ECHOES OF THE NORTH

Send Us Your
Photographs

Your Memories — Brought Back to Life

Got old photographs of the North tucked away in a drawer? We'd love to see them. Selected photographs are carefully restored, brought back to life, and featured in a new weekly Echoes film — with your family's story told alongside them.

Send a Photograph
A faded 1970s photograph of a woman on a Northern English street, lying on a kitchen table
One photograph, one phone, one kitchen table — that's all it takes.

No Scanner? No Problem

Most of the photographs we feature have never been digital. A photo of your photo, taken on an ordinary phone, is all we need — here's how to get a good one.

  1. Lay the photograph flat
    On a table near a window, in daylight. Take it out of any frame or album sleeve if you can do so safely.
  2. Turn the flash off
    Flash causes glare on old prints. If there's a shine, move slightly to one side until it disappears.
  3. Hold the phone directly above
    Keep it level and fill the screen with the photograph — but don't crop the edges. We'd rather have the whole print, borders and all.
  4. Photograph the back as well
    Studio stamps, pencilled names and dates on the reverse are gold dust to us. If there's anything written on the back, send us a photo of that too.
Sharpness matters more than anything else — take a second to let the camera focus before you press the button. If in doubt, send it anyway. We can work with more than you'd think.

What We're Looking For

Old photographs of the North of England — especially ones that have sat in family albums for decades and never appeared online. Any era from Victorian times to the 1990s.

Town centres, streets and neighbourhoods

Shops, pubs, markets and businesses

Factories, mills, collieries and workplaces

Parks, fairs and days out

Seaside trips and holiday camps

Schools, clubs and community events

Buses, trains, trams and everyday life

Family photographs where the place behind them is interesting

Photographs don't need to contain people at all — an empty street or a park in 1950 is exactly the sort of thing we love. And if your photograph does show family, you choose whether they appear in the finished film or whether we focus on the place alone. There's a question for it on the form below.

Submit a Photograph

A few details help us date the photograph, tell its story properly, and credit you the way you'd like. One photograph per submission is fine — send as many submissions as you like.

Thank You

Your photograph has been sent. We read every submission, and if yours is selected for a film we'll be in touch by email. We can't feature everything — but we're grateful for every single one.

Town and, if known, the street or place — e.g. "Wigan, Market Place"
Your best guess is fine
Who or what we're looking at, and any story behind it — this is what we read out in the film
If Your Photograph Shows People, What Would You Prefer?
How Should We Credit You?
Front of the photo, plus the back if anything's written on it. Largest / original size, not a screenshot.

Permissions

Your details are only used to handle your submission — see our privacy policy. Original photographs are kept private; only the restored films are published.

Prefer email? Send your photo and details to gavinp85@echosofthenorth.com instead — that works just as well.
We read everything, but we can't feature every photograph. If yours is selected, we'll email you before it appears.

Want Something Just for You?

Alongside the community films, we create full bespoke memory videos from your own family photographs — birthdays, anniversaries and tributes, made one at a time.

About Personalised Videos