SLIDESHOW: Travel back in time with South Shields photographer's archive pictures

The Gazette told last month how daughter Julia Northam was busy collating thousands of her father's pictures into one archive collection.

Among the images he took were visits to South Tyneside by luminaries such as The Queen, Princess Diana, boxer Muhammad Ali and rock star Jimi Hendrix.

But former police officer Freddie, whose Fietscher Fotos business was based in Albemarle Street, South Shields, was not just interested in the rich and famous.

Over four decades from the late 1950s to his death in 1985, he also chronicled daily life across the borough and the changing appearance of its buildings and roads.

We will be publishing dozens of his pictures in the coming weeks by dividing them into themes such as people, pubs, industry and aerial views.

Today's photographs are a sample of what's to come and include winter scenes, beauty contests, charity pram races and men at work.

Post office clerk Julia, 58, who now lives in Billingham, has kindly allowed the Gazette to share her dad's handiwork with our readers and is hoping that they can also bolster her collection by contacting her with pictures taken by him.

Her public Facebook group, Fietscher Fotos of South Shields and surrounding areas, is available here.