Born during World War One, Cecil Cramp, the son of the noted jeweller and antique dealer on West Street, took up amateur photography and film making as a pupil at Collyer's Grammar School in 1929.

Some 30 years later he started giving his celebrated slideshows which involved him recounting various stories about Horsham and the surrounding villages while showing around 60 slides, one a minute.

Throughout the 1950s, '60s and through to the '90s, Cecil was actively collecting, copying, publishing and exhibiting images of Horsham.

His archive of images was becoming legendary within the town of his birth.

Just before he died Cecil gave the museum 20 slideshows, around 1,400 slides in all.

Soon after his death his family contacted the museum and asked if it would we like the rest as well as the relevant ephemera and books.

They have been arriving in slide box after slide box, hundreds of images ever since.

The exhibition opens on Thursday May 18 and closes on Saturday August 2.

Do you have photos showing how the Horsham district has changed? We would be keen to feature them on wscountytimes.co.uk and in the County Times. Email them to steve.payne@sussexnewspapers.co.uk or post them to us at West Sussex County Times, 14-16 Market Square, Horsham, West Sussex RH12 1HD.

For more information about Horsham Museum go to http://www.horshammuseum.org/

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