Nostalgia-lovers are promised a field day in North Walsham where hundreds of old photographs, never displayed before, are on show.

%image(14865801, type="article-full", alt="Vicarage Street, North Walsham, before buildings were demolished to make way for the car park. The building in the foreground says "Congregational Sunday School 1893". Picture: NORTH WALSHAM AND DISTRICT COMMUNITY ARCHIVE")

Up to 500 pictures, taken by the late Fred Mace, are part of a free exhibition called A History of North Walsham in Photographs which opens on Thursday, June 25, and continues on Friday and Saturday, from 10am-4pm, in The Atrium, on Spenser Avenue.

The photos cover the post-war period until the mid-1970s. Mr Mace followed in his father Charles' footsteps and was a professional commercial photographer, based in the town's Station Road.

After Fred Mace's death his photographic collection lay untouched until North Walsham Historical Society and the North Walsham and District Community Archive Group chipped in to buy a high-quality scanner to record and preserve about 1,000 negatives, according to archive group spokesman Brian Hedge.

'There were about four shoeboxes full and it took about nine months to do them.

%image(14865802, type="article-full", alt="North Walsham professional photographer Fred Mace, whose collection of photographs, invaluable to local historians, has been saved by the North Walsham and District Historical Society and North Walsham and District Community Archive group. Picture: NORTH WALSHAM AND DISTRICT COMMUNITY ARCHIVE")

'I think people will find them very interesting. They include well-known local people like Mr Le Grice and Dr Page,' he added.

The exhibition will also include North Walsham secondary modern and high school sports teams never displayed before, and North Walsham stalwart Barry Holden's 'then and now' photographs of the town.

Visitors to the exhibition will also have the chance to buy copies of a 1959 guide to North Walsham which has been reprinted by the town's Showcase Gallery.

The 68-page booklet, costing £7, includes an illustrated history of the town, plus advertisements for long-gone Market Place businesses including chemist and optician Oliver and Griston, and milliner Fullers.

At 7pm on Thursday, June 25, Mr Hedge will be giving an illustrated talk at The Atrium on the North Walsham and Dilham Canal, and the Norfolk Broads. Tickets cost £5.