AN exhibition of amazing, and artistic, photographs of Darlington and south Durham taken in the late 1960s opened in Darlington library last week.

The photographs were taken by Richard Gaunt who, when he was a student at Darlington Grammar School, cycled and then motorbiked around the area with his camera.

“It’s difficult to explain how I ended up with so many,” he says. “The more I did it, the more I liked it.”

After Cambridge University, Richard worked for British Steel and then for Cardiff City Council, rising to become head of corporate services. He carried on photographing, and an exhibition in Cardiff last year inspired him to stage one in Darlington.

There are about 200 pictures in the exhibition, 70 on the walls and the others either lose or on a projector. About half are of Darlington, with the remainder showing scenes within a cyclable distance of the town.

Richard has published eight books of his photography, including three of south Durham. He regularly features in the columns of Mike Amos who has described his pictures as being “photographic songs of the 1960s”.

The exhibition runs until Thursday, September 5.

If these pictures provoke any thoughts or memories, please email chris.lloyd@nne.co.uk