A VETERAN photographer is hoping a sales boost can help self-fund a "once in a lifetime" photography exhibition.

Don Tonge, 70 from Halliwell, has been snapping images of every day life around the town since the early 1970s and his photos are a hit on his social media groups.

The photography exhibition at the Bolton Museum and Art Gallery has been delayed due to the pandemic, but Don is hoping that it will take place before the end of the year, where he can show the work that has been many years in the making.

Don is self funding the printing and framing for the exhibition and is hoping that sales of his prints from his online store and social media groups can help give his effort a jab in the arm.

He said: "To get an exhibition at the prestigious Museum and Art Gallery is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me. It is not a huge gallery, but it will work.

"What amuses me is that you go from 5000bc to the 1970s in the next room and then through into a beautiful gallery with wonderful works of art from the museums collection, so I'm well positioned in the timeline of things.

"The pandemic lockdown in a way has really revitalised and helped me to prepare my work. I have also self published two books in 2020, while Café Royal Books published three books."

Don has been taking photos for years ever since starting off as an amateur in the 1970s. He won The Granada Reports IN FOCUS competition, with his prize being to work with a professional photographer for a day.

He says he was inspired by the infamous Mass Observation’s study of working-class life in Bolton between 1937-1940 with many of his images taken around the Davenport Street area where the team of researchers based themselves.

Don's prints are available on etsy.com as 'DonTongePhotographs', while his work can also be found on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

His three Bolton books are available from caferoyalbooks.com.