A new photographic book about the history of West Cumbria in the 1950s has been published.

Ivor Nicholas, 83, of Asby, a retired freelance photographer, has teamed up with Whitehaven businessman Gerard Richardson, 52, to produce the book.

Decades is the name of the latest in a series of publications on local history, depicting West Cumbria of 60 years ago.

Mr Richardson said: “I met Ivor in 1999 while organising the Whitehaven Festival. He was the photographer sent by the local newspapers to take pictures at the event.

“We became really good friends despite the generation gap and, after publishing my first book on Whitehaven, I was looking for someone who had old pictures of both Copeland and Allerdale.

“It turned out that he had almost 14,000 films in his archive.

“For this particular book we went through 4,500 images.

“When Ivor was sent out on a job by the newspapers he would not only take the picture that he was asked for but also of the village and I’m very glad he did.”

The pair put their minds together to select the pictures, which include one shot of people in Cockermouth looking at a load of wood fallen off a Thomas Armstrong wagon in 1955, when the company was based in the town.

There are pictures of the inside of the old Theatre Royal in Workington in 1960, pupils and staff of All Saints School at Cockermouth station leaving for a trip to Paris in 1955, and many other pictures of shops and buildings that are no longer there, sportsmen and local personalities.

Mr Nicholas said: “It’s amazing how stories, people and places come back to you when you look at the pictures.

“A lot of things that I had forgotten were suddenly there in front of me, reminding me of our past.”

In the preface of the book, Mr Richardson refers to Mr Nicholas as “a Wikipedia of West Cumbria”.

He said: “There’s a picture in the book showing Foxy Fowler, one of the few men ever to escape from Dartmoor prison, surrounded by police in Maryport where he had escaped to in 1957.

“When people from Maryport see that picture they will remember the story, even though no one has talked about it for years.

“Ivor was the only photographer to take that shot and it went to the nationals.

“I find it fascinating that some people don’t know what there was in Workington, for example, before the shopping centre.”

The book is available online at www.richardsonsofwhitehaven.co.uk and costs £10.