A promotional film produced by Turners Film Productions for Vaux and Associated Breweries Limited looking back on a year of sporting success across Scotland and Northern England sponsored by Vaux. The film is introduced by the Chairman of the company, Mr Douglas Nicholson and features horse racing from both Ayr, Teesside Park near Stockton-on-Tees and Redcar, grand prix cycling from Wolsingham in County Durham, basketball, speed ice skating, clay pigeon shooting, racing pigeons, coaching,...

A promotional film produced by Turners Film Productions for Vaux and Associated Breweries Limited looking back on a year of sporting success across Scotland and Northern England sponsored by Vaux. The film is introduced by the Chairman of the company, Mr Douglas Nicholson and features horse racing from both Ayr, Teesside Park near Stockton-on-Tees and Redcar, grand prix cycling from Wolsingham in County Durham, basketball, speed ice skating, clay pigeon shooting, racing pigeons, coaching, show jumping, hound racing and fell running. The film also features the 1967 Usher-Vaux Scottish Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year dinner and a visit to Bede College in Durham City to see young people in sports training. Title: Vaux 1967 Title: Vaux Encourage All Sport A montage of various sporting activities including cycling, rugby show jumping and steeplechase shown in negative over the following credit. Title: Vaux Sporting Events 1967 Credit: Produced by Turners Film Productions Newcastle upon Tyne Credit: Production Peter Brown, John Grant, Mike Harvey, Gordon Richards, Terry Huey, David Middleton. In charge of Production Brian Nichol Credit: Commentary by Frank Bough The film opens in the stable yard of Vaux Breweries in Sunderland. Title: Produced for Vaux and Associated Breweries Ltd Sunderland At the far end of the yard a farrier works to shoe a horse. Douglas Nicholason and one of his dogs walks through the stable yard. He feeds one of the horses before turning and introducing this 7th year of Vaux Sport in the North. Title: Usher-Vaux Scottish Sportsman of the Year Mr Nicholson presides over the annual dinner to present awards to outstanding Scottish sportsmen and sportswomen of the year. Winnie Shaw (Scottish tennis champion) wins the sportswoman of the year for the second time. Ronnie Shade (amateur golf champion) wins the Sportsman of the Year trophy. Title: Racing at Ayr Crowds gather in the stands for the Ayr May meeting. First race is the Usher-Vaux Scottish champion hunter’s steeplechase. The small field of runners lines up at the start and they’re off. A three mile race with 21 fences. After an exciting finish Balkan Green wins the race, with George Small in the saddle. Mr Paul Nicholson, presents the owner of Balkan Gteen, Mr Reid, with the Gold Tankard award. Ten runners line up for the Usher-Vaux Brewery Gold Tankard, the seventh race in the series. Sweet Story wins the race, with jockey Jimmy Etherington. Douglas Nicholson, chairman of Vaux, presents the Gold Tankard to the owner, the Duke of Roxburgh. Title: Grand Prix Cycle Race. Wolsingham Circuit The start of the Vaux Professional Grand Prix in Wolsingham, County Durham. British cyclists compete against top European riders. Michael Wright from Belgium is the favourite to win the race. Cyclists negotiate the moorland roads some of which climb up to a 1000 feet above sea level. Heading downhill towards Wolsingham at the end of the first circuit, they cross the bridge over the Wear as they head into the village. Bernard Burns leads the field as they ride through the village. He wins the difficult uphill stage (prime) to Hill End. Riders look weary. A group of four riders are now in front including Michael Wright and Arthur Metcalfe (Hartlepool Cycling Club) as they go through Hamsterley Forest. The rest of the cyclists are a minute behind. Another lap is completed as they come downhill towards Wolsingham. Halfway through lap three and the climb to Hill Top at the south end of the course puts five minutes between the leaders and the other riders. Wet cloths are handed to the riders as they commence the last thirty miles. Arthur Metcalfe of the Carlton Trade team, Colin Lewis and Michael Wright are the leaders in the final lap. Over the moorland and into the final mile, the leaders prepare to make the dash to the line. In an amazing sprint Michael Wright holds off the two British riders Arthur Metcalfe (second) and Colin Lewis (third). A winning time of 5 hours 34 mins and 38 secs and the crowd of 4000 see the proud winner with the winners sash and Gold Tankard. Title: Vaux School of Sport. Durham Dignitaries gather including the Mayor of Durham, councillor Williamson and the Mayoress at an open school of sport coaching. For one week participants can enjoy expert coaching in a wide range of sports. Canoeists demonstrate their new skills on the river as the distinguished party look on. The setting for the coaching sessions is Bede College and Durham University. Tennis players practice movement around the court. Out of 250 applicants, 50 boys and 50 girls are selected, between the ages of 17 and 20 all hoping to be top sportsmen and women or coaches. Rugby players get expert attention from Lyn Tatham, and practice their moves on the pitch. Hockey players practice controlling the ball in and around sticks placed in the ground at Maiden Castle. Vaux who sponsor the event are helped by the Council of Physical Recreation to run the week of courses. Girls undertake instruction from a coach followed by an energetic hockey match. Malcolm Cole teaches a group of young golfers expertise in stroke play. A rowing eight takes to the water watched by the coach. A perfect stroke as eight oars simultaneously hit the water and the boat progresses over a stretch of the Wear often used by Durham University rowing teams. Sprinters are put through their paces on the running track. Stan Patterson of Cleadon Archers coaches a group of youngsters at Bede College. The archers practice hitting the target. Off the university campus, canoeists and their coach brave the surf of the North Sea, on a particularly grey day Title: Basketball Stockton Sports Centre and a capacity crowd cheers in finalists in the Vaux Basketball Tournament for Northern Champions. Doncaster Panthers score two points in a quick break away, their opponents are Liverpool City Police and the second half is a closely fought contest. The Liverpool captain passes to Peter Vaux and he scores. Doncaster win back two points in the closing seconds after falling behind Liverpool. Peter Vaux scores for Liverpool again in the closing seconds of the match and the final score is Liverpool City Police 64 points, Doncaster Panthers 51 points. Liverpool are the Northern Champions. Title: Ice Speed Skating Another Northern team championship ice speed skating for the Vaux Gold Tankard. The teams in the final relay event are from Bradford, Altrincham and Durham. The Durham team is badly hit by injuries. Tony Hume for Altrincham, the British mile champion, goes into the lead reaching speeds of 25 mph. He wins the event for Altrincham and they remain the Northern champions. The ice rink in the footage is unidentified, but may be Durham City ice rink. Title: Racing at Teesside Park October 1967 and the Duchess of Kent opens the new National Hunt course at Teesside Park, its inaugural meeting. The reconfigured course will make Teesside Park one of the fastest steeplechase courses in the North. A ‘coach and four’ belonging to Mr Nicholson of Vaux are the first on the new course and first past the winning post. Prior to the White Rose Stake the Duchess of Kent mingles with the racegoers. Six runners line up for the Vaux Gold Tankard steeplechase, worth £1000 in prize money. Pawnbroker takes the lead and with 12 fences to jump. Shady Will moves into second place. Around a turn to the fourth fence and Pawnbroker leads by a length. Into the finishing straight and with a furlong to go Tilmoray is in the lead followed by Pawnbroker with Shady Will third. Tilmoray pulls away to win the Gold Tankard. The first tankard winner at Teesside Park. Title: Clay Pigeon Shooting Teesside is the venue for the sixth Vaux Gold Tankard Down the Line championship. The hosts are Wynyard Clay Pigeon Club and the competition attracts many entrants. The 1965 winner Alan Poskett is seen with his son. Before the main event the contestants shoot at five practice birds. The judge scores 3 for a first shot, 2 for a second. 20 international ‘guns’ have entered against the local marksmen. Six members of the local Billingham club have shot for England. The winner however is a Welshman with a total of 296 points. After clay pigeons, racing pigeons. A sign attached to the side of a building reads ‘Pigeon-en-Route to the Vaux/Usher International Pigeon Race from France on 1st July 1967’. A pigeon transporter lorry turns out of a street, the livery above the drivers cabin reading ‘Up North Combine’, In a field in the Loire Valley in France four transporters are parked next to a large number of stacked pigeon wicker baskets. The seals on the baskets are cut and 12,000 birds are released into the air to travel the 469 miles back to the North East. The film cuts to Easington Village, witha man coming out of his pigeon loft holding a bird. A second man approaches and is given the bird. The two men are brothers, Albert and Ronald Chapman, the winners of the Vaux Silver Tankard. The second man releases the bird which flies around and lands again back at the loft. Title: Coaching At the 1967 Durham County Show, Mr Nicholson, Chairman of Vaux Breweries, drives his coach before an admiring crowd. Behind him a parade of Vaux breweries horse drawn vehicles follows. Mr Nicholson takes his elegant coach and four for a final circuit of the arena Title: Show Jumping at the Royal Highland Show At Ingliston near Edinburgh the Royal Highland Show gets underway. Riders ride bare back on young ponies, this rodeo event being new at the show. Later, more traditionally, the jump off takes place in the Vaux Gold Tankard event, with many well known riders from Great Britain and  Ireland. Eight horses have reached the final and first into the arena is Seamus Hayes on Goodbye. He completes a clear round in 50 seconds. Next Ted Williams on Carnival but there are too many faults in his round, so chances of winning are remote. Next to ride is David Broome on Mr Softee and he wins the Gold Tankard with the fastest time, only four fifths of second faster than Goodbye. Mrs Ingle wife of the managing director of Usher-Vaux presents David Broome with the trophy. Title: Vaux Mountain Trial. Ullswater Howtown Hotel, Ullswater sees top British runners gather for the 1967 Vaux mountain trial. 76 runners take part in what may be the toughest endurance event in Britain. Top athletes such as Gordon Pirie the 1967 orienteering champion and former world record holder in the 5000 metres are there, helping to attract the spectators. 11 teams compete and as well as the Vaux Gold Tankard for the winner there are team prizes. Chris Brasher, Olympic gold medallist (and London Marathon founder) is also there. The course is 20 miles long, with 10,000 feet of hill climbing. First stage takes runners along Fusedale Beck. Donald Talbot takes things easy at the start. Hayeswater is halfway round the course and is at checkpoint four, and Gordon Pirie is the first runner through this stage. Close behind is Mike Davey winner of the trial in 1965. From Hayeswater the route moves over Place Fell to checkpoint five. John Disley Olympic bronze medallist passes through checkpoint four. This amateur competition has a history going back to 1952. Chris Brasher runs down hill to Angle Tarn, then it’s downhill on Hallin Fell to the finish. Gordon Pirie is the first to arrive with an official time of 3 hours 44 mins 3 secs. Mike Davey (North Devon Road Runners) is the outright winner by just over 2 mins. Chris Brasher (Olympic steeplechase champion in 1956) finishes ninth. The Gold Tankard is presented to Mike Davey and pints all round as the runners take well earned refreshment Title: Vaux International Hound Trail. Bassenthwaite Bassenthwaite is the start of the 10 mile circuit of the third Vaux Gold Tankard trail. 311 hounds have entered for the trail at Long Close Farm. Bookmakers take bets, and owners line up with their hounds, which are marked for identification. Many of these hounds are from Yorkshire and Ireland. A white flag drops and the hounds are off. Over and through the first fence then it’s open country. The trail that is put down is made from an aniseed mixture. Occasionally the hounds pick up the scent of an old trail, which leads to confusion, but eventually they’re again on the new trail and the race continues. Back at the finish officials and owners watch for the appearance of the hounds on the home run. Encouragement from the owners urges the dogs on to a final home run sprint. ‘Indiana’ is the winner, and a new world champion, as the hounds finish and are rewarded with food. Mr Paul Nicholson presents Mr Hassall, a Whitehaven hotelier and Indiana’s owner with the Gold Tankard. Title: Racing From Redcar John Rickman, racing commentator, welcomes us to Redcar and the 1967 Vaux Gold Tankard race. Horses participating include ‘Monticello’, ‘The Accuser’, ‘Farm Walk’, ‘Chicago’ and ‘Royal Falcon.’ Starting stalls are being used for the first time in the North of England. The horses are off. A quarter of a mile into the race, the horses settle into a comfortable gallop. Sea fret is making visibility difficult on parts of the course. ‘Showman’s Fair’, is leading along the far straight but the pace is slow. The race is over one and three quarter miles and until now all winners have been Newmarket runners. Inside the two furlong marker and the Yorkshire trained ‘Farm Walk’ has the lead, being chased by ‘Chicago’ and ‘Red Rumour’. A furlong to go and ‘Farm Walk’ accelerates all the way to the finish line and victory. ‘Chicago’ trained by Harry Wragg, who as a trainer has won the Gold Tankard four times, is second and ‘Red Rumour’ third. Lionel Brown the jockey on ‘Farm Walk’ gets a tremendous welcome in the winners’ enclosure as it’s the first time a horse trained in the North has won the Gold Tankard. Mr Nicholson presents the winning owner, William Barker, with the Gold Tankard. End Title: Vaux Encourage All Sports