Man finds undeveloped film inside old Box Brownie camera bought in Stockbridge charity shop

THEY are snapshots that for someone will tell a thousand stories '“ but until now have never been seen.

Old family pictures were found inside the Box Brownie

Unearthed from an old Box Brownie camera – bought in a Stockbridge charity shop – the black and white photographs offer an emotional glimpse in to a family’s life.

And now photography enthusiast Graeme Webb, who stumbled across the camera and developed its reel, is desperate for the fascinating images - thought to be from the 1950s or ’60s – to be reunited with their rightful owner.

Mr Webb, a professional photographer based in Hawick, came across the Kodak Portrait Brownie 620 at the Cancer Research shop, on Raeburn Place, last month – and secured it for just £25.

Graeme Webb bought the camera at a charity shop.

He said: “When I got it home, I opened it up to discover it had an exposed reel inside. I am able to develop them so I did.

“I was amazed to discover the photographs and would like to track down the people featured and get the pictures back to them. They will never have seen them.”

The unearthed photographs include shots of a baby being cradled in a back garden, a young girl posing by a wheelbarrow and a group of women in what looks like a cafe.

The reel was luckily in good condition and had not been damaged by light or moisture over the years.

Mr Webb said: “I love this kind of stuff. To think that nobody has ever seen these pictures until now is great.

“The film only took eight pictures and it would have been expensive to buy. Perhaps someone just forgot to get it developed.”

The camera – now in Mr Webb’s expansive collection – was first produced in the late 1930s and was sold well into the 1970s. The film he discovered inside was produced between 1956 and 1970.

The camera was handed in to the charity shop on September 15, as noted on its price tag, but the details of who gifted it are not known.

Tina Pope, assistant manger at the Stockbridge shop, said: “If the camera had been gift aided we would know the person’s details, but we don’t.

“This is the fist time something like this has happened here and it would be great to trace those in the pictures.”

Mr Webb is hoping that whoever has a link with the camera, and therefore the pictures, lives locally and will be able to respond to his search to trace them.

He said: “Something like this happened to me once before after I bought an old camera on eBay.

“It also had a film inside, so I developed it and contacted the seller. The film was about 50 years old.

“It would be great to find these people, particularly whoever was the baby.”