Photographer focuses on past, present and future

A PHOTOGRAPHER from Whitchurch has portrayed the life and times of the Thames Valley in his latest book.

Jim Donahue has focused on its history, community life, the countryside and local politicians, which he has illustrated with his own pictures.

Mr Donahue, 61, who moved to the UK from America in 1997, has taken four years to produce The Thames Valley: Past, Present and Future — a Snapshot of English Life.

He was inspired to write about his experiences living in the community and exploring nature over the last 25 years and how different life is compared to his homeland.

The first section of the book explores the area’s past through stories, events and places, including King Alfred’s battles with the Vikings, William the Conqueror and the Civil War.

The second section looks at the present and future with a 75-mile journey from Windsor to Oxford looking at community life and its looming challenges.

Mr Donahue looks at examples of community life, such as Boxing Day competitions in Cookham and tensions between conservation and change, including the need to meet housing targets.

The 10 main areas explored in this part include, Windsor and Eton, Slough, Maidenhead, Marlow, Cookham, Henley, Reading, Pangbourne, Whitchurch, Hardwick Estate community in Whitchurch, Goring, Streatley, Wallingford, Abingdon and Oxford.

Mr Donahue, who lives in Hardwick Road, quit his day job as a programme manager at Vodafone about two years ago to focus on completing the book.

He said: “I’m quite pleased with it. I’ve learnt a lot writing it, especially about the history. I just really appreciate how wonderful the place where we live is and England generally.

“There are four themes in the book. The first is the beautiful scenery in the countryside, which is amazing. America has some nice, beautiful places but it’s not on your doorstep like here.

“Here, you can just walk out and go up into the Chilterns and ride your bike or walk along the river. In America, there are some beautiful state and national parks but you have to plan a holiday and fly or get a rental car. And, if you go there in the summer, then there are hordes of other people trying to do the same thing.

“The second thing is the quality of community life. You have these lovely little villages like Whitchurch, where I live, where you can just walk down to the shops and you run into all these people you know. You have all these different community groups too that do different activities that you can get involved in where everybody gets to know each other.

“History is the third thing. Pilgrims came to America in 1620, so that is about 400 years of history and you can’t really compare that to the thousands of years of history here.

“When you go through the whole Thames Valley, you’re really talking about the history of England with Windsor Castle and Oxford University. Even some of the earliest humans were at Highlands Park Farm, about a mile down the road.

“The final area I cover is about councillors because communities do have a say in the future of where they live. All these local plans and neighbourhood plans that people get involved in and the houses, they’re very protective.

“I give a tutorial on the English planning system that a lot of people know about, but they won’t know the details. I talk about affordable housing, traffic, parking, the London sewage system and how it has developed and the implications of those things.”

Mr Donahue, who chairs Whitchurch Parish Council, was born in Massachusetts and grew up in Chicago. He then lived in New Jersey, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington DC as an adult.

He came to the UK for work and initially lived in London before moving to Cookham, Pangbourne and finally Whitchurch.

Mr Donahue said he wanted to write the book for those who live outside of the area to delve into and understand the Thames Valley.

He said: “I wanted to capture what it’s like living here. I’m not sure how well it will sell in America but certainly tourists who come to the area might want to read it. This is my way of explaining it through the lens of my experience living here, using my photography.

“People who live and grow up here might read the book and go ‘We really are in a special place’. People do like to complain about dreary old England and say ‘Oh, my God I’d love to live in America’ but I’ve done both and I think it’s a nice place here.”

Mr Donahue describes himself as a “visual” person and so historical stories are kept very concise and there are plenty of illustrations to appeal to a broad audience.

He said: “It’s amazing what you can do online but I read a lot of books about the area’s history and met a lot of people as well.

“Most of the information is already out there but it has never been put together as a history of the Thames Valley because it’s not an official region. It’s just an area that people know about and use the term to talk about it.

“I am a very visual person and I try to make it easy to understand so I’m targeting a very broad audience. Anybody can look at this and read the concise stories about some of the history that they’ve taken in.”

Mr Donahue took up photography more than 20 years ago when he was volunteering on aid projects in Africa and wanted a record of them.

He published his first book, a photo album of Whitchurch, in 2012 and followed this with another on Pangbourne a year later.

In 2015 he portrayed 12 months in the life of Henley in a book called Portrait of Henley-on-Thames: British Country Landscapes, Traditions and Community Life. It is divided into four sections based on the seasons.

His fourth book was St James the Less, Pangbourne 1866-2016, which was published in 2016 and is about the village church.

Mr Donahue, who won the British Life Photography Award in the rural category in 2015 with a picture of a pair of rowers at Hambleden lock, said he would like to continue exploring the English countryside.

He said: “I would like to continue doing photography and working on the council because it’s important and it does keep me busy.”

Mr Donahue also appeared at the Henley Literary Festival earlier this month alongside Matthew Rice, a watercolour artist, and they discussed their books.

He said: “I like living around here, biking and travelling and I’d like to do more of that in other parts of the country. I was in Yorkshire recently and I took some nice photos and learned about the history. It’s good to compare the history to other parts of the country, so I might do a little more travelling around the country to get some inspiration.”

• The Thames Valley: Past, Present and Future — a Snapshot of English Life costs £24.99 and is available from the Bell Bookshop in Bell Street, Henley, and Amazon.