A former regional daily librarian has marked her 90th birthday by giving a video interview about her former employer’s bid to digitise its archive of around one million photographs.

As previously reported on HTFP, the Wolverhampton-based Express & Star aims to digitise images going back more than a century so they are freely available for the public to view online.

The project has been awarded development funding of £59,800 from the Heritage Lottery Fund, but it is still being developed in partnership with both the University of Wolverhampton and Wolverhampton City Council’s archives service.

Now Hazel Jones, who worked for the Express & Star in the 1940s, has given her backing to the scheme.

Hazel at the Express & Star’s offices in Wolverhampton

She said: “I think it is a really important project. I’d like to see it happen. It’s a historical collection which has been gathered for such a long time. Hopefully the bid is successful and people can enjoy the images for years to come.”

Express & Star readers were invited to part in a survey in July last year to find out what photos they would like to see digitised.

The categories ranged from local personalities, sport, war, buildings and landmarks or crime and punishment.

Once online, it is hoped that the pictures, will form part of local history lessons in schools and colleges around the region.

Recalling her time with the newspaper, Hazel added: “I met lots of people doing that job, all sorts of people throughout the building, right from the owners down. I was very much a junior member of staff.

“In the early days, a lot of the photographs weren’t dated or captioned. It was only as I carried on with the job over the years that I realised how important these photographs could be for people to look back on.”