Family come forward in wedding snaps mystery

A family has contacted the BBC to say they are the subjects of a series of mystery wedding photographs.

Alastair Bremner said the pictures were taken at the marriage of his sister Kathleen to Pete Maloney.

Romanian Alex Galmeanu discovered the images on undeveloped film inside a camera he bought online.

Mr Galmeanu thought the wedding had taken place in Scotland, but the venue has now been identified as the Burleigh Court Hotel in Gloucestershire.

Mr Bremner said his mother and father, Betty and Alex, were originally from Scotland but moved to Gloucestershire, where the children grew up.

His sister, known as Kathy, now lives in Cheltenham. Pete Maloney emigrated to Australia.

Alastair said the car in one of the pictures is his father's Austin Maxi.

He thinks it was bought near Dollar in Clackmannanshire, where his parents lived before moving south. The car eventually covered 280,000 miles without a change of gearbox.

Mr Bremner identified other people in the pictures including his sister Morag, Pete Maloney's parents, and an aunt and uncle, Grace and Bob Thomas.

One mystery remains. Mr Bremner does not know who took the pictures.

Mr Bremner said the wedding did not turn out to be a happy ever after event.

He said: "My sister lives in Cheltenham at the moment.

"She married Pete but their wedding didn't last that long unfortunately.

"Pete now lives in Australia."

Alastair's brother John said the two images which do not feature the wedding may be of most use in tracking down whoever took the photographs.

He told the BBC: "Obviously this is a friend who attended the wedding.

"I can name everyone there apart from the last two photographs.

"That must be his family. It looks like he's taken a picture of his garden and it looks like he's got some grandchildren there."

The general manager of the Burleigh Court Hotel, Christine Read, had earlier partially solved the mystery when she confirmed the group shot was "definitely" taken on the hotel's back terrace.

The hotel, near Stroud, has changed owners three times since 1979.

Ms Read, who joined the hotel staff in 1980, told BBC Scotland she knew it was her hotel "without a shadow of a doubt".

"As soon as I saw the first picture with the trees I knew. And then the second photo has the lodge at the end of our drive," she said.

Professional fashion photographer Mr Galmeanu, who discovered the images last week, had posted them online in the hope of returning the originals to the couple or a relative.

Writing on his blog, Mr Galmeanu said he found the film inside a Balda Baldix camera he bought from an online seller near Birmingham.

Speaking to the BBC after the Bremner family had come forward, he said he was delighted to be able to find the pictures and make contact with those involved in the wedding.

Mr Galmeanu added: "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity here.

"I'm very happy to do that.

"It's a story I will tell to my grandchild - if that's possible."

Do you have more information about the photographs? Email us at newsonlinescotland@bbc.co.uk.