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Grandad's photo collection now on display in museum

Lauren HirstNorth West
Steven Howells Steven Howells, who is wearing a shirt with a black T-shirt underneath and is smiling at the camera, is standing in front of a white wall with black and white photographs take by his grandad. The picture on the left is an aerial photograph of the coast and the image on the right is on three women sitting on the grass in front of a house. Steven Howells
Steven Howells was 27 years old when his grandad died, leaving a collection of film negatives

When his grandad died in 1999, Steven Howells inherited two of his old cameras and a tin containing film and glass plate negatives.

Steven, who was aged 27 at the time, was unaware of his grandad Bob Howells' passion for photography until he was given the family heirlooms.

"It's the age old story, isn't it? Finding out after someone's died," said the 54-year-old, from Ormskirk in Lancashire.

"I had no idea really. It was more of a hobby, but it was also a bit more than that.

"He wanted to try and develop them himself and he'd set up a little dark room in his wardrobe."

Steven Howells Bob Howells, who is wearing a white shirt, striped tie and black blazer, is standing in a living room with a clock and a tapestry on the wall behind him. Steven Howells
Bob Howells set up a makeshift dark room in his house in Kensington

Years passed and it was only in 2024 when he decided to develop the negatives to create a gift book for his family that he discovered the true extent of the pictures.

The photographs offered a "snapshot in time" - a glimpse into life in Liverpool in the 1940s and 1950s.

"Seeing them assembled for the first time, I began to realise they were more than just personal mementos and they might tell a wider story - one that others too could find of interest," he said.

The collection features pictures of his grandad's home life in Kensington, working life at Campbell and Isherwood in Bootle, and a trip to Goodison Park to see his beloved Everton FC play.

"Once I started to print them out, there was a lot more there than anyone realised," he said.

"There was pictures from his work, his family, going on holiday and stuff like that so I made them into a book just as a gift for the family.

"Once they were all collated together, I realised that I had something a bit different on my hands that other people might be interested in.

"That's when I got in touch with the Liverpool Museum just to see if they'd be interested in having a look."

Steven Howells A woman and two men, who are smiling at the camera, are standing in front of a black and white photograph of themselves taken decades earlier by Bob Howells.Steven Howells
It was a trip down memory lane for many of Bob Howells' relatives, who posed for the same photograph from 1949

Fast forward to the present day and the photographs are now on display at the Museum of Liverpool.

The exhibition called Reflections of Liverpool: The Howells' Family Album runs until September.

"It's strange to think my grandad's photographs will be seen by thousands of people from all over the world," he said.

"I wonder what he would make of it all."

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