This film includes footage of the Pool Fire Brigade and the Mill's Golden Jubilee celebrations. Volunteer fire brigades from throughout the region have a competition on Otley Rugby field. These involve rapid deployment of hoses and equipment, ladder climbing, and running races. The prizes are also shown. The men all wear wartime issue tin hats. The mill formed their own fire brigade at the threat of war in 1938. It was organised so that whichever shift was on duty there would be a...

This film includes footage of the Pool Fire Brigade and the Mill's Golden Jubilee celebrations. Volunteer fire brigades from throughout the region have a competition on Otley Rugby field. These involve rapid deployment of hoses and equipment, ladder climbing, and running races. The prizes are also shown. The men all wear wartime issue tin hats. The mill formed their own fire brigade at the threat of war in 1938. It was organised so that whichever shift was on duty there would be a crew to handle and operate the equipment. In response to government requirements for fire watching a reinforced tower was built on top of the reel mill beater house with slits so that observation could be kept in all directions over the factory roofs and beyond. For the firewatchers on the roof there were some very cold nights, 22 degrees of frost being recorded at 11.15 p.m. on one January night. The factory was unbombed during the war but a bad fire in 1940/1 caused by an overheated drying machine was tackled successfully. Luckily, the wind prevented it spreading beyond one shed. The Otley brigade took 20-30 minutes to attend. In 1936 B, S & W Whiteley Ltd Paper Mills celebrate the firm's 50th anniversary with a |Yorkshire tea|. Mr Whiteley|s grandfather, a stout elderly man, (the W of the firm|s name, the other two brothers Benjamin and Samuel, being dead by this time) sits to the left Mr D. H. Whiteley|s father and mother. The man with a goatee beard is C.J.F Atkinson, an Otley solicitor who wrote a book on the Dales. William Whiteley makes a speech followed by Dr Arthur Percy Morris Fleming, CBE. D Eng.,M.Sc(Tech)LLD.,FCGI head of research and education at Metropolitan Vickers and later instrumental in the invention of RADAR, also in the development, for Whiteley's papermill, of "Elephantide" in 1920/1, an electrical insulation pressboard. Workers receive a cash gift according to the number of years they have been with the firm. Returning to the fire brigade competition, the mill brigade stand to attention and their Dennis trailer pump (towed, if required by an old Chrysler) is displayed. Next, at Pannal cricket club, men, led by Holmes Whiteley, playing for Pool, walk out on to the pitch. The man on the extreme right is Bert Bowman who only had one hand but was a proficient batsman and bowler. Holmes Whiteley captained the second team. At Pool cricket pavilion, originally in a field behind the White Hart pub, Milton Pullein, who played until he was over 60, walks out by himself - the game taking place before World War Two.