THIS week I had the pleasure of interviewing a nonagenarian and retired photographer. 

Ivor Nicholas told me of a remarkable tale about him and his father that took me on a nearly 100-year history of local print titles. 

Ivor's father worked in the local press for the Times and Star from the late 1930s and during the war, when many younger reporters were drafted into service.

Ivor followed him into the world of journalism focussing on photography after he left school in 1948, and other than a short break when he served in the RAF as a photographer, Ivor has recorded our local and sometimes national history ever since. 

We still regularly feature photos taken by Ivor in Cumbria’s newspapers in 2024.

Ivor has recorded the best and worst of local history including the Workington Reds versus Manchester United Busby Babes only months before the Munich disaster in 1958, the Windscale Fire, and even the Maritime Festivals.

It was there that he met local business owner Gerard Richardson which led him into a brand-new direction.

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At a time when most people were putting their slippers on and taking it easy, Ivor published the first of what is now a trail of six books, with another planned for later this year.

His enthusiasm for all things local from fell walking to photography and his fabulous memories from the RAF are infectious.

The latest book, which has the working title 'More Nostalgia', is planned for a December release.