This film was made by George Trafford Drayton, a York resident who owned and ran the Tower Picture House on New Street. The cinema first opened on 23rd November 1908, converted from a Methodist chapel, and was the first permanent cinema operating in York. It served as a hostel for troops during the First World War amongst other things, before being taken over on 10th May 1920 and renamed the Tower Picture House.  Mr Drayton made quite a few other films focusing on the local area and would...

This film was made by George Trafford Drayton, a York resident who owned and ran the Tower Picture House on New Street. The cinema first opened on 23rd November 1908, converted from a Methodist chapel, and was the first permanent cinema operating in York. It served as a hostel for troops during the First World War amongst other things, before being taken over on 10th May 1920 and renamed the Tower Picture House.  Mr Drayton made quite a few other films focusing on the local area and would show these in his cinema. He also wrote and directed one fiction film, Dick Turpin and his Famous Ride to York in 1933, collaboration with the York Movie Makers. These are available to watch via the Yorkshire Film Archive.  The introduction of “talking films” in the 1930s saw an influx of cinemas in York; the Regent in Acomb in 1934, The Rialto on Fishergate, the Clifton in 1937, the Odeon on Blossom Street, the Regal (where Marks and Spencer’s now is), The Grand on Gillygate, the Picture house on Coney street, and St George’s Hall on Coppergate. York was truly a haven for cinemagoers in the 1930s!

The “Fresh Air Fund” was an idea that originated the USA in 1877. Reverend Willard Parsons asked members of his congregation in Sherman, Pennsylvania to be host families for some needy New York children in order for them to enjoy a countryside vacation. New York was filled with cramped tenements and homesteads. A tuberculosis epidemic in the city led to the recommendation for “fresh air” by healthcare professionals, meaning that these countryside trips became very popular. So popular, in fact, that Reverend Parsons sought support from The New York Tribune to help continue the Fresh Air Fund. The fund is still running today as an independent non-profit organization, with the same mission as 1877; to allow poor children to get away from the heat and noise of the big cities to enjoy a summer in the countryside.

The Fresh Air Fund was introduced in Britain in 1892 by Sir Arthur Pearson. This idea translated well across the pond, with nearly three and a half million British children being sent on days out by 1915. We speculate that the children in this particular film may have been residents of Hungate, an impoverished slum area of York.  Seebohm Rowntree worked out that half of all working class children in the city were living in poverty by 1936, so this seaside trip would have been extremely welcome for those underprivileged children. Rowntree’s studies showed the cause of poverty to be that of low wages or unemployment, and not of the fault of the poor themselves, contrary to the Victorian view. His work and research greatly improved the quality of life for many of York’s poor.

Filey has always been a popular seaside resort for the people of York, and it would have been the perfect choice for this trip as it is not as long a journey as, to say, Scarborough or Whitby. Filey was also the holiday destination of choice to the famous Terry’s family of York, their holiday home there is now a grade II listed building.

References:

http://archive.oneandother.com/articles/once-yorks-picture-houses/

http://www.freshair.org/history-and-mission

http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/10th-july-1915/15/the-fresh-air-fund