Veteran Derbyshire Times photographer Bernard Jones is celebrating 40 years with the paper.

Bernard, (55), commemorated the milestone at a party attended by colleagues past and present.

He told Holdthefrontpage: “We had a get-together at a local bar last Thursday and invited a few people who I’ve worked with over the years.

“It was wonderful to see everyone and the nicest thing was to meet up with people from the past.”

Bernard joined the Derbyshire Times when he left school at 15 to be a photo technician in the darkroom before becoming a photographer.

He’s worked with a variety of equipment over the years – and enjoyed a lively diary of stories to cover.

He said: “When I started we used glass plates which were 9cm by 12cm and held one picture. Now we have digital cards which are about a quarter of the size and hold 500 images.

“I’ve been through big film, small film, computers and now digital and of course when I started we were still on hot metal.”

Bernard said some of the most memorable stories he has covered include the 300th anniversary of Chatsworth House and Chesterfield FC’s appearance in the FA Cup semi-final against Middlesbrough in 1997.

He said: “Another big thing was Tony Benn standing in the by-election in 1984 and I ended up getting to know him quite well.

“I’ve photographed the Duke of Devonshire almost weekly and most of the Royal family.”

During his career Bernard has seen the Derbyshire Times change hands to its current owners Johnston Press.

He said: “We had a bigger circulation when I started but then it became unfashionable to have a big circulation.

“We were taken over by Johnston Press in ’78 after being owned by a local family and now we’re part of a massive group.

“We’ve got a lot of papers in the group that we do work for which means we have to go to areas that we didn’t used to go to.”

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