TOURISM chiefs are delving into the past as part of a drive to encourage visitors to the Cleveland coast.

Photographs, dating back over a century, are providing a look at bygone days from Redcar and Cleveland in a new brochure, The Nostalgia Coast.

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council's tourism section hopes to appeal to all ages with the 16-page free brochure, with eight sections, including railways, beach activities, motorsports, entertainments, lifeboats and shipwrecks.

Images include Malcolm Campbell's world land speed record attempt in The Sunbeam, at Saltburn, in 1924, Newsomes helter-skelter lighthouse, in Redcar from 1907 and a sandcastle-building competition from 1902 in Saltburn, organised by hot drink maker Bovril.

The council's cabinet member for culture, leisure and tourism, Councillor Dave Fitzpatrick, said: "We're promoting the ten miles of golden sands that stretch from the South Gare, at the mouth of the Tees, to Hummersea, near Loftus - that hasn't changed much.

"But we're hoping the older generation remembers those old days and would like them to bring the younger members of their families to our coastline and reminisce.

"I'm delighted with the brochure. I'm sure it will be extremely popular, not just with our own residents but people all over the country."

There are 10,000 copies of the brochure, co-written by local historians Tony Lynn and Jo Faulkner, which will be available from tourist information centres at Redcar, Saltburn and Guisborough. They will also be distributed regionally and nationally.