New Images from the Grenville Collins Collection Gallery

The French Memorial - Lyle Hill, Greenock

The Free French Memorial - Lyle Hill, Greenock with Cardwell Bay and Gourock in background - Scotland. The war memorial (built in the shape of the Cross of Lorrain) commemorates the Free French forces who fought in the Second World War and stands on the western brow of the hill. It has plaques commemorating the loss of the Flower-class corvettes Alyssa and Mimosa, and of the submarine Surcouf. Locally, it is also associated with the memory of the loss of the Maille Breze which blew up at the Tail of the Bank. Date: circa 1950s

Czech Republic - 10th All Sokol Rally in Prague 1938

A rally to promoting public exercise as a way to stimulate national self importance (through organised gymnastic and athletic demonstrations - usually mass-participation). The Sokol (which translates as Falcon') arose as the first Czech Gymnastic organisation in the 1860s. Between the First and Second World Wars the organisation grew to have a million members. The Sokol programmes were organised to have mass appeal across all strata of Czech society and across all age groups. Miroslav Tyrs (1832 -1884) (pictured top right) was a key exponent of this approach and is duly being honoured by the ranks of passing Sokol participants. Tyrs believed that a nation must be physically fit, morally on a high plane and intelligent in order to secure independence and retain it. Elevated to Doctor of Philosophy at Charles University and a member of the Education Staff of Riegers Encyclopedia, Tyrs formulated his Sokol plan, creating an entirely new gymnastic terminology. The next twenty years of his life were devoted to Sokol. He was the first Physical Director, editor of the Sokol paper and creator of calisthenics and exercises, placing the whole system on a firm scientific basis. This card commemorates 20 years of the event. Date: 1938

Festival Stilt Dance and Dancers - Dalian, Manchukuo, China

Manchukuo - a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China and Inner Mongolia from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic, but in 1934 it became a constitutional monarchy. It had limited international recognition and was under the de facto control of Japan. A Festival Stilt Dance. The area, collectively known as Manchuria, was the homeland of the Manchus, including the emperors of the Qing dynasty. In 1931, the region was seized by Japan following the Mukden Incident and a pro-Japanese government was installed one year later with Puyi, the last Qing emperor, as the nominal regent and later emperor.[1] Manchukuo's government was dissolved in 1945 after the surrender of Imperial Japan at the end of World War II. Date: circa 1930s