There was a distinctive buzz of excitement and reminiscence in the art gallery in Tenby Museum last Saturday, when the new exhibition, The Season by Alun Crockford, was officially opened.

The exhibition features 108 black and white photographs of Tenby Harbour during 1978/79 and includes numerous well-known faces from the town. The assembled crowd lost themselves in the memories and stories that the photographs evoked and museum trustee, Kathy Talbot, delayed the introductions as nostalgia took over the room.

Kathy welcomed everyone and appreciated the local support that was so needed to allow Tenby Museum and Art Gallery to continue to hold and exhibit ‘the soul of Tenby’. She also informed the crowd that the admission ticket allowed the purchaser unlimited access to the museum for one year and that children were admitted free.

The exhibition was officially opened by Tenby born actor Josh Richards (Playing Burton, Devil’s Bridge, Troy). There was a photo of Josh’s father in the exhibition, who served on Tenby lifeboat, and also one of Josh himself, balanced precariously on top of a ladder in a piece ironically entitled ‘Health and Safety Gone Mad!’.

Josh recalled his time in Tenby before he left for college and joked that he feared he was the only one left alive from that time, which was why he had been asked to open the show. He said that, despite the fact that the works were taken nearly 40 years ago, it seemed like yesterday.

“We lead such transitory lives,” he commented, “and destroy icons, but these images have captured a moment in time and it all comes rushing back - these are not sentimental images, but honest and clear, a true representation of fantastic photojournalism.”

Alun then spoke about his early photographic work and how his third assignment had been to take photographs of Michael Williams’s two-year-old daughter. Michael is now chairman of trustees at the museum.

Like many, Alun left Tenby only to return and, although everything had changed, it had also remained the same. The characters in the photos had lived and worked around the harbour and were a definite part of its history, but sadly this was no longer the case - so many who work in Tenby have to live outside the town and this had seen a distinct change in the make-up of places like the harbour.

The Season is a sales exhibition and runs until Wednesday, December 20. Works can be collected from the museum up until 12 pm on Thursday, December 21, when the museum closes for the Christmas period.