Yesteryear Number Plates

Tony Richards a freelance photographer is keen to find out the tale behind snaps of an old camera he picked up at a car boot scale recently.

Mr Richards, aged 38, of Leigh Road, Daisy Hill, said: “I came across a small leather case with an old Kodak Vest Pocket camera. On returning home I was surprised to find the camera dated from 1912-1926, this being an earlier model. Even more surprising was there was an old roll of Kodak Verichrome Pan film still inside. I wound the film on, took it out and put it to one side. I know this Kodak 127 film is no longer made. Luckily, I had some film developer and a dark room kit. To my surprise, there were seven or eight images on the exposed film.”

Among the most telling is, says Mr Richards, the image with the car, which he has been told is a Ford Anglia 105E, and from the number plates NA it was registered in Manchester from 1959 onwards.

But research on the DVLA website and with the RAC Archives turned up nothing.

Mr Richards said: “From what we can tell from the fashions of hairstyles and clothing it could be early 1960s.

“I just thought it would be great to find out who these people are and reunite them with a little bit of lost family history.

“Granted, the older folk will no longer be with us, but the children will be in their 50s or 60s now, so if they still lived in the North West and saw the images then they might just recognise someone or something. “I was very pleased that there were still images on the roll, I was really expecting next to nothing.

Usually old films get fogged or deteriorate over time or by people opening them up not realising it might still contain film.

“Considering it has been in the camera from who knows when, it’s a pleasant surprise to find such great family snapshots.”