An award-winning film and media company based in Barrow has received National Lottery Heritage funding for their Sankey Project.

Signal Film and Media are ‘delighted’ to launch an ‘exciting and unique’ new heritage project co-curating and exploring the Sankey Photography Archive

A two-year photography curation project called SANKEY- LIVES THROUGH THE LENS is expected to engage thousands of people across Barrow and Cumbria.

Starting in summer 2024, workshops and masterclasses will allow people to interact with the vast archive of pictures taken between 1890 and 1970.

Barrow’s own father-sons photographers Edward, Raymond and Eric Sankey built the archive over 80 years, documenting the social activity of the town from ship launches to parades, pageants, royal visits and street scenes, travelling far and wide capturing Cumbria and Lancashire too.

The collection is believed to be the largest of its kind and was kindly and generously donated by the Sankey family in the hope it will be accessible to future generations.

The full digitised collection was published online for the first time in September 2023 and has amassed many thousands of views from all over the world.

Later this year, an expansive, creative and hands-on programme of activity will be announced; providing opportunities for both adults and young people to be involved with a wide array of activities to co-curate and explore the archive such as field visits and archive research sessions, oral history training, filmmaking, photography, creative writing and sound workshops as well as interpretation workshops with artists, exhibitions and more.