Welcome to Roger Beckwith's

Finchingfield, Photos and Paintings Pages

This site is divided into four main sections. There is a description of Finchingfield, in Essex, photos and memories of old BBC Radio broadcasting equipment and studios, a selection of my paintings and an account of the building of a model railway.

Finchingfield, in Essex, is one of the prettiest of English villages. One of my grandfathers was born in the parish, and the family 'archive' contains some pictures dating back to the early years of the 20th century. To a selection of these, I've added some more recent pictures, showing how the village changed in a period of about a hundred years.

Another section of this site with a nostalgic feel can be found here. There are photographs of, and articles about, studios and equipment from the past of BBC Radio. There's a large section about Broadcasting House in London in 1932. This will be of interest to anyone attracted by the interior design of the period. Further sections deal with later equipment and memories of those of us who used it.

Last updated 2nd March 2026

It's at least four decades since I last tried to build a model railway. The materials available for modelling have improved dramatically in those years. On these pages I describe the stages of building an N gauge layout which includes many buildings inspired by some in Finchingfield (which never had a railway). The layout is more or less finished but I'll try to post new photos and videos from time to time.

Last updated: 14th December 2025.

I have painted a variety of subjects and usually use Alkyd colours, which are similar to oil paint but faster drying. There are lots of pictures of white roses, painted on fairly large canvasses and in close-up. I've also worked on images of reflections in water. You'll also find here some paintings of steam trains and a selection of earlier work - landscapes, river and coastal scenes, still life, buildings and interiors. Theses days, though, the model railway takes up too much time to permit any painting!

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Copyright Roger Beckwith. All rights reserved. This page last modified 2nd March 2026.