NEIL MATTINGLY has been updating his Claud Hider collection of photographs on his website.

His collection is now nearing 300 and almost 100 of Charmouth.

He has now separated the West Dorset images on his website, freshford.com so that it is easier for viewers to see postcards of the many towns and villages he recorded in the 1920s.

Mr Mattingly said: "I am finding that the numbers he produced must have been very small as it is rare to find a duplicate, especially with the villages.

"As expected the largest numbers are for Bridport, West bay and Burton Bradstock. But then after them come Chideock, Charmouth and Seatown.

"This may be explained by a revealing email I received from his grandson, Peter Hider where he says that he personally spent the summer holidays collecting holiday maker’s films, developing and printing during the evening and returning the prints the next day, mostly from Seatown from the Anchors Kiosk. No doubt from the same kiosk, Claud had a market for local view postcards."

As always Mr Mattingly has given us permission to share some of his new images with readers and we will be availing ourselves of his generosity.

If you can't wait they can be found at freshford.com/hider_west_dorset

Mr Mattingly added: "In total they are providing a unique picture of this part of West Dorset between the wars. "If there any readers who can add to the collection, it would be wonderful if they could email me at neil@freshford.com."

He is also still adding new images from Claud Hider to his Charmouth pages.

The most exiting is one of him taking a photograph of Tom Hunter in front of a shed by the building which is now the Heritage Centre.

Tom Hunter was a member of a famous family who fished along the coast and also ran bathing machines, tents and boats from the shore.

Details of the fascinating family are on Mr Mattingly's website.

Here is something more about Tom Hunter.

His father and uncle were equally interesting and with Mr Mattingly's permission we'll be sharing their stories in future weeks.

As a lad, Tom used to accompany E.C.H. Day when that geologist was making detailed observations on the Liassic strata east of Charmouth.

In this way he picked up a good working knowledge of the succession of the main beds and the horizons at which saleable fossils were found.

Like his father, Tom was a fisherman and owned a largest, besides other smaller boats which he let out and his cousin William were never beaten in a two oar race in regattas held between Lyme and West Bay.

He taught swimming, and was himself a powerful swimmer. He was seldom, if ever overtaken in the Duck Hunts at the Charmouth Regattas, when he took the part of "Duck".

When his brother, Wilfred have up the bathing machines, Tom became owner. It was the custom in the 1880s and 1890s for the ladies to bathe from the beach. There was no mixed bathing, and Tom was often known to ask gentleman to move away from the machine when ladies were bathing.

As the number of visitors increased, tents were to supplement the machines.Theses Tom manufactured himself during the winter months, and later on he made a few huts. For many years he was a familiar figure on the beach and was known to many visitors as it's first custodian.

He joined the Charmouth Volunteers in the early days of the movement, and he sang in the church choir for many years. He died in 1936, aged 79. In 1895, the rates show him owning four houses and leasing these to the Parish Officers.

His father and uncle were equally interesting and with Mr Mattingly's permission we'll be sharing their stories in future weeks.