ALTHOUGH it seems odd in these days when everyone carries a camera in their pocket, photographs of VE Day street parties are pretty rare.

Most street parties were actually held in the days and weeks after VE Day - most people on the day itself were too busy celebrating wildly to do anything as organised as make sandwiches.

But in the days afterwards, communities came together, many of them arranging not just the parties but also little presentations, of inscribed mugs or medals, to children to commemorate the life-changing moment of victory for ever.

The Northern Echo's photographers toured the district, capturing those street parties, and the pictures were dropped into the paper as and when space allowed over the next few weeks, but because street parties were two-a-penny, very little was made of them and the original photographs have not been saved.

Therefore, we have to make do with these rather sketchy images taken from the yellowed pages of the old papers to take us back to those days exactly 75 years ago when there was a street party on every street corner.

If you recognise anyone, or can give us any information about any local street parties, please email chris.lloyd@nne.co.uk