EVERY now and then I come across an old photograph that is rather puzzling.

Understood to have been taken locally, this picture shows grim-faced men with poles on top of which are mounted models of ships.

The young boy is holding a placard that, with the use of a magnifying glass, appears to contain the words stand and fall.

It would seem possible the message was ‘stand or fall’, perhaps indicating that this was a protest by shipyard employees belonging to a trade association.

The photograph must go back 100 years or so.

Does any reader have a clue as to what the occasion may have been?