NEW FREE PHOTO ARCHIVE
PEOPLE in Staffordshire can rediscover the past, thanks to an incredible interactive website that brings old pictures to life.
From children playing in the streets in the 60s to miners at the pit in 1939, the Memorylane archive has a host of historic photographs.
And they can be transformed from black and white to colour with one swipe!
Memorylane.co.uk – created by Reach plc, owner of the Mirror and the Express and regional titles including the Burton Mail – will mean people can celebrate events such as Bonfire Night and Remembrance Sunday from years gone by.
Images are searchable by location, date, topics, people and categories, so that people can preserve, discover, share and colourise the past.
Memorylane’s launch comes after a Yougov survey revealed that 80 per cent of Britons haven’t digitalised all their photos, suggesting the past is in danger of being lost forever.
The survey – carried out in October – also saw 67 per cent of the population admit they are looking for something that brings them comfort, and more than half of UK adults (55 per cent) have been thinking about what we did before the pandemic.
Old photographs have helped get nearly a third of the population (31 per cent) through the pandemic. Professor of history, author and broadcaster Kate Williams is supporting the launch of the interactive site.
She said: “Photographs are one of the most important social documents we have access to, allowing us to understand society and communities from different generations.
“We learn so much more about our past when we look at the photographs of everyday people as opposed to formal photos of royalty and aristocracy. If important images languish in the loft, there is a real danger they may be lost forever.”