Back in time: The Swinging Sixties in Norwich captured in colour

He died five years ago but his memory and his work live on… Philip Armes was a much-loved and talented gentleman.

And as time moves on his wonderful photographs, and films, taken for Norwich Corporation, now City Council, are more important than ever.

Our pictures today come via Frances and Michael Holmes of Norwich Heritage Projects who worked closely with Philip while compiling their books.

They were taken at the start of the 1960s, a decade of swinging music and swinging demolition wrecking balls when it seemed old was bad and new was good.

Philip was born in the 1920s and served around the world with the RAF in the Second World War.

On his return from service he became a photographic assistant with the Corporation began and his lifelong work as a skilled and clever photographer and film-maker began.

Working with the planning department he went out to take photographs of an area which was to be re-built or re-developed.

Michael said Philip became a great friend over the years and provided them with many images from his large and well-ordered collection of local photographs.

“His images are not posed or intended to make any artistic statement. Instead they carry out an authenticity of exactly what Norwich was like at the time,” said Michael.

Look out for more of his work in the book Norwich 1945 to 1960: A Journey from Austerity to Prosperity by Norwich Heritage Projects.

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