Photographer tracks down people he snapped in his hometown almost 40 YEARS AGO | Daily Mail Online

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An amateur photographer has tracked down people he snapped on the streets of his hometown almost 40 years ago and painstakingly recreated 134 pictures in a remarkable new book.

Paramedic Chris Porsz spent hours walking around the city of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire in the late 1970s and 80s, taking candid shots of punks and posers, siblings and sweethearts, traders and teenagers.

Three decades later, Chris, known as the 'paramedic paparazzo,' decided it would be fun to reconstruct a handful of his favourite photos from the past.

Incredibly, some of his long-lost subjects recognised themselves after he published their pictures in local and national papers, on his website and on Facebook.

Dog and Tina - Original, 1985/ Reunion, March 2015. 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. Tina now lives in Dorset and makes willow products and hosts weaving workshops. Dog does hedge laying and gardening and lives in South West Wales. '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'

Five Boys Running - Original, 1980. Left to right, Andy Jackson, Richard Hillson, Devinder Singh, Tony James and Aaron Meadows were around 15 years old here. They are seen running to the chip shop, then on to play arcade games at the A and B record store in their lunch break. About a year later, the all-boys school closed down and their year group was moved to a new school

Five Boys Running - Reunion, June 2016. Andy, who has been married for 21 years and has a daughter, said: 'I remember playing the arcade game Phoenix, which involved birds hatching out of eggs.' Andy went into the Army after leaving school and drove trucks in the Transport Corps. He left in 1987 and has been working for the Royal Mail in Werrington, near Peterborough, ever since. Richard is now an electrician in Peterborough and is married with two boys. He said: 'There were only about 70 of us in our school year and we were all really close. They were happy times.' Tony James works as a stone cutter and has two children; Aaron works at Ikea and is married with three boys. Devinder moved to Yorkshire in 1986 and is married with two boys and works for the Housing Association. They've organised a school reunion and plan to keep in touch

Railway Kiss - Original, 1980/ Reunion, December 21, 2009. 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

The reconstructions were such a success he was determined to do more and has spent the last seven years tracking down the people in his pictures and persuading them to pose once again.

His hard work paid off and he has now published his photos in a new book, Reunions, which comes out tomorrow and is believed to be the only one of its kind in the world.

'This book has been nearly 40 years in the making and I believe the project is totally unique. I don't think anyone else has tracked down so many strangers and recreated photos in this way before,' said Chris.

Nobby - Original, 1980/ Reunion, September 2015. Scotsman Michael Ross, affectionately known as Nobby, lived in a bus shelter for 10 years in terrible conditions after his house burnt down. Nobby, who used to be a head teacher, was given some golf clubs by a passer-by and indulged in his passion by sneaking onto the local course. Local residents thought he had died when he went into sheltered housing around 10 years ago and gave up his bus shelter home

Metal Mickey - Original, 1980. 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!'

Metal Mickey - Reunion, May 2016. 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

Double Bubble - Original, 1980/ Reunion, April 2012. Sisters Anna (left) and Emma Hankins posed for a picture blowing bubbles with Hubba Bubba bubblegum in Bridge Street. Anna was 11 and Emma was 13 and the girls were waiting for their mum while she was shopping. The siblings, who both went on to have careers in hairdressing, are now married and have families. They still live in Peterborough and see each other regularly. Anna now works in a pharmacy and Emma works for the Ideal World shopping channel. 'It was hard trying to blow bubbles again after such a long time and took quite a few tries,' said Anna

'It has been very hard work and I've had lots of setbacks along the way, but I always believed this could be something really special and was determined to do at least 100 reunion pictures and it has been a labour of love.'

Chris caught the photography bug after buying a camera when his first child Simon was born in 1978.

Soon, family photos were not enough for him and on his days off, Chris, who was working as a casualty porter at Peterborough District Hospital, started walking the streets for inspiration.

He took pictures of punks with colourful hair, siblings playing in the streets, shopkeepers selling their wares and even policemen carrying out their duties.

Chris, who often only had one chance of getting a particular picture, would develop his photos in a dark room at home and put the best ones in an album.

'I would often be drawn by certain expressions on people's faces, or a fleeting moment. It became quite addictive,' he said. 'I liked taking photos of people who stood out from the crowd, things which were a bit different, quirky or fun.'

Eating Chips - Original, 1983/Reunion, August 2016. School friends Martin Coulson (left) and Andy Randall were eating chips bought from the arcade which has now been replaced with Wilkinsons. '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'

Good for Teeth and Bones - Original, 1983/ Reunion, January 2014. Layla Gordon is pictured drinking her daily bottle of milk at Queens Drive Infants School. She is now a housewife, with a long-term partner and two children and still lives in Peterborough. 'I still like milk but sadly it's not free anymore,' she joked

Ice cream Seller - Original, 1980. Genesio (Gino) Borrillo bought an ice cream van when he moved to Peterborough from Italy and travelled around the city in the summer selling ice cream

Ice cream Seller - Reunion, July 2014. In 1992, GIno set up a pasta shop in the city, which he still runs with his daughter. He is married and has three children and four grandchildren

But by 1986, he had got a new job as a paramedic and, with three children, life was busy and he had less time to devote to his hobby and his albums started to gather dust.

Then in 2009, Chris came across his old pictures and sent some to his local paper, The Peterborough Evening Telegraph. The readers loved them and soon he was getting letters from readers who recognised themselves in the photos.

'I had never taken anyone's phone numbers or names and never expected to see any of the people in my pictures again, I just took them at random,' said Chris.

'Then I realised it would be fun to recreate some of the pictures and I became determined to find more people.'

Queuing for the phone - Original, 1981. John Morris, Paul Barnard and Andrew Pollard (l to r) were seen queuing up to use the phone in Cattle Market Road. The school friends used to hang out together at weekends and often cycled into the city centre on their bikes

Queuing for the phone - Reunion, May 2016. Now the phone box has been swapped for an ATM machine. John works locally as a plumber, is married and has two children. Paul, who is married with two children, works for a motor racing team and travels the globe looking after the car's wheels and tyres. Andrew, a window cleaner met his wife in Benidorm on an 18 to 30s holiday and moved to her home county of Essex so lost touch with the others. He said: 'I hadn't seen them for around 32 years - it was great to meet up again'

Pink Mohican Wins Pizza Eating - Original, 1985/ Reunion, July 2016. Punk Badger Farcue can still remember winning the Pizza Eating Competition in Cathedral Square. The contest was organised by Stefan Malajny, who ran the Papa Luigi pizza restaurant. Stefan said: 'I remember Badger managed to eat his pizza in about two minutes, which was very fast.' Badger was 20 at the time of the contest and worked as a labourer, building dry stone walls. He said: 'My friends encouraged me to enter and we had to try and eat a 12-inch cheese and tomato pizza as quickly as possible. I won and got a round of applause and front page of the local paper.' Badger, who has five children, moved to Somerset in 1991 and now tarmacs roads

His first reunion was Tony and Sally Wilmot, a couple who Chris photographed saying goodbye at Peterborough Railway Station in 1980 and who are on the cover of the new book.

The pair, who had no idea their picture had been taken, went on to get married and have two children. They got in touch with Chris after Tony's father spotted the picture in the local paper.

After that, Chris became a man on a mission and used every means possible to track people down.

Punks on steps - Original, 1980/Reunion, January 2015. Left to right, friends John Church, Kim Guest, Gary Wymer, Mirko Obradovic, Ade Lawrence, Sean Adams and Mark Winsworth were pictured on the steps of Cathedral Square. John is now a painter and decorator and plays in a band with Ade, who is now a bin man. Kim and Sean have died and Mirko works in a brickyard. Gary was working as a butcher when the original picture was taken. In his early 20s, he almost died after hitting his head on a bridge as he was cruising down the River Nene with friends. He was in a coma for a week but made a complete recovery. He went on to travel around the world, teaching English in Turkey and later settling in Colchester, Essex, where he now runs an industrial cleaning company

Out from behind the Curtains - Original, 1980. 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'

Out from behind the Curtains - Reunion, January 2013. The three sisters still live in Peterborough and see each other regularly. Shehnaz, who is divorced, has a daughter and looks after elderly and disabled people, together with her twin, who is re-married and has five children. Itrat works for the post office and is married with six children

Ice Creams - Original, 1981/ Reunion, February 2015. 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. 'I was really surprised because the front gate was exactly the same,' said Donna, who works in a pub, still lives in Peterborough and has four daughters. Brother Steven also lives in the city and has a son

On one occasion, he found Ricky Clarke, a man he had photographed in a derelict house, after responding to a 999 call.

Chris said: 'Ricky rang 999 as he was unwell and as a paramedic I was called to his home. While treating him, he said that I had taken his picture 30 years ago. I couldn't believe it - it was a million-to-one chance.

'The first 50 photos took around four years to do, but social media made it easier and soon I was struggling to keep up, sometimes doing 10 reunions a week.'

His reunion photos have seen him reunite old friends and relatives, some who had not seen each other for decades. Other pictures proved harder when people had moved abroad and some were particularly poignant when people had died and relatives stood in as a tribute.

Butcher - Original, 1980. Richard Price started work at the butchers when he left school at 15 and is pictured here selling meat outside the shop when he was about 17

Butcher - Reunion, January 2015. Richard worked at the shop for three years. He still lives in the city and works as an entertainer. The butchers shop became a cafe

Pin Badges - Original, 1970s/ Reunion, January 2013. 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

Flute Player - Original, 1986. For many years, Neil wandered around Peterborough town centre and played the flute outside the Co-op bank in Westgate

Flute Player - Reunion, 2015. When the book went to print, Neil had not been seen for several months

'It has been enormously satisfying to do so many reunions and seeing the smiles on people's faces as they met up with old friends again. I've felt very privileged,' he said.

The reunion photos include brother and sister Rose and Stuart Budnik, who were parked in a pram outside the Tourist Information in Peterborough when Chris took their photo in 1982. Now Rose has three daughters and Stuart is a policeman and has a son.

Sisters Anna and Emma Hankins posed for a picture blowing bubbles with Hubba Bubba chewing gum in Bridge Street in Peterborough in 1980.

Anna was 11 and Emma was 13 and the girls were waiting for their mum while she was shopping.

The siblings, who both went on to have careers in hairdressing, are now married and have families. They still live in Peterborough and see each other regularly. 'It was hard trying to blow bubbles again after such a long time and took quite a few tries,' said Anna.

Hairdressers Shop - Original, 1980. Dressed in a fur jacket and gloves, Sandra Burford was pictured going into a hairdressers

Hairdressers Shop - Reunion, June 2016. Sandra said: 'I used to go there occasionally to have my hair cut by the apprentice, because it worked out a bit cheaper.' She used to work at the Hotpoint factory, but is now retired. Sandra is widowed and has a daughter and three grandsons. The hairdressers has changed hands and is now a Toni & Guy

County school girls - Original, 1979/ Reunion, June 2016. Sandra Williams, Carmen Chin and Maureen Mayers were friends from County Grammar School but lost touch over the years and the school was converted into sheltered housing in 1985. 'Carmen was my best friend and lived in my road, so we were always together,' said Sandra, who 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, who is married with four children and now lives in Lincolnshire, where she has a small holding said: 'I think we were the first year to go to the grammar school after it changed from being a comprehensive.' Maureen, who still lives in Peterborough and has four children, 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'

Chris spent months arranging his sweet stall picture after managing to get in contact with both Annette Hart, the market seller, and five of her customers.

Annette, who is now married with three children and six grandchildren and ran the stall for 32 years, said: 'It has all changed now, a lot of the old traders have gone. It was not easy work, especially in the winter. All the customers in the photo were regulars and I still see them around Peterborough.'

Another picture shows homeless Scotsman Michael Ross, affectionately known as Nobby, who lived in a bus shelter in Peterborough for 15 years in terrible conditions after his house burnt down. Chris photographed him again 35 years later after he had moved into sheltered housing.

In another photo Steve Osborn, known as Metal Mickey, can be seen on crutches in both his original and reunion photos.

Tasbir's first job - Original, 1982. Tasbir Singh worked on a stall at the market for four years after leaving school

Tasbir's first job - Reunion, July 2016. 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'

Jewellery - Original, 1990. Vicki Gracey (nee Frost) worked as a sales assistant at a jewellery store in Queensgate Shopping Centre for two years

Jewellery - Reunion, February 2015. 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

He broke both his legs in a series of motor biking accidents in the 1980s and had plates and bolts put in them. Steve, who now uses walking sticks to get around, lives in Spalding, Lincolnshire and is married.

Five boys running to the chip shop in their school lunch break have now organised a school reunion after Chris tracked them down and took their photos.

Andy Jackson, Richard Hillson, Devinder Singh, Tony James and Aaron Meadows were around 15 years old in the original picture. Richard, who is now an electrician in Peterborough and is married with two boys, said: 'There were only about 70 of us in our school year and we were all really close. They were happy times.'

Layla Gordon, who was pictured drinking her daily bottle of milk at Queens Drive Infants School in Peterborough in 1983, is now a housewife with a long-term partner and two children.

Star Road - Original, 1982. Sisters Maria (left) and Annamarie Plavecz were photographed in Star Road

Star Road - Reunion, February 2014. The siblings, who have a Hungarian father, both now work as carers

Meanwhile, Genesio (Gino) Borrillo has swapped from selling ice creams in 1980 to serving pasta and is married with three children and four grandchildren.

Chris added: 'Recreating the pictures has brought back lots of memories for all of us and it has been really fascinating to see how the people have changed and what they are doing now.

'Some people have hardly changed and others have changed completely; some have lost hair and others have gained hair. Some have changed their lives around and others have fallen on hard times.'

Martyn Moore, a freelance film-maker, photographer and writer, who has edited Reunions, added about the book: 'Nothing else like this exists and if somebody was to start now, they might have something almost as good in 40 years' time. Except they won't, because nobody does planned haphazard quite like Chris Porsz.'

Reunions costs £15 plus p&p and is available from www.chrsiporsz.com. It is also available for £15.99 at the following stockists in Peterborough: Coleman's in Cowgate, Shrives in Westgate, Art in the Heart in the Old Arcade, Tourist Information Centre and Waterstones in Bridge Street.

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