Reliving Moments Captured 4eva In Time ... 30 Years Later ...

[po2wq]

[COLOR="_______"]Photographer recreates snapshots of home town from 30 years ago

Chris Porsz, a paramedic, used to spend hours in the 1980s walking around Peterborough, Cambs, and taking candid shots without his subjects knowing.

Three decades later Chris, 56, who is known as the "paramedic paparazzo" decided to reconstruct his favourite photos to find out what these people were doing now.

Now astonishingly he has managed to remake three of his incredible snapshots of time after his subjects recognised themselves when he published the pictures in his local paper.

They were only fleeting moments in time. A kiss on a station platform... a ticking-off from the local bobby... a sip from a can of drink in the street. But the split second it took to capture these everyday images would allow them to endure for the next three decades.

None of the people in the pictures realised they were being photographed. The couple saying goodbye at the station clearly had other things on their mind. Had it not been for the curiosity of photographer Chris Porsz, they might have remained anonymous for ever.
[/COLOR]

 

[Rogue Trader]

 

[Rogue Trader]

 

[po2wq]

y u so kan cheong? ...

 

[Rogue Trader]

 

[Rogue Trader]

 

[Rogue Trader]

y u so kan cheong? ...

No lah. Actually enjoying myself. these Npnt pictures quite funny. singaporeans can be very creative sometimes

 

[po2wq]

Then and now: Tony and Sally say farewell as long-distance lovers in 1980 and, right, strike the same pose at Peterborough station. Now Mr and Mrs Wilmot, the couple have been married 26 years and have two grown-up children


Step forward Tony and Sally Wilmot. Tony's parents recognised him in the local paper's appeal and showed him the original photograph.

"I had absolutely no idea the photo had been taken, I was shocked when I saw my picture," said Tony Wilmot, 51, who was snapped saying goodbye to his wife at the railway station.

"At the time we thought the platform was empty so we couldn't believe it when my parents showed us the photo from the local paper."

Tony is seen leaning out of the train to give his wife Sally a kiss as they part at Peterborough railway station.

It was taken in 1980 when the couple were working in different parts of the country a year before they got married.

"I was 22 and working in Essex as a teacher and Sally was 21 and in Stafford as a local government officer," said Tony.

"I think we must have met up at my parents in Peterborough for a family occasion. Sally's train went back slightly later than mine so she was seeing me off."

The pair, who are now both headteachers and live in Litchfield, Staffs, invited son Tom, 22, and daughter Jenny, 20, to watch their fond farewell being reconstructed.

"The station hadn't changed but there are no pull down windows on modern trains so I had to lean out of the door instead," he added.

"It was quite hard as they wouldn't stop the trains for us so I had to keep jumping on and off as they came into the station until Chris had his shot."

His wife Sally, who he has now been married to for 26 years, said it was a lovely moment for Chris to have captured.

"We often didn't see each other for three or four weeks so it was a very significant parting," she said.

"It's hard for our children to understand as nowadays everyone has mobiles and it's easy to text but back then we had to go to a call box if we wanted to contact each other."

 

[po2wq]

Where's the road gone? PC Dave Harvey was in his first year of policing when he was snapped chatting to Tim Goodman, 12. Mr Harvey has recently retired from the force, while Mr Goodwin now runs a coach company in Peterborough


Tim Goodman was a 12-year-old boy when Chris took a picture of him on his bike talking to a policeman.

The 42-year-old didn't even recognise himself in the photo from 1980 and initially thought the young lad was his brother.

"Someone in my family saw the picture in the local paper and thought it could be me but I didn't believe them," he said.

"We had to look back through family albums to see if it was me or my brother. I couldn't believe it as I don't remember an incident with a policeman."

Mr Goodman, who grew up in Peterborough, said he spent his childhood cycling around the city.

"I often went on bike rides and the bike in the picture is one I made from two bicycles stuck together," he said.

"I'm not sure what the policeman was saying to me but I imagine he may have been ticking me off about cycling on the path."

Mr Goodman, who left school at 16, is now married with six children and is a successful businessman with a large coach company in Peterborough.

David Harvey, 51, the policeman in the picture, also had no idea the photo had been taken and can not remember the meeting.

"Neither of us can remember the conversation. I guess it was just a snippet in time," he said. "One of my colleagues spotted the picture in the paper but it was so grainy I wasn't convinced it was me at first."

Mr Harvey was a probationary constable in his first year, walking the city centre on the beat.

He retired last year after 30 years in the police force and having worked his way up to Chief Superintendent for Cambridgeshire.

 

[po2wq]

Still together: Trudie and Dave Talbot were snapped on what she believes was her 21st birthday and, right, posing again outside Peterborough Cathedral after 30 years of marriage, with rather different looking cans of Vimto and, of course, a different dog, They have three grown-up children.


Health care assistant Trudie Talbot, 51, was also shocked to see she had been snapped by Chris.

Mrs Talbot, who still lives in Peterborough, is seen sitting in the centre of the city with a mystery man and dog drinking a can of Vimto.

She saw her picture completely by chance after she was flicking through a calendar of Chris' photos at the hospital.

"I was looking at the pictures and suddenly realised it was me. I was gobsmacked, I hadn't known anything about it at the time," she said.

"I've tried to work out what I was doing and I think the photo was actually taken on my 21st birthday.

"The man in the picture is my husband Dave, who was back from the oil rigs for my birthday and we must have wandered into the town with our dog."

The photo was taken in June 1980, six months after the couple got married and Zeb the Afghan dog was a wedding present from her husband.

Mrs Talbot was working as a hairdresser at the time, but left the job to start a family and the couple now have three daughters, Vicky, 29, Emily, 27 and Yvette, 25.

The pair are still together after 30 years but sadly Zeb the dog ran away a year after the picture was taken.

 

[po2wq]

Still taking pictures: Paramedic and keen photographer Chris Porsz pictured in 1982 and, right, as he is now

 

[po2wq]

Are you in any of these photos?

If you recognise yourself or someone you know, email [email protected] or call 020 7938 6372.

Everybody needs good neighbours: Who are the friendly duo chatting over the garden fence in 1980? Or can you name the Teddy boys striding down the high street?

Days and nights out: Are you one of the baby-faced shoppers out in 1985 - or perhaps one of the not-so-innocent revellers enjoying a night out in Peterborough?