messing about on the weir at Ludlow. The photo is a postcard from the collection of Ray Farlow of Bridgnorth. The postcard bears the impressed stamp on the front of "George E. White, Ludlow" who was no doubt the local photographer at the time.