This is the first part of two films that bring together events and activities in and around Bradford just at the end of the Second World War. These films are part of a wider collection of films made by the amateur filmmaker Robert Sharp, a textile retailer from Bradford.   The YFA holds over 30 films either made by, or on behalf of, Bob Sharp, dating from the late 1930s through to the late 1950s. The films cover a variety of subjects: not only the Sharp floor covering business, but also...

This is the first part of two films that bring together events and activities in and around Bradford just at the end of the Second World War. These films are part of a wider collection of films made by the amateur filmmaker Robert Sharp, a textile retailer from Bradford.   The YFA holds over 30 films either made by, or on behalf of, Bob Sharp, dating from the late 1930s through to the late 1950s. The films cover a variety of subjects: not only the Sharp floor covering business, but also reflecting Bob’s interests and hobbies, his work as a councillor, and his family films. See the Context for Lord Mayor's Year of Office (2) for more on Robert Sharp and the background to these films.

 

It isn’t clear how much of the films overlap in time, with the second part showing more of the Women's Land Army (or 'Land Girls') – there is background information on the WLA in the Context for Lord Mayor's Year of Office (2).  Both films show Cecil Barnett, rarely without a cigarette, as Mayor, which dates the films between November 1944 and November 9th 1945, when Kathleen Chambers became the first female Lord Mayor of Bradford. Cecil Barnett was one of the original Directors for the Undercliffe Picture House Company which built a cinema, the Oxford, on Dudley Hill Road in 1914.

 

In this part there is a visit to Tong Hall, situated in the extreme southeast of Bradford District in a green wedge of land between the urban areas of Bradford and Leeds. Like many of villages it has an interesting history, especially as to who owned it. The details of this history are recounted in a Bradford City Council Conservation Area Assessment of Tong in 2005 (it was designated as a Conservation Area in 1973). Records show that a Saxon, named Stainulf, farmed and owned the land before the Norman conquest passed it on to one of William’s allies, Ilbert de Lacy, after 1066 (along with most of what is now Bradford). It was while the land was owned by the Tempest family, from the 16th century, that most of the existing buildings were built, in the 18th, including the Hall and St James Church. 

 

It remained with the Tempest family until 1941 when it was sold to local businessman Mr Eric Towler.  He re-sold it just two years later to the Huddersfield Industrial Society and very soon it passed to Huddersfield Co-operative Society, in June 1944, who made it the Society’s first Youth Centre – hence the youth seen in the film. This was the first of four youth centres established when the Co-operative Youth Centres Ltd was launched in Bradford on 11 Dec 1943. It was officially opened on 20th May 1944, with Mr C W Harvey as the first Warden and Mr Britland the Gardener. Later, in 1951, the land was sold again to Bradford Corporation as a hall of residence for the Margaret McMillan Teacher Training College, becoming a Bradford University hall of residence in 1967, before Bradford Metropolitan District Council bought it, opening the Hall and Park to the public – now a business park.

 

What exactly the youths are doing in the film, rather obscurely pulling leaves from, possibly, a potato crop, is open to speculation. It isn’t clear either whether ‘Farm Sunday’ was a traditional event, or a Co-op invention. It doesn’t seem to be directly related to the current ‘Open Farm Sundays’ organised by the charity LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming); which wasn’t set up until 1991. Despite being owned by the Co-op, the visit of the Mayor and assorted dignitaries seems none the less full of pomp (reminiscent perhaps of George Orwell's novel Animal Farm, published the same year). The vicar in the film may well be the York born Rev. George Saville Woods, who was Vice President of the Co-operative Party, a founder of the Co-operative Youth Centres, and a Labour Co-operative MP.

 

The gymkhana at Odsal Stadium, built on a large rubbish tip, is interesting as it offers a good view of the stadium virtually empty, exposing just how overgrown the stands are with grass – presumably all the weed killer would have gone into the bombs dropped over Germany! There are a number of films of Odsal Stadium from around this time, but the stadium is usually much fuller than this – see Rugby League Wartime Matches: Odsal Stadium, Bradford.

 

The 'Holidays at Home' event in Lister Park, Bradford, is curious, as it must be taking place in the summer of 1945, after the war was over.   The 'Holidays at Home' were specifically intended to save on fuel for the duration of the war, although of course this continued to be in short supply for some while after the end of the war. Robert Sharp in fact made films of the Holidays at Home in Bradford over the three previous years – see Holidays at Home 3 (1944), and also Holiday Week (1942-1943), set in Ecclesfield, Sheffield. 

 

It is interesting to note that the event is sponsored by the Daily Herald, which became the Sun in 1964. This change is somewhat ironic given that the Daily Herald was started by print workers, in 1914, and that print workers had a last ditch battle against Rupert Murdoch’s News International, the owners of the Sun, in 1986.  Since being taken over in 1964, The Sun has moved to the right, whereas the Daily Herald was a trade union paper, and for a time quite left-wing, before commercial considerations took over, leading to it becoming the world's best-selling daily newspaper in 1933. In 1945 the Daily Herald was a strong supporter of the Labour Party, declaring the 1945 election result as ‘the People’s Victory’; but it was far from the radical paper of its earlier days.

 

References

 

Huw Richards, The Bloody Circus: "Daily Herald" and the Left, Pluto Press, 1997.

Steven Fielding, ‘What did the “People” want? The Meaning of the 1945 General Election’, Historical Journal, 35 (1992)

Bradford City Council Conservation Area Assessment of Tong

Co-operative Youth Centres