Narrated by BBC radio newsreader and commentator John Snagge OBE (1904–1996), this cinemagazine reports on the mining of anhydrite at Billingham and the products manufactured at the Billingham chemical plant, both then owned and operated by Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), with additional consideration of the industrial health matters of ICI’s workers. Snagge’s voice would have added an element of familiarity and officiality to this film having regularly delivered important radio...

Narrated by BBC radio newsreader and commentator John Snagge OBE (1904–1996), this cinemagazine reports on the mining of anhydrite at Billingham and the products manufactured at the Billingham chemical plant, both then owned and operated by Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), with additional consideration of the industrial health matters of ICI’s workers. Snagge’s voice would have added an element of familiarity and officiality to this film having regularly delivered important radio announcements as the Second World War unfolded. Snagge later went on to deliver the BBC’s first television news bulletin in 1954.

The 1834 extension of the Stockton and Darlington Railway helped increase industrial growth in Billingham, but it was the outbreak of World War One and the need for synthetic ammonia for explosives which sparked the beginning of the area as the centre of chemical production in Britain. A large area was chosen near Grange Farm for the new chemical plant, however the war was over by the time it was completed. The plant added fertilisers to its manufacturing list and would eventually become one of the most important agricultural factories in Britain. The chemical plant was again in demand for ammonia at the outbreak of World War Two, as well as fuel and plastic interiors for RAF aircrafts. Top secret work was carried out at Billingham during the war years in relation to atomic bombs which was given the code name ‘Tube Alloys’.

For most of its history, the plant has been owned by ICI, formed in 1926 after the merger of leading British chemical companies. By 1931 the plant employed around 5,000 people and by 1935 production of synthetic petrol was added to its roster. The ICI plant was the inspiration for Aldous Huxley’s 1931 novel, Brave New World’, and prog rock band The Alan Parsons Project's seventh studio album’s namesake was a sign which hung on a wall at the plant which read ‘Ammonia Avenue.’

Anhydrite was mined in the Billingham area from 1927 until 1971, and ceased when the mine shaft was capped off in 1978. The mine in this film was located in the Casebourne division of the ICI works and, as described in detail in the film, hugely contributed to the war effort by producing vast amounts of high octane petrol for the air and other services and fertiliser for food from the land.

This film can be classified as a cinemagazine, a form of light propaganda utilised by companies and corporations. ICI was one of many industries in Britain attracted to this distinctive format, maintaining a number of film production units, one of which was the Billingham Film Unit that made this film. First popularised in 1918, cinemagazines, or screen magazines, were a series of short films covering light topics such as travel, sport, hobbies etc. and were a staple of cinemas around the world, particularly in the US and UK. Cinemagazines were also utilised by news broadcasters, industrial companies and governmental agencies to disseminate information to the public.

The first recognised cinemagazine format was the Kinemacolor Fashion Gazette in 1913, however the first true cinemagazine as we recognise them today was the Pathé Pictorial, published from 1918-1969. General viewing cinemagazines fell out of favour by the end of the 1960s, but they were still utilised by industry and government in training exercises. Industrial cinemagazines rarely made it onto the screens of commercial cinemas, though some reached targeted audiences, such as the mining industry cinemagazine Mining Review (1947-1982) which was often shown at public cinemas within and near mining communities. (1)

This film is part of the Just Billingham series of ICI cinemagazines, made up of 27 issues. Just Billingham was released from 1946-1960 and distributed internally for film shows that would foster a sense of community between works divisions. Rich in content and variety, a “voice-of-God” narrator frequently adds a light, whimsical touch to the stories. Topics covered range from an exposition on the beer shortage affecting thirsty workers in 1947 to a trip down the Teesside Engineering Club at Hartburn to meet some of the “failed engine drivers” who turn their hands to model making, and building model railways, many from ICI and local engineering companies such as Head Wrightson.

It’s with a characteristic promotional flourish that the Just Billingham series reports on its own ‘premiere’ in the home of the British film industry, Wardour Street in London. The Anglo-American motion picture pioneer Charles Urban was the first to set up business here in 1908, and more than 20 film companies had premises on the Soho street in London’s theatre district by 1914, including British Pathé. By the late 1940s, this number had grown to around 100. ICI top brass and George Isaacs, Minister of Labour and National Service in Clement Attlee’s new government, are amongst the guests to enter the modern-style office building, Film House, once the site of the Faraday Electrical Works, rebuilt for British Pathé and, at the time of the Just Billingham screening, the headquarters of Gaumont-British, whose newsreels were distributed around the world and, in 1959, evolved into a colour cinemagazine entitled Look at Life.

All records of the Billingham Film Unit disappeared as the company was wound up and the collection of films that remained were just a fraction of the Unit’s output. Most films had been produced for training purposes, though some were made for general viewing and historical posterity. Half of the collection is on 16 mm film and the rest on various formats of videotape. In 2003 the ICI collection was officially acquired by this archive and preserved in a new temperature and humidity controlled vault facility built on the Teesside University campus during 2003 with lottery funding, and formally opened the following year. (2)

This fifteenth issue of Just Billingham has a message of pride at the achievements of the factory in its contributions to the war effort and a reassurance to its workers that their ongoing health will be a priority to the company. Industrial health illnesses, conditions and complications relating to ammonia production can include various issues relating to the respiratory system. While the company appear to offer these x-rays to the workforce through Durham County Council Mass Radiography Unit on a private basis, just one year later Britain would see the launch of the National Health Service, providing free medical care at the point of delivery to all British residents.

More Just Billingham editions at NEFA:

JUST BILLINGHAM NO. 3 (1946)

JUST BILLINGHAM NO. 7 (1946)

JUST BILLINGHAM NO. 24 (1949)

JUST BILLINGHAM NO. 27 (1957)

References:

(1) Aitken, Ian (ed). Encyclopaedia of the Documentary Film 3-Volume Set, 2005.

(2) Wheeler, John - The ICI Archive in the North East

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=northern+region+film+and+tv+archive

http://bufvc.ac.uk/newsonscreen

Hiley, Nicholas and McKerna Luke, Reconstructing the News: British Newsreel Documentation and the British Universities Newsreel Project Film History Vol. 13, No. 2, Non-Fiction Film (2001), pp. 185-199