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New Unseen Archive Film Available - Sheffield 1960S


Guest AndyH

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Guest AndyH

About 18 months ago I acquired 2 boxes that contained 16 reels of 8mm cine film.

Amongst the summer holiday films shot at Tenby, Bridlington and Scarborough etc and some wedding films, there appeared to be some gems of local Sheffield films that seemed to cover local events.

On the edges of the boxes were written teasing titles such as Trams / Tinsley Park, Parks 1960, Starwalk etc. Inside the boxes were index cards with even more information and it soon became apparent that there could be a wealth of footage contained in these reels that probably hadn't been seen outside the film makers family and close friends and probably not viewed for years.

The reels came with a projector which we were amazed still worked, so my friend and I set about watching all 16 reels and making notes of what were on them.

After a few months of going through them one by one we had lots of notes from the different reels. There was basically something of general interest that lasted 5 minutes on one reel, then holiday footage, then something else of interest for a few minutes, then more holiday footage etc - so to get the best bits together we contacted a video conversion company to see if they could help us to take the best bits and re-assemble them into a logical order.

They copied the 8mm footage onto computer and then, with our help, re-arranged and edited the raw footage into a smooth and logical running order.

The end result is that we now have just over 1 hour of previously unseen footage (silent , but mostly colour) taken in and around Sheffield over a 3 or 4 year period in the early 1960s. We have transferred this onto DVD and are making the DVDs available to the public for the first time to try to recoup the expensive costs that we had to outlay with the video company.

The DVD is split into 6 chapters - Sheffield Parks, Views & Events, Sheffield Trams, Tinsley Park Works, Sheffield at Leisure, and Finningley Air Show

Although we have done this as amateurs we are very pleased with the final outcome

Most of the footage is shot in and around the City Centre and around the Firth Park area showing long lost streets scenes and long demolished buildings. Highlights include Firth Park and other city parks, Longley Park Baths on a summers evening packed with people, Rivelin Valley paddling pool, Chapeltown Bonfire, Christmas lights, a journey from The Wicker to The Moor shot from a car travelling through the city centre, demolished pubs such as The Angel & Pump Tavern, Hippodrome, Paradise Square, Pheasant Inn at Sheffield Lane Top, wonderful film of Sheffield University Rag Week with the student procession and the "boat race" on The Don, Whit Walk gathering in Firth Park, Sports Gala at Shiregreen Sports Ground, St George's Day Parade in City Centre, brilliant footage of the Star Walk shot outside Pheasant Inn, lots of footage of Sheffield Trams "Last Tram Week" including trams running at Millhouses and in the city Centre, the horse drawn tram, illuminated tram. footage taken at the tram depot, and the sad sight of trams being broken up at Thos Wards scrapyard.

There is a very interesting section on Tinsley Park Works which shows the MASSIVE site being cleared and the new factory in various stages of construction with footage of the opening ceremony with the Duke of Edinburgh and the works in production and even footage taken in the offices - for anyone that worked there in the early 60s this would bring back vivid memories.

Sheffield at Leisure includes various footage taken around Derbyshire and also sporting events in the shape of Listerdale Scrambles and speedway filmed at Owlerton with bikes racing etc

The final chapter was shot entirely at Finningley Air Show at the 21st Anniversary of the Battle of Britain in 1961 and shows close ups of the various aircraft and the Red Arrows etc in flight.

The attached image is typical of the footage taken in the City Centre.

We have a few initial copies of this DVD available, and if anyone is interested in obtaining a copy they can contact me at my email address andyhorsfield@btinternet.com for more details

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