Scenes from this film were shot at Smith’s Dock where enterprising scallywags from Middlesbrough try to stowaway on a ship. In 1851 the Smith yard in North Shields became iron shipbuilders, constructing a number of vessels including large numbers of steam trawlers for various Tyneside owners. They established a major dry dock complex at North Shields in the late 19th century, operating mainly as a repair yard. The last two vessels were launched there in 1909 – 10. Known originally as T &...

Scenes from this film were shot at Smith’s Dock where enterprising scallywags from Middlesbrough try to stowaway on a ship. In 1851 the Smith yard in North Shields became iron shipbuilders, constructing a number of vessels including large numbers of steam trawlers for various Tyneside owners. They established a major dry dock complex at North Shields in the late 19th century, operating mainly as a repair yard. The last two vessels were launched there in 1909 – 10. Known originally as T & W smith, the Smith’s Dock Company was formed in 1891. In 1907-8 Smith's Dock Co. shipyard and associated dry docks and repair facilities were developed on the River Tees at South Bank, a little way downstream from Middlesbrough, with steelworks to the east and west. Perhaps the company’s most significant contribution to Britain in the 1940s were the ships that served in World War Two, including the tree-class trawlers for the Royal Navy, which were a type of anti-submarine trawlers. They were also responsible for designing the Flower class corvette, which was an anti-submarine convoy escort during the Battle of the Atlantic.

This film, probably screened in schools and even cinemas as a recruitment drive, is a dramatized instructional film on how to be a good apprentice within a shipyard. Due to the fact that this was made so soon after the end of the war, there are a lot of references made to the duties of soldiers, how to serve Britain and the country’s triumph during the war. Patriotic ideals were still strong, and the shipyard tries to use this to their advantage in the film. Shipbuilding initially did reasonably well after World War Two, with the need to replace lost ships. But there was a need to revive the economy and build up industry. Britain required the younger generation to do so. Film could be an effective way to help the campaign.

Post war Britain was experiencing extreme economic issues because of the loss of the young male workforce as well as shortages of materials used for the war. This was especially true for Smith’s Dock, which had provided the Royal Navy with a substantial amount of ships. It was also the first shipbuilders to construct a container ship. When Smiths Dock finally closed on 28 February 1987, having constructed over 900 vessels during its long history, 1,348 people lost their jobs, half of them with homes in South Bank, a community that was devastated by the closure.

The film, originally produced on 35mm nitrate stock, features a rather triumphal introduction by (Thomas) Eustace Smith (1900–1971), who had studied engineering at Leeds during the 1920s, and was a Lieutenant Colonel during World War Two after which he returned to become chairman of the family business, Smiths Docks.

Yorkshire-born actor and radio presenter Wilfred Pickles provides supporting commentary in the film and would have been a well-known voice to the British public at the time. He was employed as an announcer for the BBC’s North Regional radio service, and became an occasional newsreader on the BBC Home Service during World War II. ‘He was I fact the first newsreader to speak in a regional accent, which was a deliberate attempt to make it more difficult for Nazis to impersonate BBC broadcasters‘. Pickles’ northern accent and wartime celebrity would certainly have been familiar and persuasive as recruitment in this instructional film for a Middlesbrough industry. His presence also provides a direct parallel with World War Two, where young men were strongly encouraged to fight for their country because it was the right thing to do. Improving an industry ravished by the War was seen in the same light.

As a radio personality, he was especially popular for the BBC Radio show Have A Go presented with his wife, which ran from 1946 to 1967 attracting an audience of more than 20 million weekly in the 1950s. Before vox pops became a staple of TV news, Pickles travelled throughout Britain interviewing ordinary people and hearing their stories, bringing ‘the people to the people’, and running a quiz for cash prizes. His catchphrases are still familiar to some: "How do, how are yer?", "Are yer courting?", "What's on the table, Mabel?"

The main film theme of the film is training through apprenticeships, which were a very popular route for young people in post-war Britain. Traditionally, education was only available to a small number of young people, mainly young men, and the rest would go straight into manual labour to support their families. Though this was still the case after World War Two, the government did introduce new legislation such as the 1936 Education Act which raised the age of consent to leave school to 15. However, local councils did have the power to authorise 14 year olds and above to leave if there were severe financial circumstances for families, to the point that the child needed to work. But the economic state of Britain immediately after the war was poor, and some saw the education act as a way of taking labour from industry for no reason. Eventually, apprenticeships became a scheme in which young people could earn a qualification while also benefiting the British economy, hence the exam in mechanical engineering ‘approved by Constantine Technical College, Middlesbrough’ featured towards the end of the film. Officially opened on 2 July 1930 to support Middlesbrough's engineering, bridge and shipbuilding industries, Constantine College became a polytechnic in 1969 and is currently Teesside University.

References:

https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw235556/Sir-Thomas-Eustace-Smith?LinkID=mp78713&role=sit&rNo=0

http://www.bigredbook.info/wilfred_pickles.html

http://my-yorkshire.co.uk/people/wilfred-pickles.html