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Archive released for new picture collection

The work of an award-winning newspaper photographer has been dug out of the archive to fill the pages of a new book.

Jim Facey’s work during the war for the Bristol Evening Post was preserved by his family, who have now released the negatives for the new volume: Bristol at War.

It shows images of the great regional shopping centre as it was 60 years ago – and features many of the areas that vanished in the devastation.

Many of the pictures were never published in wartime because of censorship restrictions when they might have given information about the success of bombing raids to the enemy.

The book, written by John Penney, draws records from maps, photographs, plans and German files.

There are accounts of individual bravery, of men and women who fought to save the city from fires and explosions, and stories of the planners who tried to keep morale up as the bombs came down.

He draws together raw statistics and human stories for the book, which is on general sale but with discounts for Bristol Evening Post readers.

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