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Snapper gets into the scrum to shoot the perfect picture

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Photographers at the Bolton Evening News always like to get a different angle on things.  

 

So Karen Hope decided to get right inside the scrum to take a stunning picture during a rugby match. 

 

But unknown to Karen, she was on the receiving end of the lens too - when one of the rugby club officials caught her in the act.  

 

Karen's brief was to capture the mood at a charity game in Bolton.  

 

And Brian Minor, the chairman of Ever Greens of Rugby RUFC, was so impressed by Karen's dedication that he took a snap of her on her back in the middle of the scrum and sent a letter to the paper.

 

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Paper scales new heights for funeral of steeplejack Dibnah

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The Bolton Evening News scaled new heights to cover the funeral of steeplejack Fred Dibnah, when staff photographer Karen Hope followed the path he had trodden for so much of his life ... and climbed a church tower!

 

The hometown newspaper of the late TV personality decided to pull out all the stops to cover the event which attracted the attention of much of the national media.  

 

And Karen's vantage point gave her the opportunity to get several exclusive photographs.  

 

While others detailed to cover the funeral of Fred got most of their shots from the windows of the Bolton Evening News offices, overlooking the town's parish church, Karen spent three hours on top of the tower in the pouring rain.

 

Editor Steve Hughes said: "We knew that the procession would give us the opportunity for some memorable and historic photos but we also knew that several thousand people would turn up and that it would be difficult to take photos at street level.  

 

"We wanted to make sure that we had the best possible view so our photographers spent several days finding the right locations. We got some great photos that no one else did."

 

On the day of the funeral the paper devoted pages one and two to the story and carried an eight-page pictorial tribute from Fred's early days as a traditional steeplejack to his trip to Buckingham Palace earlier this year to collect his MBE.

 

Because the funeral was in the afternoon most of the coverage had to be carried the next day. As it wasn't a breaking story Steve decided to go for a features treatment on page one, with a big atmospheric photograph and the start of a 1,200 word colour piece by chief features writer Angela Kelly.

 

Steve said: "There didn't seem a lot of point doing a traditional news story when everyone in the town knew that he had been buried the day before.  

 

"Instead we chose to concentrate on the quality of the writing and the photographs and I was very pleased with the result. It was a fantastic team effort."

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Karen's great pictures come out in the wash

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Bubbly art student Karen Donnelly knew exactly how to soap up her tutors when they told her to organise a photography exhibition.

 

She felt hanging pictures in a dusty old gallery was too wishy-washy - so she took them for a tumble at a launderette instead.

 

Karen, aged 34, hopes the Clean Street show, just outside the town centre, will put quite a bit of bounce into her grades at the Bolton Institute of Higher Education.

 

But she's wondering if it will put the laundry's more delicate customers in a spin.

 

"A launderette is perfect for an art exhibition," she said. "Other places just won't wash. I hope the other customers will like my pictures. But I'm sure they will."

 

Karen's photographs are all based on a garish but gorgeous art genre called Kitsch.

 

They depict a Spice Girls' purse, a Che Guevara snow-globe - and even a pair of Adam Ant knickers.

 

But the artist says she will not experience the excitement of rinsing her own smalls while her pictures are on the wall.

 

She does most of her washing at The Hollins dorm on Radcliffe Road. She said: "People spend a lot of time in laundries so they are good places to exhibit your work.

 

"There's not much to do while waiting for your load to finish, so customers will be able to take a good look at my pictures.

 

"I don't really enjoy doing my own washing. It takes too much time. But holding my exhibition in the laundry was a great idea anyway. It just came right out out of the blue."

 

Karen's exhibition will be at the Clean Street laundry in Bradford Street from tomorrow until February 19. It will be open from 9am to 6pm and art lovers can do their washing for just £2 a load.

The Bolton News

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