The history of a town was brought to life in pictures yesterday.

Historians and photographers Alan Betteney, 57, and Peter Moon, 82, were at Billingham Art Gallery to sign copies of and talk about their book, Viewpoints in Stockton.

It shows photographs from Stockton dating back 100 years alongside the same spot in the modern day.

Mr Betteney, originally from Durham but who has lived in Stockton for more than 30 years, said: "My colleague Peter, who first had the idea, knew I had a lot of old postcards of Stockton and we took it from there."

"We found pictures in museums and libraries and we had a great find from a man called Peter Dodsworth, who had a pictures of every Co-op building in Stockton from the 1960s.

"Some of the pictures we couldn't use because the modern day equivalent was not very interesting. For example, where the old registry office was is now just a brick wall.

Mr Moon had his own archive of pictures. He has been taking photographs since he moved to the town from Wales in the late 1940s.

The book costs £14.50. It is available from a number of bookshops and Stockton Tourism Information Centre.