AMONG the Christmas cards now on sale at Monmouth Museum are two reproductions of stained glass window photographs taken by local photographer William Call.

The photographs are two among the thousands of photographs taken by the late Mr Call who travelled around the countryside, mainly by bicycle, tripod and all. They were taken in monochrome, hand-coloured by his three children, Queenie, Rowley and Nini and later sold at his County Studios in Priory Street.

Mr Call was an eccentric, colourful character and clearly a man of many talents. He was known locally as "Count Call" on account of his aristocratic bearing, a habit of wearing a cape and a somewhat romantic ancestry - his father was William Montague Call, Bart, of Whiteford House, Callington, in Cornwall, and his mother, a French lady whom he claimed to have been a Parisian midinette.

He spent the early years of his life in France, living in the Rue Victor Hugo, just off the Place de la Concorde in Paris, returning to Cornwall at the age of 12 with a fluent French accent.

To please his father, he studied engineering at the Camborne School of Mines but later decided to study music - attending the Royal College of Organists - to please himself! Mr Call took up appointments as church organist at Truro Cathedral and subsequently at Chepstow and was reputed to have been able to play 200 organ voluntaries from memory.

His post at Chepstow introduced him to the Wye Valley and for more than 50 years he lived in Monmouth, operating his photography business in Priory Street where he also conducted a much loved puppet theatre.

His shows were distinguished by the great intricacies of the puppets and the immense pains he took to accompany them with appropriate classical music. Many of his puppets were based on local figures and their clothes were made by his daughter, Queenie.

Unfortunately, the chaotic nature of his business made it financially less than viable.

Andrew Helme, Curator of Monmouth Museum, said: "Sadly, when he died in 1965, many of his puppets disappeared; some were sold off and there was a rumour suggesting some were in America."

Mr Call's artistic talents appear to have been passed on to his children - his daughter, Nini was both a keen artist and interested in amateur dramatics. She visited the Museum to see a collection of her father's photographs some years ago and when asked to comment on her role in the Call cottage industry said: "It was fascinating work - I loved it."

Mr Call's son, Rowley, who died some years ago, inherited his father's love of music and was a member of a local dance band.

The cards, with Christmas greetings or blank inside, are on sale priced 95p and 75p at Monmouth Museum.