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

Tonight! Saturday 26th November 7pm – Film screening at The Gothic Warehouse, Cromford Mill….

Film screening venue: The Gothic Warehouse Cromford Mill, Derbyshire

The Arkwright Society in Cromford, setting for the World Heritage Cromford Mills site is hosting the first Full Circle film screening in this area.  We are pleased to be screening local films of Matlock and Matlock Bath, Cromford, Ripley and much much more. These films came to light through the film searches carried out by local groups as part of this Heritage Lottery Funded project, developed by MACE – the screen archive for the Midlands.

Phyllis Higton holding her father Harry Gill's camera

This unseen footage was deposited with MACE by Phyllis Higton, daughter of the locally famous photographer Harry Gill. Another local resident, also called Phyllis,  deposited some lovely local footage of the Starkholmes Carnival  with MACE filmed by her father.

Carnival queen at Starkholmes carnival - Phyllis Wayne Collection

IN AN AGE WHEN the media was limited to newspapers and the wireless, Harry Gill followed an unusual occupation. He was a press photographer: moreover, he was one of an elite handful who chose to follow the uncertain, though exciting, freelance route. For nearly 50 years there were few picture and news editors on local and regional papers in the North and Midlands unfamiliar with Harry Gill’s work. And, gradually as his contacts and experience grew, he was used increasingly by national newspapers. The by-line on the back of prints – Photo by H. Gill, Bradley House, Dale Road, Matlock – became acknowledged as a by-word for reliability and professionalism. Michael Fay

If you have any films or moving image that you would like to put in safekeeping and to share with the community please contact Kay Ogilvie, senior curator Full Circle project kay.ogilvie@ tiscali.co.uk  and to find out more visit http://www.macearchive.org/Full-Circle.html

1920s Ripley films found in biscuit tins….listen to Kay Ogilvie Full Circle curator being interviewed by Radio Derby…

The Ripley films are inside the biscuit tins and all in various stages of decomposure

Yesterday morning I was invited to the Radio Derby studio to be interviewed by Phil Trow to talk about the 90 year old Ripley films found in biscuit tins – Phil presents the Radio Derby Breakfast show from 7am – 10am which is probably the station’s most popular show as it has a captive audience of people commuting to work or doing the school run in Derby. These films have been unearthed through the Full Circle project….

Dave King reporter for BBC Radio Derby has also written an online article about the lost Ripley films with links to the MACE website and Full Circle pages. He has also put the interview online with more photos.

Here’s the links:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-13714062
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-13714060
Happy viewing!

kay @macearchive

MACE trains YMCA youth workers in film handling for “Century of Youth” film project

YMCA Training day at MACE: Richard Shenton (right), Head of Access & Learning at MACE, demonstrates film handling to James and Anthony from the YMCA

One of our biggest Full Circle groups is the YMCA at Nottingham. MACE is working with them on their new “Century of Youth” film project. We are helping them  to safely view and transfer relevant archive footage into digital formats. Anthony a  Film and Video youth worker and James a youth worker from the YMCA  attended this training course so that they could pass on the necessary skills in film handling to the young people they are working with. The project explores the lives of people in the East Midlands over the past 100 years  combining archive footage and interviews with local people.

Anthony and James examine 8mm film

On the training day Richard talked Anthony and James through the different gauges of film: Standard 8mm, Super 8mm, 9.5mm, 16mm and 35mm. As the project involves collecting (some possibly quite old film) – they learnt how to identify cellulose nitrate stock, which they may come across, and what to do if they find any. Nitrate film stock was only used for 35mm film stock pre 1950s while safety film stock was developed for the home movie market  (8mm and 16mm).   Richard had looked through the MACE film archive and found a short film on the dangers of nitrate stock made by the Royal Navy who had to be extremely careful when screening film on board because of its flammable nature:

For more information on nitrate films check out the British Film Institute site http://www.bfi.org.uk/live/video/383 and watch a short film clip. They hold the largest collection of nitrate  film stock in the world.

Nitrate film found through the Full Circle project, the nitrate film has reacted with the can. This rare 90 year old film has been sent down to the BFI. They have the facilities to handle this film stock and will transfer it to safety film for Full Circle to use in a community film screening in Ripley

In the afternoon the training course covered  black and white and colour film stock, vinegar syndrome and sound on film (optical and magnetic). They learnt about the different print processes, reversal process and edger markings which help denote the type and age of film. After a very nice lunch there was a tour of the MACE film archive, the film transfer suite and the use of the Steenbeck film editing and viewing machine.

James Patterson, Director of MACE viewing 16mm film on the Steenbeck.  Steenbeck is a brand name that has become synonymous with a type of flatbed film editing suite which is usable with both 16mm and 35mm optical sound and magnetic sound film.

For more information on the YMCA “Century of Youth” project contact Tom Holland on 07584 582063 or email him on film@nottsymca.org. This project has been enabled by EM Media and the UK Film Council’s Digital Archive Fund supported by the National Lottery.

Kay