Worker finds baby photo of son he hid on museum roof 24 years later

By Emily Phillips

A roofer has discovered a photo of his son, which he hid under the slates at the top of a museum 24 years ago.

Alan Needham, 60, stashed the baby photo of his son Ross at 13 months old while working on Newcastle’s Discovery Museum in 2002.

He returned earlier this year to restore the Grade II-listed roof and was left stunned to come across his hidden treasure — while Ross, now 25, was working on-site with him.

Alan has left several secret "time capsule" pictures during a 42-year roofing career across the Northeast for future generations to discover.

He has worked on many large-scale projects like Newcastle City Hall and Gateshead Town Hall, but this was the first time he had worked on the same roof twice.

Alan, from Blyth, Northumberland, a roofer with F&I Group, said he hid the photo when Ross, now a builder, was aged 1.

He added: “In 2002 I came to Discovery Museum to take a section of the roof off at the front, and I decided — again — to leave a little treasure, of my son, one of my sons, Ross Alan Needham.

“I never thought I would come back to this job 24 years later, doing the same area of roof and finding what I had left.

“I’m 60 now, and I am glad I eventually remembered where it was.

“When I found it, I started to fill up, and I showed Ross.

“The only thing you’ve got in this life are your family — I constantly do everything for my family, everything I have ever done, I’m not interested in material goods.

“It’s just something nice for someone to find in 50 or 60 years to say ‘I wonder if he’s still alive?’ — that’s why I leave them.

“I will leave something again — with my two sons on, my grandchildren, whatever foster child I have at the time — and possibly my wife."

Nick Butterley, customer and facilities manager at Discovery Museum, said: “It’s pretty amazing to meet Alan — knowing that Alan was the man to have worked on that specific part of the roof 24 years ago — and where better to leave a personal time capsule than on a museum roof?

“The big Burlington slate tiles have to be removed one by one and stored carefully before being replaced in exactly the same order.

“Alan is the man removing each tile and has to work along each row to remove them.

“It’s a very tricky, precarious job, and it has been great to hear such a story from Alan during the process."