A TALENTED Inverkip man has used his passion for photography to take a walk down memory lane and tell a fascinating tale of two Inverclyde towns.
Bill Clark, who was part of the Inverclyde Camera Club, has followed in the footsteps of past photographers to recreate their images today in Greenock and Port Glasgow.
The end result is two books which provide a fascinating insight into how the physical changes in the town shows the history of recent times.
It chronicles how heavy industry gave way to retail parks and cobbled streets were replaced by busy dual carriageways, and much more.
Both Greenock Then & Now and Port Glasgow Then & Now take readers on an emotional journey back in time as well as being a remarkable record of town planning down the years.
Bill, who worked in IBM for 40 years, said: "I have always loved photography, I am an amateur but it is a real passion of mine.
"I was part of the Inverclyde Camera Club and we did a similar project a number of years ago.
"It was something I was very interested in, I know the owner of the publisher, and he was interested as well.
"I think people love these kinds of photographs and I hope they'll love looking at them.
"I am interested in our heritage and it is fascinating when you see the two images side by side.
"It was difficult to sometimes get the right spot where the picture was taken. Back then photographers stood in the middle of a lot of roads. That is not possible now.
"Some places, like the dry dock at the West Harbour have also gone. It was filled in and now lies under a car park. Parts of the area have changed beyond all recognition."
Bill teamed up with specialist publishers Stenlake, based in Ayrshire, to produce the two delightful books that will fascinate local people.
In the Port Glasgow edition a view from a hill shows where the Scott Lithgow shipyard once stood, long since wiped off the map.
Bill, 75, said: "That is actually a photograph I took myself in 1973, shortly after the amalgamation of the yards.
"The changes in the books are quite striking."
The Greenock Telegraph offices also feature and Crawfurd Street is all but unrecognisable today compared with 1919.
*Greenock Then & Now and Port Glasgow Then and Now are priced £12.95 and are both available from Stenlake Publishing by emailing sales @stenlake.co.uk
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