AN exhibition showcasing the work of a family of pioneering photographers has been extended after the discovery of new photos.
Edward Sankey and his sons Raymond and Eric ran a photographic business in Barrow from the 1890s to the 1960s.
The family captured thousands of unique photographs, documenting life in Furness and beyond over an 80 year period between 1890 and 1970.
The exhibition, known as 'Scenes of Winters Past', is to be extended after a new batch of photographs has been discovered among the Sankey Family Photography Collection.
The newly-unearthed photographs include depictions of what is likely to be Barrow Shipyard’s interior covered in snow, the Kirkstone pass, skaters on Windermere and the high peaks of the Lake District.
Volunteers have been working with Signal Film and Media in Barrow to restore, catalogue and research this vast collection of photographs, many of which are previously unseen.
Julia Parks, project manager at Signal Film and Media said: “Over Christmas we had the chance to look at a few more boxes in the collection and discovered a whole host of new and unseen images we felt we must share in this extended exhibition.
"There are nearly 10,000 unique images in the collection and we are only one sixth of the way through cataloguing them all.”
Les Eveson, a volunteer researcher and curator, added: "This project is important, especially at the moment. It gives a sense of being connected to the people of the time.
"We have their legacy. And we know how important it is to look after it, because a beautiful building today might be gone tomorrow. It’s a feeling of being part of it.”
The volunteers have breathed new life into the photographs, illuminating them with local anecdotes and personal reflections.
The discovery of yet more fascinating photographs means that the pool of volunteers will be similarly expanded, with Signal giving training to and working with more people across the Barrow area.
“We can draw on loads of archive research, but we don’t know the names of the people in the pictures," said Ms Parks.
"There’s so much that we don’t know. What’s exciting for me, is working with a group of people who all have very different experiences and they all bring totally different interpretations.”
The extended exhibition can be viewed online at https://signalfilmandmedia.com/thesankeys-scenesofwinterspast/, with the current exhibition available now and outside the Signal Film and Media premises in Abbey Road.
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