A PHOTOGRAPHIC collection that depicts social change and community events in Bishop's Castle since the 1960s has recently come to light.

One photograph shows the opening of Bishop's Castle swimming pool in 1974 and this has prompted even more support for a petition to retain the Teme SpArC leisure centre in the town.

The petition is circulating in Bishop's Castle and the surroundings area following concerns that funding will be cut even more, putting the whole centre under threat of closure.

The photograph was taken by Colin Love, a former maths teacher at Bishop's Castle High school (now Bishop's Castle Community College), who passed away 11 years ago. Colin was a keen photographer and for many years he recorded events in the town.

His daughter Ruth Houghton describes the significance of the swimming pool photograph.

"The picture reminds us how the whole community worked together over 40 years ago to contribute their time, effort and money to build a swimming pool in Bishop's Castle. Since 1974 hundreds of children have learnt to swim at their local pool and people of all ages use it today."

Following the death of their mother Pam Love, Ruth and her siblings Mark, Mary and Sarah discovered boxes of photographs and negatives taken by their father.

They are now being sorted, scanned and posted on the Bishop's Castle memories pages on Facebook set up by Roy Hatfield. He describes the task of sorting thousands of negatives as 'a labour of love' and adds: "The collection has generated a huge amount of interest already and best of all, people are able to put names to faces, and dates to events."

Ruth Houghton concludes: "All our family who have donated the photos are really proud of the social legacy left by Dad in the form of this photographic collection. It not only captures a range of events from the annual carnival to civic ceremonies, but also records the changing face of the town and local landmarks. He would have been really pleased with all the interest these negatives and photographs have generated".