This tongue-in-cheek promotional film was produced for the North East Region of the Institute of Amateur Cinematographers (NERIAC), which hosted the national IAC Annual General Meeting and film festival in Newcastle in October 1987.  It was written and directed by Michael Gough, a member of the Newcastle & District Amateur Cinematographers’ Association. Includes time-lapse footage of South Shields-born animator Sheila Graber at work. Title: Geordie Jubilee Newcastle upon Tyne The film...

This tongue-in-cheek promotional film was produced for the North East Region of the Institute of Amateur Cinematographers (NERIAC), which hosted the national IAC Annual General Meeting and film festival in Newcastle in October 1987.  It was written and directed by Michael Gough, a member of the Newcastle & District Amateur Cinematographers’ Association. Includes time-lapse footage of South Shields-born animator Sheila Graber at work. Title: Geordie Jubilee Newcastle upon Tyne The film opens with a general view of the Tyne Bridge from the Gateshead side, looking towards the Quayside market. “Welcome to Northumbria and to the Annual General Meeting of the IAC.” Next, there is a general view of Grey’s Monument from Grey Street, framed by a column of the Newcastle Theatre Royal to the right, the National Westminster Bank building on the right. “…which in October 1987 is being held here, Newcastle upon Tyne, the bustling commercial heart of the North East.” General view of Northumberland Street lined with shops and busy with shoppers, a yellow Corporation bus making its way out of frame. The director of the film, Michael Gough, dressed in bowler hat, suit and tie as an outraged posh London city gent. “The North East! You expect me to go to the North East! Good grief! Why should I go there? What has the North East got to offer me?” A woman dressed in a tartan waistcoat and skirt poses for the camera in the front garden of a modern stone house. “The North East? A dunna ken what’s that done for me.” An actor dressed as a Welsh miner poses with a sledge hammer in front of a pithead wheel. “I can’t think what the North East has to offer me boyo.” Another man, dressed as an Irish farmer in a tweed hat, poses in front of a stone barn. “Ah to be sure sir. I’m sure I’m not sure, sir.” General view of Marsden Rock on a sunny day. The narrator: “Well, I am sure that the North East and its people have already given a great deal to the world.” General view of a marina (location unknown) as a small boat sails in. “And can still provide for all the delights a visitor could wish for.” General views of Penshaw Monument on Penshaw Hill, between the districts of Washington and Houghton-le-Spring, and people strolling along Hadrian’s Wall. “It was on holiday here from Rome, long ago, that the Emperor Hadrian thought of his idea for coast-to-coast walling to keep us all snug and warm.” A man (in a false grey beard) poses as Joseph Swan, a British physicist and chemist, most famous for inventing the first incandescent light bulb. He sits at his desk flashing an electric light bulb on and off gleefully. Close-up of television screen, running a video of The Rocket (1929), an amateur film by James Cameron of the Newcastle Amateur Cinematographers' Association about the building of a replica of Robert Stephenson's Rocket to mark the engines centenary, and the trial run outside the North Road Works of its builders; Robert Stephenson & Co. Ltd of Darlington on the 25th May 1929. “George Stephenson at Wylam: he invented the forerunner of the intercity 125.” Still of Jarrow Crusade. “And it could be claimed that we even invented the sport of long distance walking.” General views of the Tyne Bridge. General view of a docked tanker and dockside crane on the Tyne. “High above the waters of the River Tyne, our famous engineers tried out their Mark one version of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. While in the dockyard of our local river, ships of all sizes have been designed and built for generations.” A fire burns in the grate of an old cast iron cooking range. A woman in white apron and bonnet with black dress takes out a freshly baked Stottie cake from the oven. This is possibly an interior scene at Beamish Museum. An old man measures the girth of some very fat leeks on display at a show. “The leeks. The biggest leeks in all the world. Boiled leek, leek pudding, leek soup, dried leeks, leek dumplings, curried leeks. Leeks with everything.” The leek show takes place in Easington. A few men sit round a pub table drinking and playing dominoes, (all members of the Newcastle & District ACA). “Plus, the cheap brewed ales. Fine vintage, it is. Poured down from hand to mouth. “ General views of Durham Cathedral and Bamburgh Castle. “Here you’ll find a majestic stronghold of our Christian heritage. Here, film directors have found exciting locations for their films, like Beckett and Macbeth.” A man sits in a dimly room watching television. “Television locations: The Likely Lads, Auf Wiedersehen Pet, oh, and When the Boat Comes In.” A Newcastle & District ACA member, amateur filmmaker George Cummin sits editing film in a spare bedroom, splicing film together at a desk piled high with cans of film, piles of books stacked against the wall. Publicity stills of Dame Flora Robson, Catherine Cookson, Steve Cram (?), Paul Daniels, Alan Price, Bryan Ferry, Sting. Next there is a time-lapse sequence of South Shields-born animator Sheila Graber at work on hand painted cels of a cat cartoon, then filming on a rostrum camera. An example of Sheila’s work follows: a cartoon cat winks. A group of Newcastle & District Amateur Cinematographers’ Association members and their children pose for a group portrait on Newcastle Quayside, the Swing Bridge and Tyne Bridge in the background. One of the members speaks into a microphone: “And if you come and join us here at Newcastle upon Tyne in October 1987, we’ll introduce you to the sights and the sounds and the people of the north east. And we’ll give you the finest Geordie welcome in the world.” The group cheer, one waving a placard reading “Hello Mum”. Title: Geordie Jubilee Newcastle upon Tyne (printed on beermat). Title: October 22nd. – 25th. 1987