A TALK and workshops start this month to understand the historic significance of a major Furness photographic archive.

Signal Film and Media, at Cooke's Studio, Barrow, has secured starter funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund for what is hoped to be a major community programme next year based on the 15,000 negatives produced by Edward and Raymond Sankey.

Project manager Julia Parks will describe the project at Greenodd Village Hall, from 7.30pm on Tuesday, November 20, at an event by Cumbrian Industrial History Society.

Free public workshops are being held at Cooke's Studio, on Tuesdays November 20 and 27 and December 4 and 11, from 2.30pm to 5pm.

Book a place by calling 01229 838592, or by sending an email to julia@signalfilmandmedia.co.uk

The Sankeys took photographs to produce picture postcards from the 1890s to the 1970s of everything from ship launches, parades and royal visits to views of factories, theatres, streets, or tourist destinations.

It is hoped to digitise the collection and interpret the images as part of the project called Seeing the North With Sankey.

Many of the cards were posted to friends and relatives all over the world, with the messages providing an insight into the way our ancestors lived and enjoyed their holidays in past decades.

You can find out more about the project on the website at https://signalfilmandmedia.com/seeing-the-north-with-sankey/