Century of Whitby Gazette reports added to digital archive

The Whitby Gazette has been reporting on events in the town since 1854

A weekly newspaper archive dating back more than 120 years has been digitised as part of a heritage project.

More than 5,000 editions of the Whitby Gazette have been scanned and uploaded, with copies going back to 1900.

The searchable archive, which took six-months to create, is available at the Whitby Museum.

Organiser David Tindale said the paper was known as "the heart of Whitby" and the project would help preserve the "rich resource" for future generations.

The paper's archive can be found in the exhibition at the town's museum

The archive is on display along side an exhibition of photographs from the Whitby Gazette, taken by the late John Tindale over 40 years.

Mr Tindale, who is John's son, said over the decades the paper's journalists had "tried to capture every little detail".

The archive includes reports of events in the town both big and small, from the winter of 1947 when Whitby was cut off by huge snowdrifts to a seven-year-old boy's tumble into the harbour.

A number of issues are missing from the collection however, as some were lost during the wars and others were never produced due to printers' strikes.

Peter Hansell, pictured above as a young man and now aged 71, has lived in Whitby his whole life

A dip in the harbour makes ripples

BBC Radio Tees Reporter Adam Clarkson, originally from Whitby, visited the archive in search of stories about his family.

Among the reports he found a one about his grandfather, Peter Hansell, who, in 1957, made the pages of the local paper after falling in to the harbour aged seven.

After reading the article in the archive Mr Hansell said: "I remember looking up from under the water.

"I remember it like it was yesterday."

He added that particular dip wasn't a "nice trip down memory lane" as he "couldn't swim at the time".

Mr Hansell's wife, Carol, said unfortunately it was not the last time he'd fallen in the harbour.

"I remember one night he'd been down on the boats and he came home like a drowned rat!

"He'd fallen into the gap between boats and gone in the water," she said.

Mr Hansell added "Whitby has changed a lot over the years. Having all of this news documented and available is marvellous.

"So many stories, from the fishing industry alone. This is our heritage."

Mr Tindale said a British Library project to digitise some local newspapers stopped at 1917 after the project "ran out of money".

He added: "Only a local paper would be interested in all of the humanity all of the time.

"We've had a lot of people get really emotional and they've come back time and time again. The whole community is here.

"It's just so rich, a really rich resource."