![\"Sarah](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/9198\/live\/2dd9e1f0-19df-11ef-96c0-29950cf02be4.jpg.webp\")
Sarah Evans <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nWhen Sarah Evans bought a vintage camera from her local charity shop, she had no idea what mystery was about to develop.<\/p>\n Taking it home she discovered a roll of film still inside and set about trying to find out if there was anything on it.<\/p>\n Sending it off a specialist firm, she saw a handful of grainy black-and-white family photos return.<\/p>\n Taken some 70 years ago, Sarah is now hoping to track down some of the people in the long lost images. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n “I picked up an old box camera about 10 years ago in a second hand shop and have always been on the look out for another,” said the 49-year-old landscape artist and illustrator from Penderyn, Rhondda Cynon Taf.<\/p>\n “So when I saw one in Aberdare town centre the other week for \u00a38 I just had to have it,” she said. <\/p>\n “It didn’t look like it would still work but I only really wanted it for decorative purposes anyway.<\/p>\n “It never occurred to me that there’d actually be something inside.”<\/p>\n Called a Conway Camera, it was made by Birmingham-based company Standard Cameras Ltd, which traded between 1931 and 1955.<\/p>\n And the advanced age of the model meant getting any film looked at would not be as simple as popping it into her local high street chemist.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n “I looked on YouTube for any tutorials on how to get the film out of it,” said Sarah, adding the camera’s body is made of card and mounted on a Bakelite frame.<\/p>\n “Then I asked various people online for their advice and a couple of specialist photographic firms were recommended to me.<\/p>\n “But most of those I’d spoken to said any images would probably have long since corrupted,” she added.<\/p>\n Carefully removing the roll of film she sent it off anyway, not expecting anything to come from it.<\/p>\n However, what had survived fired her imagination. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n “There were about four photos on it, probably taken in the late ’50s, which seemed to document how life was in south Wales back then,” said Sarah.<\/p>\n “There were two women, possibly a mum and a gran, both holding a baby, along with two young children sitting surrounded by ferns.<\/p>\n “Behind them is a row of brick-built terraced houses that have a very ‘Valleys’ look about them.”<\/p>\n She now hopes to track down anyone who might know something about the images – or even recognise themselves therein.<\/p>\n “I’m guessing that whoever donated the camera to charity is probably local to this area,” said Sarah, whose post about her discovery on X (formerly known as Twitter) has so far been viewed more than 400,000 times. <\/p>\n “Those children, if they’re still alive, must be in their late 70s by now.<\/p>\n “I’ve been thinking a lot about what it must have been like for them growing up back in those days.<\/p>\n “I’d love to get these photos to them, or to one of their relatives – they’re a real glimpse into a time long since vanished.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/bbcx\/grey-placeholder.png\")
![\"Sarah](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/473a\/live\/77469310-19df-11ef-96c0-29950cf02be4.jpg.webp\")
Sarah Evans<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"Sarah](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/f050\/live\/f8712220-19df-11ef-a13a-0b8c563da930.jpg.webp\")
Sarah Evans <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n