A treasure trove of rare photographs kindly donated by North Belfast pensioners is shining a light on a bygone era (click here to see the pictures in our digital edition).

The collection of unique photographs was put together by members of the Silver Threads Senior Citizens Group and displayed in the Cliftonville Road's Survivors of Trauma centre.

It was facilitated by the Ulster People’s College under their People’s History Initiative.

The Life in Our times exhibition is a snapshot of what life was like in North Belfast and beyond in the1930-1960s era.

Former Star of the Sea school teacher Kathleen Regan's photograph shows her as a young nine year old girl, with her family and relatives at a house close to Toome. The family was evacuated there for their own safety following the Belfast Blitz of 1941.

The Regan family home in Spamount Street was hit during the bombing. Kathleen said when they returned from the air raid shelter they found their clothes "hanging from the lamp-posts" and "the bedrooms were burned". 

"We had to go immediately to the evacuation centre and that's where they sent to us, to Crosskeys. That picture was taken the day after the bombing. Six weeks we spent there and we had no suitcases, just a few belongings in a pillowcase."

Photographs of Cavehill, Napoleon's Nose and the New Lodge were submitted by Margaret McSherry's late husband Des McSherry.

Margaret said her husband was always a keen photographer who won the top prize in the inaugural Belfast Exposed awards in 1983 .

"He was always interested in taking photos but he began to take it seriously in the 1980s. He was very good at it. After he died we didn't realise how many he took. Up in the attic we found a stack of them, there was so many of them and we didn't have a clue."