AN exhibition of photographs of postmen on their rounds in decades gone by has received a boost, thanks to a report in The Northern Echo.

Readers have sent in a batch of other old pictures to add to the display in the delivery office at Barnard Castle.

Dave Charlesworth, the delivery office manager, is now having them copied, and he hopes other readers will send in more to make the exhibition even more fascinating.

Trevor Ireland, who lives in Startforth, has taken in a number of photographs featuring his late grandfather, Tommy Ireland, who was a popular postman in Upper Teesdale until he died in 1943 at the age of 48.

One shows him standing in snow beside a small Royal Mail van, registration number BLH 485, which was a familiar sight in the dale for many years.

Tommy Ireland had a reputation for getting through snowdrifts in it to make his deliveries while other vehicles were halted.

Another picture shows him with a pony and sledge, which became the official winter transport in the dale for a time.

He was photographed in it beside three residents at Harwood in 1929.

A further photograph shows a postman with a sack on his back in the upper dale while men with shovels are toiling to clear a road blocked by snow.

Mr Ireland does not know the name of the postmen or date of the picture, but thinks it may have been taken during the big freeze of 1947.

He said: "I am delighted to be able to pass on photographs of my grandfather and other postmen, as the exhibition will enable their great service to the dale to be remembered."

Mr Charlesworth and his colleagues hope visitors to the delivery office on the Harmire Enterprise Park will be able to supply names and dates for some of the photographs.

"We are anxious to add to the display and include as many postmen as possible from the old days," he said.