Molly - a life in pictures

12:10pm Thursday 6th March 2008

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HUNDREDS of photographs taken by intrepid traveller and much-respected Malton teacher Molly Kennedy, will be featured in an exhibition being held in the town next month.

The event is being staged by Malton and District Camera Club as a celebration of the life of Miss Kennedy, who died in an accident while crossing the A64 in January last year.

While she had been a member of the club for more than 40 years, it was only after her death that the discovery was made of thousands of photographs and slides she had taken on her tours of the world, said Paul Gallon, the club chairman.

The exhibition will feature some of the 6,500 photographs she took, both of Ryedale and in far-flung parts of the world. "We have since discovered as many more again. She was a remarkable lady."

Miss Kennedy, who was born in Sunderland and educated at Durham University, went on to teach geography, mathematics and PE at St Andrew's School in Malton - a school which had started in Bridlington but was evacuated to Malton during the war because of the threat of coastal air raids.

Paul said: "While I've been putting this exhibition together, I have spoken too many of her friends and former pupils who have all said the same thing about Molly - that she was one of the kindest, most modest people they had ever met. She was a great friend to many people and has been greatly missed."

Paul recalled how Miss Kennedy would often just sit quietly in club meetings, with other members unaware that she was such an accomplished photographer.

The exhibition is being staged at The Friends' Meeting House in Greengate, Malton, on March 14 at 7.15pm with proceeds going to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

The evening will include an audio visual presentation made from scanned photographs taken by Miss Kennedy and an opportunity for people to look at her extensive photo albums of St Andrew's and read her hand-written travel logs. There will also be a presentation of her 35mm slides, said Paul.

In addition to her many photographs and slides, wallets, travel journals and school photos from the 1940s have also been discovered.

The exhibition will include a wide range of photographs from her days as a young teacher at St Andrew's in 1945, to one of the last taken of her, relaxing at her Malton home, with shots of events in Ryedale and world-wide scenes.