Bedfordshire charity shop camera's original owner handed 1980s snaps

David Clarke has handed the photos to John Salter, who took them in the early 1980s

A man who donated an old camera to a charity shop has been handed pictures he took of his late wife and son nearly 40 years ago.

David Clarke, 48, from Harrold, Bedfordshire, found the undeveloped film in a Kodak Instamatic camera.

A Facebook appeal led him to John Salter, 82, who had taken the photos of his wife Barbara and son Ashley, both of whom have since died.

Mr Salter said seeing the images was a "joyful experience."

Professional photographer Mr Clarke collects old cameras, a hobby he has passed to his daughter Taya, 16.

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She bought the camera from the nearby Emmaus Village Carlton.

When he discovered it still had film in it, he thought "it would be nice" to get it developed.

In a bid to trace their original owner, he posted the pictures on social media and heard from Simon Liddle, a former friend from Rushden Boys' School in Rushden, Northamptonshire.

John Salter and his wife, Barbara, who died in 2011, taken in Benidorm, Spain, in 1981

Mr Salter's son Ashley (in striped shirt), who died in 2016, features with his cousins Simon Liddle (on the ground) and Gary

Mr Liddle recognised himself in one of the photos, along with his brother Gary, mum Rose and father Bill, and his uncle John, aunt Barbara and cousin Ashley Salter.

"It was a nice shock to see them," he said.

He then connected with his old friend on Facebook.

Mr Clarke said: "It was really nice to be put in touch with people you have forgotten about.

"There's a family out there that have now got pictures that they were missing."

Barbara Salter posing with her sister Rose Liddle, who lives in Rushden

Mr Salter, 82, from Bedford, but now living in Lavendon, Buckinghamshire, said he donated the camera to the charity as he was having a clear-out.

"I thought it would be useful to someone else, and lo and behold, it was," he said.

"In these rather torrid times it was nice to have a good news story. It really made me smile."

Barbara Salter with her sister Rose and her husband, Bill Liddle, in a picture believed to have been taken outside the Salters' old home in Dawlish Drive, Bedford