A major exhibition on life in the Fens from the lens of a pioneering female photographer opens this week.

Whether you were born in the Fens or are new to the area, don't miss the chance to see Lilian Ream: Faces and Places at the Wisbech & Fenland Museum.

The Lilian Ream Trust is staging the museum's major summer exhibition and hopes visitors will be enthused to join its members in safeguarding these remarkable photographs for future generations.

The 200,000 surviving images – many without captions - form a priceless archive of life in the Fens from the 1910s to the fifties, and you are invited to share what you know about their subjects whenever you visit.

The Trustees will be at the exhibition for two Saturday morning events – on May 18 and June 15 – to meet anyone who'd like to share ideas about the future of the collection and find out how they can help to preserve it through volunteering and even becoming trustees themselves.

Rolling images on a wall-mounted carousel are being changed at intervals, chosen for their quirkiness and particularity to the local area.

The exhibition is staged at the museum by the Lilian Ream Trust thanks to a grant from Fenland District Council's culture fund and many of the images have not been seen in public before.

Cambs Times: Lilian Ream and her staff c1929.Lilian Ream and her staff c1929. (Image: WISBECH AND FENLAND MUSEUM)

Robert Bell, chairman of the Trust, said “We are extremely grateful to the Fenland Culture Fund for providing funding to enable to us to mount this exhibition here at the museum.

"It highlights the career of a businesswoman who came to dominate professional photography in Wisbech for nearly half a century.”

The exhibition is open and free during museum hours, Wednesday to Saturday, 10am – 4pm. Museum admission charges of £5 for an annual free pass apply to all but under-16s and students.