I love this so much! – Ashley
In the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, street photographer Chris Porsz spent hours walking around the city of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire (Great Britain), capturing hundreds of amazing characters. Now, almost 40 years later, Porsz has tracked down those same people to recreate their pics, resulting in 135 beautiful reunions.
Often recreating the pics in the same locations, Porsz captured everyone from policemen to punks to lovers to siblings. He has gathered all the pics together and put them in a book titled ‘Reunions’, with texts by writer Jo Riley telling the stories of the people in the pics. Take a look at some of his photos below.
You can buy ‘Reunions’ through Porsz’s website.
More info: chrisporsz.com | Facebook (h/t: designyoutrust, dailymail)
Punks Tina Tarr and her partner Dog were pictured near the Cathedral in Peterborough when Tina was 18. The couple left the city in the 1990s and went travelling. They have twins, but are no longer together. “I remember the photo being taken, it was a brilliant time. I had various styles of punk hair for quite a few years,” said Tina. Dog added: “They were good times, I still had hair then”.
Tony Wilmot was snapped saying goodbye to his girlfriend Sally at Peterborough Railway Station in 1980 and a year later they got married. Tony was 22 and working in Essex as a teacher and Sally was 21 and based in Stafford as a local government officer. On this occasion they had met up in Peterborough and had no idea the photo had been taken. It appeared over 30 years later in a local paper the Peterborough Evening Telegraph and was seen by Tony’s father. The pair, who are now both headteachers and live in Lichfield, Staffordshire, have two children Tom and Jenny who are themselves in their twenties.
Andy, Richard, Tony, Aaron, and Devinder. They’ve organized a reunion and plan to keep in touch.
Left to right, Shehnaz Begum, her twin sister Rukhsana and their older sister Itrat were spotted sitting in the window of their house on Cromwell Road. ‘We often used to perch in the window and watch what was going on in the road,’ said Shehnaz. ‘My twin sister and I were about seven and Itrat was nine. We loved riding our bikes with the other children in the street and were good friends with another set of twins. Mum said we were quite a handful’. The three sisters still live in Peterborough and see each other regularly.
The four men are still good friends and were delighted to pose for the reunion picture.
Steve Osborn was known as Metal Mickey in the 1980s as he broke both his legs several times in a series of motor biking accidents and had plates and bolts put in them. He said: ‘I even carried on riding my bike with my leg in a cast!’. Steve, who now uses walking sticks to get around, lives in Spalding, Lincolnshire and is married. He had four children, but his son died in 2012. Steve plays the guitar with different bands and has raised more than £20,000 for the National Association of Bikers with a Disability.
Vicki Gracey (nee Frost) worked as a sales assistant at a jewellery store in Queensgate Shopping Centre for two years. Vicki has since had jobs behind bars, in retail, hairdressing and restaurants and currently deals with tenancy sustainability. She still lives in the city and is married with two children. ‘I’m a people person and I’ve always had jobs which involve working with the public,’ she said.
Under the Guildhall, Cathedral Square. Penny, three sisters Sarah, Louise, Carole and Juliette. In the reunion photo Alison (last on the right) took the place of her sister Juliette who sadly died.
Bridge Street. David Harvey became Chief Superintendent now retired. His son is a policeman in London. Tim Goodman (on bike) has six children and is a successful businessman.
Sandra Williams, Carmen Chin and Maureen Mayers were friends from County Grammar School but lost touch over the years. Sandra is now married with four children and a step-daughter and works as a passenger assistant for disabled children and in a coffee shop. Carmen is married with four children and now lives in Lincolnshire. Maureen still lives in Peterborough and has four children; she had broken her right arm when the photo was taken and hid it behind her back. She said: ‘We’d had freezing cold weather and we were playing tag and I slipped over on the ice’.
Donna Yarnell was five years old when she was photographed with her three-year-old brother Steven licking ice creams in their front garden. Her family moved out of the house two years later so it brought back lots of memories when the pair returned to the street in February 2015.
Punks (r to l) John Church, Gary Beckett, Ade Lawrence and Pippa Hodgson were pictured in Cathedral Square, wearing pin badges. John, who is now a painter and decorator in the city, said: ‘The other lads were school friends and Pippa was a mutual friend. We used to hang out together and listen to punk music. I think I was about 15 and on the verge of becoming a punk.’ John is still friends with Ade and they play in a band together. Gary emigrated to Australia, where he works as a project manager and Pippa now lives in Spain.
Tasbir Singh worked on a stall at the market for four years after leaving school. He then worked for BT and Royal Mail, where he is today. He still lives in the city and is married with three children and four grandchildren. He said: ‘I worked on the stall from the age of 18 until I was 22. It was hard working in all weather’.
Ian Medler and Peter Yates, 1980 and 2010
School friends Martin Coulson (left) and Andy Randall were eating chips bought from the arcade. ‘I think it must have been a Saturday and we’d been to the chip shop. The chips were a bit like McDonald’s fries and were always good,’ said Martin, who was a warehouse manager and is currently re-training. He is married with two children. Andy is a telematics engineer and is married with three children. He added: ‘We were probably going around the toy shops together as we had a Scalextric track’.