Miscellaneous mid-1930s home movie footage of amateur filmmaker and dance band musician George Cummin’s bachelor days playing in Whitby, his marriage to Norah, their early life and visitors in Whitby, including a brief record of the Whitby Regatta, and their honeymoon holiday to Switzerland, the Alps, towns on Lake Lucerne, Lake Logarno, Berne with its bear pit tourist attraction, and the Rhine Falls, travelling via Dover and Ostend. George Cummin was a member of Newcastle & District...

Miscellaneous mid-1930s home movie footage of amateur filmmaker and dance band musician George Cummin’s bachelor days playing in Whitby, his marriage to Norah, their early life and visitors in Whitby, including a brief record of the Whitby Regatta, and their honeymoon holiday to Switzerland, the Alps, towns on Lake Lucerne, Lake Logarno, Berne with its bear pit tourist attraction, and the Rhine Falls, travelling via Dover and Ostend. George Cummin was a member of Newcastle & District Amateur Cinematographers Association.  Title: A more or less accurate record of a ramble through Yorkshire [title belongs to another film] Credit: G.C. Pictures Present Title: Hopeful Travellers Title: Right on the edge of the North Sea stands the town of Whitby. (It has to, it’s a seaside resort.) General view of Whitby. Panoramic shot of Whitby. Shots of an alley and a cobbled street in Whitby. Title: And at Whitby Spa our hero worked (well – sort of) Exterior of the Whitby Spa Theatre. Shots of the band playing, including George Cummin on saxophone. Title: A gay life, but he got a bit lonely George Cummin sits on his own outside, getting a little bored. Title: So he took desperate measures George Cummin and Norah pose for photographs at their wedding, brushing away the confetti. They walk through the guests and again get showered in confetti. Group portrait of the newly-weds with family and friends [out of focus]. George and Norah kiss. Title: Our cameraman was supposed to take a general view of the guests, but he must have got among the beer. Erratic pan from left to right, the guests posing for a group portrait, but you can’t see them. Title: And so George took Norah to Whitby Norah and George sit on a bench at the sea front. Shots of the band musicians follow. Norah and George buy food. Norah window shops in Whitby. Title: Their very first visitors Friends of George and Norah visit Whitby and play table tennis in their swimsuits. The friends dive into an open-air swimming pool and swim together. They joke around for the camera. Title: Other visitors followed More visitors enjoy time strolling on the cliff tops and sitting at a café with the couple, probably parents. Title: And one day there were 10,000 visitors – though most of them came to the Regatta Probably the oldest regatta in the country, thousands watch from the quaysides at Whitby harbour as boats gather in the harbour in August. Rowing races take place and spectators are even sitting in boats at the sides of the harbour, bobbing around. Title: After the Regatta the season soon fades, and our pair had to make another move George Cummin places his saxophone case on an empty chair. Norah writes a title in her diary: “Brunnen Switzerland”. Title: In due course, they embarked at Dover for Ostende [sic] People stand on the deck of a steam ship bound for Ostend. Norah looks out on deck. General view of the white cliffs of Dover receding and a steam ship in the Channel. An arty shot of water speeding by follows, seen through the ship’s safety ring. General view of the ship’s arrival at Ostend. Norah boards a steam train. Title: Whence a fourteen-hour journey brought them right among the Swiss Alps General views of the Alps and mountain lakes. Title: From Brunnen it is a pleasant lake trip to Lucerne – a picturesque city Travelling shots from the boat of Lucerne. Various shots follow of Norah in Lucerne, a steam cruiser coming in to moor, the misty lake, majestic mountains, the architecture in the town, horse guards in helmets riding down a street, and a fountain. Title: The Cathedral Exterior of the Cathedral and more general views of the town follow. Title: This wall is flanked by nine ancient grey towers General view of a tower in the city walls. Title: Switzerland is a land of quaint towns – Morat, Fribourg, Stein-am-Rhein, Lugano – Travelling shots and general views of the towns and lake. Title: Berne, the capital, has an old world air. But its Bearpit is perhaps the greatest attraction. General view of a city street. Bears sit in a pit in the city. Norah teases them. A bear dances around for Norah. Title: At Lugano, after a hearty lunch, they climbed Mount San Salvatore Norah sits on a bench, eating al fresco. General view from a balcony of Mount San Salvatore. Title: But it started to rain, and after a quick glance at Italy, they came down by mountain railway. General view of a foggy valley. Travelling shots from the funicular railway carrying them down the mountain, back to Lugarno. Title: When our tourists had got over the long train journey from England, they went by rail – ordinary and mountain – to the Rhone Glacier Norah stands with other tourists waiting for a train. Travelling shots from the train carriage of mountains. Title: Returning over the 6,000 feet Grimsel Pass by postbus The bus waits for passengers high up in the mountains. Travelling shots of the twists and turns of the precarious mountain road. Norah stands looking over into the gorge. She throws snowballs towards the camera. Title: The road follows the river Aare, which has some waterfalls General views and close-ups of the waterfall, and river flowing through the gorge. Title: Perhaps the most famous falls are the Rhine Falls, to see which Norah and George took a trip on the Rhine A pleasure cruise boat arrives at a quayside. Norah is seated on the boat. Travelling shot from boat. George enjoys a drink and cigarette in the stern of the boat. General view of spectacular Rhine Falls. Norah looks out from a viewing platform. Title: An impressive spectacle, but the Rhine, rushing past, might be a symbol of all holidays, and their next trip is a 1,000-mile jaunt to ‘Home Sweet Home’. A steam train passes close by at night. Close-ups of signs for “Douane” and then “H.M. Customs”. General view of the Tyne Bridge on a foggy day, and a shot of the Swing Bridge from a train. The sign for No. 43 Bayswater Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, signals they are home. Title: The End