A heritage organisation is on the hunt for film of Thetford and the surrounding area from the early 1900s to 1970s.

Norwich HEART (Heritage, Economic and Regeneration Trust) is hoping people may have film reels stored in the attic but no way of viewing them. If so, HEART would like to hear about it as the film could be brought to life in a new project.

Working with films from the UEA’s East Anglian Archive and an archive in Rouen, Upper Normandy, the Digital Heritage project is designed to ensure more archive footage is accessed by a wider audience.

Norwich HEART and its French partners, Pole Image Haute-Normandie, are researching film for digitisation and showcasing online as a moving image timeline of the history of the last century – comparing and contrasting lives in East Anglia and Upper Normandy.

As well as developing the timeline website which will be launched next year, HEART is working to bring archive alive on mobile phone apps and other platforms to support tourism initiatives.

Project manager Jane Jarvis said: “While there is a good selection of Thetford footage at EAFA, including a wonderful record of the town’s coronation celebrations in 1937, we feel sure there are some more films out there of people, places and events in Thetford over the years, representing an important part of our social history and illustrating the town’s interesting heritage.”

HEART is particularly keen to find out if anyone recorded the expansion of Thetford in the 1960s and the development of new companies and housing.

Contact Jane Jarvis at Norwich HEART by emailing janejarvis@heritagecity.org or call 01603 305575. To find out more about the Digital Heritage Project, visit the website at www.heritagecity.org.