THE Okehampton Community Archive held its first Archive Café event last month.

Residents of Okehampton were invited to join in with the café culture of the 1930s, 40s and 50s.

The event was held in Panache Café, which was suitably dressed for the period, along with the waitresses.

Artifacts, newspapers and magazines from the period were placed on each table to help jog memories and stories from the visitors, which resulted in several people coming forward to volunteer to have their stories and personal histories recorded for the archive.

As well as music from the period and a slide show of old Okehampton, there was a display of photographs which included the old cattle market before it was replaced by the car park and supermarket.

Another display showed pages and photographs taken from an old family photo album found recently at a car boot sale. It showed a family from 1920 through to the early 1950s.

The Okehampton Community Archive is dedicated to keeping alive the memories, stories and experiences of the people of the town and aims to produce a digital archive with free access to all who are interested.

Chairman of Devon County Council Cllr Christine Marsh presented bouquets of flowers to the waitresses in appreciation of their help during the evening.