This film by amateur filmmaker Raymond James Paiton shows members of the Northumbrian Motor Club taking part in their annual club driving tests and trials. Many of his films document car rallies, some hosted with friends, and vintage vehicle restoration, one of his main interests. He was runner up in the eighty mile circular Allendale Rally in 1954. Both he and his wife Molly (Amelia) were rally drivers. Other home movies in the collection feature family members including Cragside: Town Moor:...

This film by amateur filmmaker Raymond James Paiton shows members of the Northumbrian Motor Club taking part in their annual club driving tests and trials. Many of his films document car rallies, some hosted with friends, and vintage vehicle restoration, one of his main interests. He was runner up in the eighty mile circular Allendale Rally in 1954. Both he and his wife Molly (Amelia) were rally drivers. Other home movies in the collection feature family members including Cragside: Town Moor: Beach and Picnic; Rothbury Show. The majority of the films were made between 1949 and 1961, a time of rapid change within British society.
Paiton was born in Manchester in 1917 and moved to Newcastle upon Tyne when his father, an engineer, acquired a job at Ferranti in Walkergate, which later became Parsons. He won a scholarship to attend Heaton Grammar School ad studied dentistry at Newcastle University. He married shortly before his military service during World War Two when he was posted to India and Burma to treat British troops. Against orders, he also treated Japanese prisoners of war as he couldn’t bear to see anyone in pain. They made him presents out of old shell cases to thank him.
After the war, Raymond and Molly settled into married life in Ponteland and Holmwood, Woodland Park, Wideopen, with two children, Michael and Barbara, who feature in his home movies. He had a dental practice in Wallsend, working until the age of 75. In addition to his filmmaking activities, he restored vintage cars and motorbikes. In the attic of his dental surgery, he discovered and restored a 1909 Wilkinson TAC luxury touring motorcycle produced by Wilkinson Sword before the First World War, which was sold back to the company and displayed at their headquarters. As a musician playing the guitar, clarinet and saxophone he played in a band into his nineties. His son Michael rebelled against following the family tradition of a career in dentistry and became a musician, playing with a then unknown Gordon Sumner (aka Sting) in one local band. Raymond loved to travel around the world, but Northumberland was his favourite place, which can be seen within these films.
The Northumbrian Motor Club was formed by Raymond and his friends from the remnants of the Newcastle and District Motor Club. They would rent out places to gather for social evenings where they would hand out trophies and have an evening meal, usually of pie. They organised rallies, speed trials, and hill climbs that took place in Wallsend Dene, as shown in the footage. Similar clubs are still around to this day like the ‘MG Northumbria’ Motor Club, formed in 1991, which also do vehicle shows and rallies as well as fundraising such as castle runs . The driving tests that are shown in this film are also known as auto tests and these consist of a series of time manoeuvrability tests as well as penalties for certain driver errors .
The time trial event shown in this film takes place at Gosforth Park, the current location for Newcastle Racecourse, a Marriott Hotel, two golf courses, a garden centre and a football centre. It is also home to Gosforth Nature Reserve. Interestingly, up until the 1950s, tramcars came into the park on race days through a special gate that was connected to the then A1 Great North Road .
The history of the motor car begins in the early 1890s, for instance, in 1896 John Henry Knight of Farnham built a four-wheeled petrol engine car . Originally early motor vehicle development in the UK had been stopped by a series of Locomotive Acts introduced during the 19th century. These acts severely restricted the use of mechanically propelled vehicles on public highways . However by 1960 this had changed with the UK being the world’s third largest motor vehicle producer. In 1955 there were five companies that produced 90% of the UK’s motor vehicle output, these being: BMC, Ford, Rootes, Standard-Triumph and Vauxhall . Recently in 2015 there were close to 1.6 million vehicles being built of which over 75% were being exported overseas . This demonstrates how the British motor vehicle industry has developed over the years.
In 1932 Kodak introduced standard 8mm film stock during the Great Depression in America as a cheap alternative to 16mm, and this became popular for amateurs. The technology was still relatively expensive, especially before World War Two, so it was usually only accessible to the most affluent in society . Over the next twenty years the 8mm film format became more common and was at its height recording special events and family gatherings throughout the 1950s . Paiton filmed in colour using Kodachrome reversal film, available from 1935 in 16mm film stock and a little later for standard 8mm.
https://mgnorthumbria.weebly.com/club-history.html
https://www.mgcc.co.uk/motorsport/autotests/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gosforth_Park
https://www.insurethegap.com/articles/a-brief-history-of-car-manufacturing-in-britain
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_industry_in_the_United_Kingdom#1955_to_1968
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_industry_in_the_United_Kingdom#1955_to_1968
https://www.insurethegap.com/articles/a-brief-history-of-car-manufacturing-in-britain
http://courierarchive.ncl.ac.uk/sites/default/files/1954-02-11.pdf
http://www.rutlandproductions.co.uk/history-cinefilm/
http://www.rutlandproductions.co.uk/history-cinefilm/