BARRY Male Voice Choir members are hoping that the public will help them to identify faces from the past on the many choir archive photographs collected by the late Mel Hancock.

The dozens of files recording the life and times of the choir since its formation in 1902 is proving to be a stern challenge to choir archivists John Shewring and Les Phillips who have spent many hours sifting through boxes of written and printed material.

John explained: "We are making steady and painstaking progress. The photographs, concert programmes and minutes of meetings provide a flavour of earlier times. The earliest mention of the choir is in the Barry Dock News on January 23,1903. A report in 1911 describes a concert at the Dinan Hall as being crowded to its limits by a critical but keenly appreciative audience."

Les added: "Many of the photos have already been digitised and have been stored for posterity in the Glamorgan Archives, Cardiff. Eventually we hope to include all archive material on our own website which at the moment is being updated. We are sure that many readers will be pleased to see the faces of past relatives."