A new online photograph archive has been launched which celebrates events of the past and reminds us of all of the good old days before coronavirus changed everything.
The free new online picture archive has been launched by Reach PLC, owners of BerkshireLive, The Mirror and The Daily Express.
Events around the country have been cancelled due to the lockdown starting on Thursday, November 5, but the new tool allows people to look back and share historical moments like Bonfire Night and Remembrance Sundays of days gone by.
The new portal is called Memory Lane, and is being backed by The University's of Reading's Professor Kate Williams.
The broadcaster, author and historian, said: “Photographs are one of the most important social documents we have access to, allowing us to understand society and communities from different generations.
"We learn so much more about our past when we look at the photographs of everyday people as opposed to formal photos of royalty and aristocracy. If important images languish in the loft, there is a real danger they may be lost forever.”
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Speaking to BerkshireLive, she said: "Reading has such an incredible history, we're so lucky to be here.
"The history of the 20th century is chronicled with a lot of pictures of war, and big news stories.
"What we don't have as much of is pictures of what life was like.
"During the first lockdown, we found a lot of old family pictures in the loft.
"They were of my parents in Wales and Liverpool.
"They weren't that excited by them because they remember what life was like, but I was amazed and the different time they showed.
"People take a lot of pictures now, but if they're anything like me they don't archive them.
"They stay on computers and phones and we don't archive them."
She added the historians of the future would marvel at the pictures of the pandemic, with people standing two metres apart and wearing face masks.
She said: "We'll know what Boris Johnson was doing, but what about normal people.
"Are people taking pictures of their children's ballet recitals on Zoom? Or funerals, or all those other things we've not been able to go.
"Normal life should be, which is why I jumped to be part of the Memory Lane project"
The new site can be found here and is a free tool providing a home for photographs that may have remained hidden for years.
Memory Lane is a rich, interactive and nostalgic archive with content searchable by location, date, topics, people, categories and more - it aims to create a bigger, more inclusive picture of history by allowing you to preserve, discover, share and colourise the past.
The new site comes as a survey carried out by YouGov for Memory Lane, shows 67 per cent of the population are looking for something that brings them comfort.
It also reveals 55 per cent of the 2,058 adults are thinking about what we did before the pandemic and nearly a third of people look at old photographs to help get through the pandemic.
The campaign video features diverse images that unite the nation and communities including Bonfire Night, Remembrance Sunday, the NHS, migration, Windrush and street parties.
Pictures throughout Berkshire's history can be found here.
