This home movie compilation by Middlesbrough amateur filmmaker Tom H. Brown contains images of different generations of his wife Kate’s family, the Spittles, including the 1935 wedding of Walter W. Spittle to Elizabeth L. Ellerington in Darlington. Footage includes various scenes of family life in Middlesbrough, the early childhood of Brown’s daughter Helen, and holiday visits to the North Yorkshire coast and countryside. The film also features an amateur studio portrait session of a group of...

This home movie compilation by Middlesbrough amateur filmmaker Tom H. Brown contains images of different generations of his wife Kate’s family, the Spittles, including the 1935 wedding of Walter W. Spittle to Elizabeth L. Ellerington in Darlington. Footage includes various scenes of family life in Middlesbrough, the early childhood of Brown’s daughter Helen, and holiday visits to the North Yorkshire coast and countryside. The film also features an amateur studio portrait session of a group of young fashionable women for the Tees-Side Cine Club. Title: An experiment in colour. Title: Dufaycolor 16mm September 1934 There are various shots of the family home, Melrose, Briarvale Avenue, Middlesbrough, a red brick semi-detached house with a car parked in front of it. Tom and Kate Brown are in the garden. Kate prepares a flower for her husband’s buttonhole. Title: Do you like butter? Kate holds a yellow flower to Tom’s throat. He does the same to her. People swim and play in the sea with a large dog at Sandsend, Whitby, North Yorkshire. Title: June 1935. Note the better colours. Title: Sandsend 'Come into these yellow sands. And then take hands.' The Tempest. Kate Brown sits with her baby daughter Helen on the beach at Sandsend, with seascape and headland in the background. Portrait shots of Kate and Helen. Title: First Steps at 12 mths. Kate and daughter Helen are on Sandsend beach. Helen takes her first steps with her mother’s help. Title: We leave the seaside and await tea at Ellerby. There are more shots of Helen helped to walk and looking at flowers. Next, Tom Brown is holding Helen in a garden with stone cottage in the background, at Ellerby village in North Yorkshire. Title: Our Dad’s Garden Tom Brown stands in a cottage-style garden with baby Helen. Helen touches the flowers. Title: The Wedding of Walter W. Spittle & Elizabeth L. Ellerington At Darlington. July 23, 1935. Title: Arrival at church of Right - Bride’s Mother, Bridegroom’s Sister, Bride’s Sister. Left - Bridesmaid. Four women, including Kate Brown and the bride’s sister, walk across a road together. All are wearing hats. The bridesmaid carries a bouquet of flowers. Title: The Bride & Her Father The bride, dressed in a cream lace dress and blue hat and carrying a bouquet of pink roses, steps out of the wedding car . Her father stands next to the car. Title: Mr & Mrs W.W. Spittle The bride and bridegroom walk out of the church, followed by other guests. They are showered in confetti. Title: The Family Group The bride, bridegroom and family group pose for a film portrait. Title: A Manly Form at her side she saw, And joy was duty and love was law. Whittier The bride and bridegroom pose for portraits. Title: Redcar air persuades Helen to walk solo at fourteen months. Helen walks unsteadily and falls over. A woman’s legs are seen in shot. Title: Washing Day. Helen plays with an empty mug and with washing on a line. She stands up and falls over. Title: The Family Tree. From 78 yrs to 15mnths Next, there are shots of a Spittle family group, which includes Kate and Helen Brown, Amelia Jane Spittle and William Brown. Title: Helen and her Great-Grandmother Helen and her great-grandmother pose for the camera. Title: My first paddle. Kate helps her daughter to paddle in the sea. Title: Why go to Hollywood for Beauty? The Teeside Cine Club can supply it. Title: Taken in the studio of Mr. F. Brigham under 7000 watts. Staged group portrait of four women looking at magazines, including Kate Brown, in a studio setting. Title: April 1936, My First Kodachrome. Kate and Helen are outside the family home 'Melrose' in Middlesbrough, in their winter coats. Title: Helen aged 1 year 11 mths Close-up of Kate and daughter Helen outside their house, "Melrose." Title: The Albert Park Ducks are paddling on the pond in Albert Park. Four boys are rowing in a boat. Kate Brown walks through the park with her daughter in a pram. There is a close-up of the baby Helen. Kate holds a doll out to her daughter. Title: Ingleby Arncliffe Water Tower There are various shots of the old stone water tower in the village of Ingleby Arncliffe, North Yorkshire. Title: The Coat of Arms of Sir Hugh Bell Close-ups of the carved stone coat of arms of Sir Hugh Bell on the water tower at Ingleby Arncliffe. Title: Rounton A motorcyclist and pillion passenger drive along a tree-lined narrow road. A view of a large building follows, probably the village hall and attached cottages in East Rounton, North Yorkshire, built by Sir Hugh Bell. A date plaque on the building is inscribed with initials 'H & FB' and the date 1906 on it. In front of the building, a car is parked and there is a War Memorial with cross and pedestal base design. Next, there is a close-up of a coat of arms. Title: Stained Glass Windows In Swainby Church. Two interior shots of backlit Victorian stained glass windows in the Holy Cross Church, Swainby, North Yorkshire. Title: Slimming at Saltburn. Kate Brown, dressed in a polka dot dress, picks up a beach ball on the beach at Saltburn in North Yorkshire and kicks it. Title: The Family. Group shot of the Browns and another couple, Stan and Mary Boynton, on Saltburn beach. Helen plays with a toy spade and waves at the camera. Title: Helen’s First Ride. Tom Brown, in sunglasses, climbs onto a donkey with his baby daughter Helen. Redcar beach and the Victorian sea front buildings are seen in the background. A young man in a flat cap leads the donkey along the beach. Title: Brrrh! Kate helps her daughter paddle in the sea. Title: Oo-er! A Picnic. Tom Brown plays with his daughter, green fields in the background. There are close-ups of Helen’s face as her father, a dentist, tweaks her mouth and she opens her mouth wide for the camera. Next, a friend, Stan Boynton, is lying on grass as Helen sits on him and laughs. Shots of a picnic follow. Title: “That’s Lovely!” There are various shots during and after the picnic in a grassy sunlit field, with a steep hillside pictured in the background, near Roseberry Topping, North Yorkshire. Title: Near Roseberry Title: Redcar Pool 1936. Channel Aspirants. People sit in the stands, swim and dive at Redcar open-air pool. Two men slide into the pool. Tom swims to the side of the pool. Title: The Diving Contest Tom Brown and another man, dressed in all-in-one swimsuits, dive into the pool. Kate performs a belly flop dive into the pool. Title: 'Come On-Try Again.' Kate performs another belly flop. Various posed group shots of the Browns and their traveling companions follow. Kate wears a spotted halter neck swimsuit. Tom runs in and out of shot for the portrait. Title: 'I can give tea parties too!' Helen sits on the doorstep of the Brown’s red brick Middlesbrough home and plays with her dolls and soft toys, handbag and money. A doll’s pram stands nearby. Title: Saltburn. The Valley Gardens Tom plays with Helen in Valley Gardens, Saltburn, (filmed in Dufaycolor.) There is a close-up of two notices that read: 'Tea Garden Tariff' and 'Dancing 6d.' Kate teaches Helen to dance in the next shot. Title: 'Shall we sit this one out?' There are various shots of Kate Brown with daughter Helen and on her own. Kate Brown sits back in a striped deckchair and closes her eyes. The film frames a sign that reads: 'To Italian Garden and Tea House.' Kate Brown holds Helen’s hand and pushes a small pram through the winding path of the Italian Garden in Valley Gardens, Saltburn. Five men stand in a row in the background and look at the camera. High angle view over the gardens. In the distance, a man and woman are standing together and the man points to the view. Title: 'Where the bee sucks.' A close-up of a bee on a flower follows. Title: 'Polyanthus.' There are various shots of a polyanthus bush and its flowers. Helen holds a doll as she stands next to flowerbeds. The closing shots are of the flowerbeds and flowers in Valley Gardens, Saltburn. End credits: Photography -T.H. Brown