A WOMAN is hoping to reunite glamorous portraits taken by her uncle with the amateur models who sat for him – in his Finchingfield bathroom.

Albert Westley,amember of the now defunct Braintree and District Photographic Society, died five years ago aged 88.

Niece Viki McAleavey, of Black Notley, found the snaps, printed on large A1-size photographic paper, in his attic along with hundreds of bits of photographic paraphernalia.

Gazette:

The 58-year-old said: “He was a semi professional, photography was his interest. I have got hundreds of cameras at home that I’m trying to get rid of.

“He processed them himself.  It was all done in his bathroom.

“I was going to dump them but somebody said we could see if they were anybody’s mother or grandmother. It seems a shame to chuck them.”

Gazette:

Mr Westley left few clues as to the identity of the women or the dates they were taken, but most would have lived locally.

Two of the prints have a sticker on the back that reads: “This print was hung at the exhibition of the Braintree & District Photographic Society 1958.”

Gazette:

Four other portraits are titled June Palmer, Margaret, Unity, and Jessica Cairns, actress.

Jessica Cairns was a TV and film actress who appeared in films with stars Boris Karloff, Jean Kent, Guy Middleton and Patricia Owens at about the time the photo was taken.

Viki said: “I don’t recognise any of them, some were probably camera club members or friends. All the family members had to pose for at some point.

“I would love it if even one person we found one person.

At least I would feel I have done my best with them.”

Gazette:

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