Paul Dickinson has created a series of Facebook pages showcasing thousands of photographs taken by his father, Larry Dickinson, across Armagh during the 1970s. The images, drawn from previously undeveloped negatives, capture street scenes, community events, and daily life in the city from a period of significant change.

Larry Dickinson worked as a photographer for the Armagh Guardian newspaper from 1974 until 1981, though he contributed images as early as 1969. The newspaper's offices were located on Market Street above a dry-cleaning business. When it ceased publication in the 1980s, Dickinson left with boxes of his own negatives, most of which were never printed.

After his father's death in 2023, Paul Dickinson began scanning the collection using a specialised film scanner. He started the first page, "1970s Armagh Memories," in February 2010, and later added several others, including those focused on specific neighbourhoods like Drumbreda and Mill Row. Together, the pages have attracted thousands of followers.

The photographs document a wide range of subjects: sports teams, political canvassing, parades, school groups, and vanished shopfronts such as Lennox's department store and Woolworths. One image from May 1979 shows a sports sponsorship event at Cafolla's carry-out food bar on the Shambles. Another, from February 1981, captures the late SDLP leader John Hume campaigning on Market Street alongside former councillor Anna Brolly, with the Armagh Guardian office visible in the background.

Dickinson, now 61, lived in the Drumbreda area from the mid-1960s until his family moved to England during the 1981 hunger strikes. He returned to Armagh about eight and a half years ago. He said he scans the negatives and researches dates using archived copies of the Armagh Guardian held at a library on Newry Road.

Feedback from followers has been largely positive, with messages arriving from Australia and the United States. Some people have discovered photographs of relatives they did not know existed, often in the background of larger scenes. Dickinson occasionally receives requests for high-quality copies and supplies them by email.

He recalled a busier streetscape in the 1970s, noting the prevalence of independent family-run shops. While acknowledging the Troubles-era backdrop, he pointed to enduring positives such as the city library and the Market Place Theatre, which replaced a former cinema.

The pages have expanded beyond the 1970s as other users contribute their own photographs, but the core collection remains the work of Larry Dickinson. Paul Dickinson credited his father for the entire project, stating that his initial aim was simply to prevent the images from being lost.