Miscellaneous amateur film footage from the 1950s and 1960s in the collection of the Newcastle & District Amateur Cinematographers Association (ACA). Includes outtakes of a Durham Miners’ Gala in the late 50s and the Centenary of the Blaydon Races in 1962, and surreal staged scenes (suggested as “dreams”) including a chess game in a suburban road between two women, which may be sequences from ACA film production shoots. Title: Bits and Pieces A huge crowd gathers at the old Durham...

Miscellaneous amateur film footage from the 1950s and 1960s in the collection of the Newcastle & District Amateur Cinematographers Association (ACA). Includes outtakes of a Durham Miners’ Gala in the late 50s and the Centenary of the Blaydon Races in 1962, and surreal staged scenes (suggested as “dreams”) including a chess game in a suburban road between two women, which may be sequences from ACA film production shoots. Title: Bits and Pieces A huge crowd gathers at the old Durham racecourse during a late 1950s Miners Gala, men and women sporting a variety of hats: sombrero, cowboy hats, and fake police hats. Women are wearing 50s dirndl skirts and pedal pushers. A vendor is selling painted balloons. A blue, white and red flag flies from a flagpole. A woman clutching a handbag (thought to be Norah Cummin) examines a flowery bush. General views of a castle (late 19th century), a river and an obelisk on an ancient hill mound, filmed in 1955. The next shots record the Centenary of the Blaydon Races in 1962. A man speaks through a loud hailer. A group of guests are gathered at one of the week-long events including the Mayor of Newcastle George Jacobson and Centenary Queen Sheila McFarlane, and a man wearing a rosette. The next brief shot is of men with fake Edwardian moustaches and sideburns in white shirts and black bow ties, like a barbershop quartet, possibly in Balmbra's public house in Cloth Market, Newcastle. A very brief shot of the Blaydon Races painting follows. Spectators line a path on the Town Moor.  A very brief shot follows of women dressed in costumes of flat men’s caps and crocheted shawls.  Someone is conducting a music hall sing-song. A police officer on horseback is standing in the midst of a large crowd. Families are picnicking on grass. A crowd are gathered listening to someone speak. Another brief shot shows a portion of the Blaydon Races painting. Overhead shot of a very large crowd, possibly somewhere along the Scotswood Road, an iron gantry and the River Tyne in the background.  A second brief shot of the Blaydon Races painting follows. A crowd packs into a street, possibly near Balmbra's public house in Cloth Market, Newcastle. An audience is seated in the Newcastle ACA headquarters in Ship’s Entry, Newcastle. Two women are at the front of the room blowing up balloons and hanging decorations in a Christmas stage set, whilst a cameraman films them. The audience laugh at the performance, three young men with quiffs chatting in one of the rows. In the next scene, a woman is standing on a bridge over small lake, (possibly St James Park, London). A car drives out of a car park. The next shot is a travelling shot down a Northumbrian country road. A red Vauxhall Victor car has crashed into a stone wall off a T Junction. A signpost in the background points to Allensford. Travelling shot down narrow country roads. A filmmaker parks up his car in The Square, Blanchland, Northumberland, and changes a reel of film in a black bag. Vignette shot of The Square, part of which is fortified. This may be an outtake from the ACA production of ‘Country Cottage’. Fade in shot of a woman seated on a rustic bench in a garden, a book in her lap. Fade out. The woman peers over a garden fence. Shot of chickens in and out of a chicken run. In the next shot, a man appears to be giving first aid to a man prone and face down on a lawn. Shot of a saw resting on some steps. A man (George Cummin) seems to be counting out seconds. Another amateur filmmaker walks up and shows him his packet of Kodachrome film. Close-up of Cummin tapping his own packet of Kodachrome. The first man bows to filmmaker George Cummin. Close-up of rocks. Close-up of a man and woman’s eyes. General view of the country pub, Bee Hive Inn, Earsdon, on the border of North Tyneside and Northumberland. Using trick photography, the woman (seen previously) appears in a farmhouse hallway. She looks around. In the kitchen, she picks up a plaice (fish) from a July 1965 calendar page. A mixing bowl appears on the sink suddenly. A farmer and his wife are letting two calves lick their fingers. A herd of cows are roaming around a field, a farmhouse in the background. A group of men and women are having a picnic around a low table. A woman dressed in a Robin Hood type costume attempts to fire an arrow. Still of a page that reads: “Mony A Mickle Maks A Muckle  [Scottish phrase that means something like “many little things add up to a lot”.] Two women are playing a game of chess on a coffee table in the road outside their house. Another woman walking along the street stops to suggest the next move. She is shooed away. An amateur filmmaker lays on the pavement filming the scene with a cine camera on a tripod, legs splayed flat, whilst a man with a clapperboard stands next to him. A man wakes up the woman dozing on the rustic bench in a back garden. Title: The End