The nostalgic 1950s photos which were almost lost forever

“I thought it was a good image which possibly deserved to be seen, with an interesting back story, and it might generate some interest,” he told BBC Scotland News.

“However, I wasn’t quite expecting the response it has generated – I’m totally blown away.”

The one image has had more than 4,000 likes and scores of complimentary comments, with one person describing it as “otherworldly, like a watercolour painting emerging out from a time labyrinth”.

Simon said his dad would be “scratching his head” at the interest the pictures had generated all these years later.

He said he had inherited a love of photography from his dad – and that it was “scary” to think that all those images could have been lost.