Belper Historical Society screen vintage films in the oldest building in Belper………

Mr Ray Marjoram did an excellent job as projectionist: view of East Mill Belper, closed by English Sewing amidst a political storm in 1985

Belper Historical Society had an excellent turnout (considering the weather!) for their screening of vintage films at St John’s Chapel Belper on Wednesday 7th December. It was poignant to watch the ATV footage of the closure of East Mill by English Sewing in 1985 and many faces were recognised up there on the big screen. It was quite shocking to realise that English Sewing  had made a 24 million pound profit the year before, yet still they were tempted by Government funds to move to  Glasgow to a new ‘enterprise’ zone. Thereby making hundreds redundant in Belper. The same happened to many mills along the Derwent Valley in Derbyshire, which is now a World Heritage Site.

Kay Ogilvie (right), senior curator for Full Circle, chats to Pat Majoram (second right) and John Barnett of Belper Historical Society.

Other vintage films screening that night were 1930s films from the Wright/Ratcliffe Collection including Kniveton Jubilee and Ashbourne Carnival.  A resident from Kniveton recognised some faces on these films too and she is now speaking to Kniveton Parish Council about  holding a screening in their village hall of more films from this superb collection.

Pat and Ray Marjoram organised an artefacts table whereby members were asked to identify some of the ‘finds’ on display including some lovely decorated clay pipes. Other ‘finds’ that night included a collection of films owned by John Barnett. More about that further down this blog!

Ray Majoram also doing door service!

The Belper Historical Society is also looking for new committee members to help with ideas and future planning – if you would like to get involved please contact Kay and she will pass on your details. They hold regular meetings and organise history related events and historical walks in and around Belper.

Kay talking to John Barnett about his father's collection of films

Films owned by  John  Barnett: These sound very interesting indeed! They belonged to his father and are of a wedding at Belper Registry Office (does this still exist?) with a reception at The Hurt Arms,  Ambergate, Riber Castle – Matlock when it was a zoo,  scenes from Belper,  Buxton and  Bakewell and something called the ‘Ripley Rotokana’ possibly a carnival, also ‘Dams During Drought’ – the reservoirs of North Derbyshire during the 1976 drought. We will talk to John about preserving his original films and getting  him copies of these onto DVD as these films are of great local interest.

Kay handing Pat Majoram two DVD copies of vintage films for the Belper Historical Society to use in the future and to add to their own film archive.

Tea, coffee and mince pies were a welcome break in the film show - served by one of the members of Belper Historical Society

If you have any films that you would like to preserve and then share with the community then please contact Kay at kay.ogilvie@tiscali.co.uk. Visit our Full Circle pages on our website to find out more about how to get involved http://www.macearchive.org

Full house at The Ritz, Belper, Derbyshire over the weekend Discovery Days Festival screening Full Circle archive films….

Local people queued up on Saturday and Sunday to see the archive films......

What a fantastic weekend of films, walks, tours and lectures we had this weekend in Belper, Derbyshire. The Discovery Days Festival is still running until 30th October so there is still time to catch even more events! For more information visit http://www.derwentvalleymills.org. At The Ritz queues were forming to see the newly discovered films found through the Full Circle project of Belper and surrounding area.

At this lovely independent cinema you can buy home-made cakes!

The films we were screening at the Ritz were a mixture of home-movies and professional footage. Some of the home-movie material had been deposited with the Full Circle project by Stephen Walters and showed scenes in and around Belper during the 1960s.

BBC producer Teresa Mikula (East Midlands Today) talks to Stephen Walters about his film collection which was left to him by his uncle Norman Mellors

Teresa Mikula produces the BBC programme ‘Preserving the Past‘. She has been supporting the Full Circle project  and helping to bring the found footage to a wider audience. She interviewed Stephen about his uncle’s film collection and we will be seeing more of the footage and the interview in the Autumn series. Stephen said about the film screening:

I wouldn’t have missed it for the world! It was lovely to see the films up on the big screen and I’m looking forward to having a copy of my uncle’s film collection to view on DVD

Teresa Mikula, BBC producer of “Preserving the Past” interviews Stephen Walters

The other home-movie footage The Wright/Radcliffe Collection, found through Full Circle featured scenes in and around Ashbourne & Kniveton in the 1930s – this is really rare footage and is quite a big collection – over 90 reels – which is still in the process of being assessed. Our thanks go to Peter Frost who deposited this collection with MACE.

Kay Ogilvie, senior curator for Full Circle introduces the films......

The collection of films shown also included a lovely 1955 British Transport travel guide to Derbyshire, ATV footage of the controversial closure of East Mill Belper in 1986 and a small independent film made in the 1980s about climbing friends ascent of High Tor in Matlock Bath which had the audience on the edge of their seats!

Full Circle Home-Movies get big screen treatment at The Ritz, Belper this weekend to celebrate Discovery Days Film Season: Saturday 8.30pm, Sunday 5.30pm

Kniveton Jubilee (Derbyshire) - Peter Frost Collection

Come along and celebrate Discovery Days Film Season this weekend at the Ritz Cinema, King Street, Belper. Ring 01773 822224 for seat prices and to book. We are pleased to help bring rare film footage found through MACE’s Full Circle project to one of the finest independent cinemas in the UK.

Fisherman Pub Belper - Norman Mellors Collection

We will be screening footage from the Peter Frost Collection and the Norman Mellors Collection.

The late Norman Mellor of Belper, used to go to the old Ritz in Belper regularly where his father worked as the projectionist. This led to Norman becoming very interested in filmmaking, he bought himself a cine camera in the early 1950s and filmed many local events in and around Belper, Derbyshire. His nephew Stephen Walters has been clearing out his late uncle’s house and found Norman’s film collection.

Belper flood - Norman Mellors Collection

Stephen said: “Uncle Norman worked at LB Plastics based at Heage and Norman took his camera on holiday with him and also filmed many Belper Town football matches as  he loved football and went to most of their matches.”

The Norman Mellors film collection of home-movies

MACE’s Full Circle project works with over 60 local history societies to search for film hidden in the community. Once footage is found we help to preserve the original film and make copies onto DVD for the owners and the community to view. If you have any reels hidden away in cupboards or attics contact senior curator Kay on kay.ogilvie@tiscali.co.uk

Belper History Society planning the year's events and meetings

Midland Journey in Belper

Following a successful screening at the Ritz in Belper in October 2007 we’re proud to say that we’ve been invited back for a follow up Midland Journey screening which will see another varied selection of Derbyshire themed film gems.

There will be two screenings this time, both at 6.00pm, on Saturday 25 October and Sunday 26 October.

We’ll be investigating local industry with films showing the quarrying of Derbyshire’s famous Blue John and the iron foundry that made the area around Stanton-by-Dale known as the ‘Iron Dale’.

Films on show will range from the rough-and-tumble of Ashbourne’s world famous football match to the quiet tranquillity of Derbyshire well dressing.  There will even be rare local cinema adverts and a visit to Alfreton in the 1920s.

Midland Journey Screenings in Derbyshire

We are pleased to announce that MACE’s series of Midland Journey screenings of archive gems from the collection is visiting a new venue in October 2007. 

Two screenings are scheduled for the Ritz Cinema in Belper, Derbyshire at 10.30am on Thursday 18 October and 3.00pm on Sunday 28 October.  We’ll be showing lots of great Derbyshire archive material and nostalgic images of the Peak District including a compilation of 1920s Topical Budget newsreels courtesy of the British Film Institute.

The screening on the 18th will be introduced by radio personality Ashley Franklin and the event on the 28th by MACE’s Phil Leach.  More information click here.