A PRIVATE group on Facebook has been bringing people with a connection to the Crediton area particular joy in recent weeks.

The page "Crediton area photo/video history" enables members to share old photographs they own, many with short stories or historical information, with fellow members.

The site was started by Jamie Sollis on January 14, and he is the first to admit that it has grown quickly and beyond his wildest dreams.

He explained: "I am thrilled at the success of the page.

"Within 30 minutes of starting it, due to the number of people joining the page and putting photographs on it, my mobile phone battery died.

"I drafted in some friends, Michael Hole, Martyn Ellaway and Chris Woollacott, to help run and administer it and we have certainly been kept very busy.

"It has almost taken over our lives and currently we have more than 3,250 members and there have been thousands of postings of old photos resulting in more than 25,000 comments and 100,000 reactions.

"The photos are a gateway into the history of the Crediton area, the families, businesses, shops and so much more.

"Previously Crediton’s history just revolved around St Boniface and General Sir Redvers Buller but there was little on-line presence so this is why I decided to set it up.

"The town also has Crediton Museum at the old Town Hall. Remarkably, the ’Crediton area photo/video history’ page is achieving more than double the number of visits than the museum did in the whole of last year.

"I met with the museum to ask for access to some of the museum photographs for the site and some of these are now appearing as well as others from the Albert Labbett collection and the collection of Martyn Ellaway.

"I have restored some of the photographs from the museum collection and also recreated some, including some very rare images.

"I am really grateful that many members of the public are sharing their photos on the page for others to see, comment on and enjoy.

"Michael, Chris, Martyn and myself are amazed at the variety of images and the historical details which are coming with them.

"I think it has really instilled an interest in local history again.

"A number of Crediton shops have said that local history books have started to sell well again."

Jamie, who moved to Crediton in 2013, explained that people from across the world, from as far as Chile, USA, Canada, Germany and New Zealand have connected with the page.

He also said that he was delighted that the page had resulted in some incredibly rare photographs coming forward.

"On the page we had someone find a very rare photograph of Queen Elizabeth’s School from 1860.

"Other rare or early pictures have included Exeter Road, Four Mills Lane and Dean Street but, as yet, we have not found any early pictures from the Bowden Hill area."

Jamie added that he was really pleased that young people had been interested to see the photos included in the page.

"This has led to us doing some ’old’ and ’new’ images and more recently videos."

Jamie explained that more recently one of the more recent time traveller videos he produced was about Crediton Parish Church.

Currently Jamie and his colleagues are organising pictures into albums and descriptions.

They have also had interest from Sandford Historical Society and Newton St Cyres Historical Society.

In the future they have an ambition to create an interactive map which will bring up old photos alive in a virtual tour of the town and area.

Jamie said that Crediton Museum was adding a watermark to each of its photographs as it did not want to lose ownership of the images, but added that many family collections had given permission for images to be used.

Some of the rare images include an elephant in East Street, St Lawrence Green before the opening ceremony and many more.

MUSEUM VIDEO

Jamie recently produced a number of line drawings of well-known images for children to colour in during the current coronavirus isolation period. He has sent 127 sets of six images for children to colour out by email already.

He is also in talks with Crediton Museum about videoing their exhibition with the person videoing it narrating it and uploading the video to the page with a "go fund me" link to ask for donations to keep the museum running.

Jamie said people are welcome to join the "Crediton area photo/video history" page and to share their historical images on the page.

"We don’t get anything for it other than the enjoyment it is giving so many people,” Jamie added.

If you don’t have Facebook or access to the internet and have any photos you would like to share, you can contact Martyn Ellaway on 01363 776089.

• The Crediton Courier also welcomes images of times gone past. While we cannot guarantee when they will be published, these can be emailed to: [email protected] .

See more images in the current issue of the Crediton Courier.