TEESDALE residents past and present have been reunited after a photographer’s collection was posted on Facebook.

Parkin Raine spent decades collecting snaps and documents of life in the dales, including those taken by the 19th Century photographer, Elijah Yeoman, right up to modern day photographs in 2002.

Mr Raine was forced to give up after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and now lives in the Manor House care home in Barnard Castle, which left his collection at risk of being forgotten forever.

But Barnard Castle Town Councillor Gary Marshall, who is also a keen historian, revived the collection and decided to start the Ye Old Teesdale Tales and Pictures Facebook group so everyone could enjoy his work.

After starting the group on October 14, he said he did not expect the huge response he has had from around the globe after the amount of people joining shot up to more than 1000 in a week with members from as far as Australia logging on.

“It’s just getting bigger and bigger – sometimes I think it’s bigger than me,” he said.

“We have reunited whole family members and whole streets but the great thing is that elderly residents are coming onto Facebook and I have had a few requests from those who are joining just to look at these photographs.”

And it seems the residents have also started posting their own memories of the area as well as sharing stories and featuring then and now photographs.

“The great thing is the stories coming out of it,” Cllr Marshall added.

“We have people talking about coming home and people talking to people they went to playgroups with 30 years ago – it’s about community at the end of the day.”

Cllr Marshall, who was helped by several groups such as the Teesdale Record Society and the Fitzhugh Library, is also developing a section on the Teesdale dialect and encouraging everyone to get involved so they can make a new piece of history through the group.

He has also dedicated the group to Mr Raine and received a message from his niece, Gillian Harrison, thanking him for sharing the collection.

Talking about the page Ms Harrison said: “The first we knew that my Uncle was really starting to fail was the day he arrived at my house saying that he had all of these photos and equipment and didn't know what to do with them.

“If he had any comprehension of Facebook he would be absolutely chuffed that his collection is now being added to all of the other amazing contributions.”