A new photographic exhibition ’This Is Christmas’ focused on the wok of Bill Peters and John Maddrell opens this weekend.

This is Christmas is a nostalgic snapshot of Island life during the festive season drawn from the thousands of negatives which make up the extraordinary Manx Press Pictures archive held by Manx National Heritage (MNH).

From Christmas turkeys, childrens’ parties, visits to Father Christmas and pantomimes, Manx Press Pictures captured it all on camera.

Manx Press Pictures was owned and run by island resident Bill Peters. He was contracted to supply images to the Isle of Man newspapers; The Examiner and The Isle of Man Times.

In 1964 he was joined by John Maddrell and between them they have created a fabulous photographic legacy of Manx memories.

The photographs on display at the Manx Museum all date from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s and there are a further 2,000 images to enjoy on MNH’s online archive at www.imuseum.im.

Katie King, community outreach and learning support officer for MNH said: ’Our previous Manx Press Pictures exhibitions have been extremely popular with our local visitors, so we decided to curate a ’festive’ special at the Manx Museum.

’We’ve really enjoyed delving into the archives and found some amazing photographs - my favourite being Father Christmas visiting the Co-op in Duke Street.

’The exhibition is sure to bring back happy memories and we hope it will be enjoyed by all the family - as we are incorporating elements of our popular family hands-on gallery, The Exploratorium, into the exhibition.’

"This is Christmas" is on display in the Temporary Exhibition Gallery at the Manx Museum from Saturday November 28 until January 10 2021. Admission is free, with donations welcome to Manx National Heritage.