A ‘treasure trove’ of historic Burnham-On-Sea photos and documents from the past 140 years will be going on display at the town’s community centre this Spring.
As Burnham-On-Sea.com reported here last year, thousands of photos, postcards, slides and maps in the collection of local historian and author Bob Thomas, 85, have been gifted to the community, saving them for future reference.
John Strickland from the North Sedgemoor Local History Group said this week: “Good progress is being made in cataloguing the ‘Treasure Trove’ of Bob and Winston Thomas’s archive of slides, postcards, maps and glass plate photos.”
He adds the photo above is “the first of a couple of photographs that we can’t place. Can you name any of these ladies in this photograph involved with the YMCA probably taken during WW11 or do you recognise the building in the background where the photo was taken?”
John says the plan is to open the trove of photos as part of a Burnham and Highbridge Past and Present Event as a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the North Sedgemoor Local History Group being formed.
“The event will be held in the Community Centre on Sunday 11th May when the whole building will have a history theme,” he adds.
“There are many photos including those of pantomime performers, the Freddy Fay Frolics Team, railway workers and groups of school children. Bob recorded the details of most of the photographs, but there are some which we have been unable to determine.”
“The History Team would be most grateful for help in identifying the people and places in these pictures.”
If you can help identify those in the photo at the top of the story, get in touch via the Community Centre on a Tuesday morning or via johnstrickland@talk21.com
