DO YOU recognise the faces in these photographs which were rescued just moments before going up in flames?
Kath Kershaw found the photographs, as well as a payslip from 1973, which was tucked inside an old suitcase with the two photographs, which are both in fine condition.
They appear to have been well preserved in the case for years, but almost met a fiery end on a bonfire following a clear-out.
Kath, 60, of Syndale Road, had already thrown the suitcase on the fire, but a fleeting thought prompted her to lift it back off and double check nothing was left inside before the flames took hold.
“My daughter bought this little old-fashioned suitcase from a charity shop years ago,” said Kath. “It was that little clasped sort, you think of them being from the wartime era.
“She’d bought it for a project she was doing at college, she was studying art and design at the time.”
The project had long been complete when Kath was having a clear-out at home, and decided to have a small bonfire to get rid of some stuff.
The fire was well alight when Kath decided to throw the case on top.
“I just thought I’d quickly check it,” she said. “There was this little pouch inside it. It was strange because it had been lying around for years by then, but I had no idea they were there.
“With the payslip being there, it had me thinking the chap had perhaps been working away, and he’d kept the photos in his suitcase while he was away.”
Kath decided to get in touch with the Chronicle to see if anyone recognised the pictures, and in case the people in them or their families wanted them back.
There is a clue in the form of a payslip which bears the name ‘Wafer, N’ and is dated July 31 1973, but it does not give the name of the employer or any address details, either for the workplace or the employee’s home.
And the photographs appear to be somewhat older than the payslip - the one featuring the couple is dated May 23 1946.
“Someone out there must know who they are,” said Kath.
Can you identify the people in the photograph? email editorial@barnsley-chronicle.co.uk or write to Memories, Barnsley Chronicle, 47 Church Street, Barnsley, S70 2AS.
