THE downpour that hit the North East this week pales into little more than a trickle compared to the phenomenal storm and flood that swept a small corner of Northumberland 100 years ago.

The massive hailstorms and rainfall that deluged the North Tyne village of Bellingham in 1911 have passed into folklore.

Fronts of buildings were ripped off, homes were flooded, footbridges and gardens were washed away and roads were left impassable when the Hareshaw Burn rose 15ft in three hours on May 14 a century ago.

Now a selection of carefully-preserved black and white photographs captured on an old box camera by village teenager Roddy Thompson form the centrepiece of a special centenary exhibition in Bellingham Heritage Centre.

Roddy’s son Jim is today chairman of Bellingham Parish Council, and his second son Bob was able to help with up to 10 photographs of the great flood.

Said Bob: “Dad took some really good pictures of the flood when he was a teenager and there were also a lot in the archive that the Heritage Centre have used. I’ve been able to let them use between six and 10.

“Dad didn’t really talk a great lot about the 1911 flood but he was a real character who lived until he was 92 and took a lot of postcard and portrait pictures.

“I’ve kept all his old cameras to this day – I’ve got the old gunpowder flash, studio and wood cameras, and the old Brownies and the tripod that he used.

“Dad was just a lad with a hobby and Bellingham born and bred. More of the flood pictures which he lent out a long time ago weren’t returned, and some were damaged, but he still has some amazing pictures of the village on that day 100 years ago.”