An amateur cinemagazine compilation of events and street scenes around Newcastle upon Tyne and Tyneside between 1929 and 1935, documented by members of Newcastle and District Amateur Cinematographers Association (ACA). Credit: ACA logo Title: A Cine Gazette Title: Newcastle-on-Tyne Street Scenes General view from southern end of the Swing Bridge, Gateshead and Newcastle upon Tyne, including the Tyne Bridge. Overhead view of market stalls and large crowds of people at the Quayside Sunday...

An amateur cinemagazine compilation of events and street scenes around Newcastle upon Tyne and Tyneside between 1929 and 1935, documented by members of Newcastle and District Amateur Cinematographers Association (ACA). Credit: ACA logo Title: A Cine Gazette Title: Newcastle-on-Tyne Street Scenes General view from southern end of the Swing Bridge, Gateshead and Newcastle upon Tyne, including the Tyne Bridge. Overhead view of market stalls and large crowds of people at the Quayside Sunday market, ships moored the length of the Quayside on a foggy morning. A crowd of young boys and older men in flat caps stand around a fast food stall. Views across the Tyne, looking upstream, of the High Level Bridge and Swing Bridge, sun glinting on the water, the bridges shadowed in mist. A man hops onto the back of a horse-drawn omnibus in the High Level Bridge area as it drives off under an iron railway bridge with an advertising hoarding for Nestles. Several men are hitching a ride on the back of the omnibus (known as a “penny brake”). Beside the bridge there are advertisements for Farole and Andrews Liver Salts. A reverse shot shows the horse-pulled trolley bus emerging on the other side of the bridge towards camera, the Castle Garage located in one of the railway arches, and Castle Keep in the background. General views of trolley buses, a cyclist, pedestrians and roadside barrow stall, customers in flat caps, on a bustling Market Street looking towards Pilgrim Street and the corner building of Carliol House. A trolley bus passes in the background advertising Dewars. General view of Grainger Street looking towards Grey’s Monument, a trolley bus and barrow cart in the street. General view of the Paramount Cinema (later the Odeon) on a busy Pilgrim Street, advertising the film “The Lives of a Bengal Lancer” (released in 1935) starring Gary Cooper. General view of another busy shopping street in Newcastle, filled with men and women, trolley buses (one advertising Dewars and Bovril), cars and delivery vans. Many of the women pedestrians are in cloche hats. A woman passes by (close to camera), her arms filled with flowers. An old woman flowers seller, clutching a small bunch of flowers in her hand, stands near a flower stall and stares stoically at the camera. A young girl is also standing nearby clutching flowers. The market stalls, stretching along the street, are busy with people. Customers buy plants, flowers and vegetables at the stalls and from roaming basket sellers, probably on Green Market. There are close shots of several female sellers at their stalls. Close-up of a crate full of puppies for sale. General views of fruit sellers, near Leazes Park or Bigg Market, crates piled high on the roadside, barrows and carts lining the street. Many of the people are aware of the filmmaker and stare directly towards the camera with serious expressions. Title: Temperance Festival on the Town Moor, Newcastle-on-Tyne, June, 1931 General view of showman’s caravans, and fairground rides in the background such as the helter-skelter. A large crowd of children and adults are gathered around a galloper ride. A crowd of mostly men, many in flat caps, are gathered outside the Len Johnson boxing booth. Lots of small children stand on the steps of a steam powered switchback ride to watch. More children are gathered at a show booth. School boys stand and stare towards the camera as the crowd moves along one of the main Hoppings avenues, with rides either side. Another small crowd is outside the show booth advertising ‘The Royal Dots’, which may refer to dancer Dorothy Ward and her troupe. A freak show booth advertises ‘Mary Ann Bevan The Ugliest Woman on Earth’, who also worked for the Barnum and Bailey Show in the USA. A traditional carousel turns swiftly, and a couple watch the Caterpillar ride, a form of switchback. Children enjoy rides on the dodgems. The Hoppings has drawn a large crowd who stroll down the central avenue of stalls, people milling around the Giant Racer ride, a steel racing coaster. Children buy ice creams at the Risis Ices stall. There are shots of the Swish ride spinning rapidly, the traditional galloper carousel, and the Chair-O-Plane (or swing ride). A man and child are working one of the ‘knock-em-down’ game stalls. Another stall attracting a lot of attention has a bank of clocks, the hands turning crazily backwards. A family take a break from the rides and eat and drink at a food stall. People watch a child’s ride in motion. A young girl is selling novelty items. Madame Florence, Society Palmist, waits for clients at her booth. Fairground families are fixing an engine at their trailer. A little boy from a showman family carries a plate of food from their caravan. Further shots follow of stalls, the popular dodgems, the carousel lit up at night. Ping pong balls bob on water fountain streams at another game stall. Night shots of the Hoppings fair close the sequence. Still of a poster for the Northern Command Tattoo, which took place at Ravensworth Castle, Lamesley, Gateshead, 1934, in aid of civil and military charities and welfare. Massed bands of the Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders march forward led by drum majors and drummers in the grounds of Ravensworth Castle. Massed troops of the Durham Light Infantry perform choreographed physical exercises. Soldiers in period costumes carrying muskets take part in a battle re-enactment. Soldiers of the Royal Corps of Signals perform exciting motorcycle stunts, leaping over fire. At night, smoke billows from the battlements of Ravensworth Castle during a mock fire drill. Soldiers re-enact the battle at Rorke’s Drift during the Zulu War. The Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders Pipers Band march by camera. A costumed performance commemorates the visit of the Duke of Wellington, entertained by Lord and Lady Ravensworth (of the coal-owning Liddell family) in October 1827. Title: “… It isn’t often that Tyneside gets a break in these days of the deep dark depression, But to-day we are in luck …” A group of men and women stand at a hotel entrance. Overhead shot of a great crowd below the Plaza Palace terrace at Tynemouth Long Sands beach waving up at the camera, there to welcome American cinema comedy duo Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. A suave presenter speaks into a microphone held by his colleague in front of an Evening Chronicle poster that advertises “Laurel & Hardy at the Plaza, Tynemouth, 3pm To-day.” Title: “We are going to welcome those two bright comets of the comedy constellation, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy …” Laurel and Hardy emerge from the Plaza Palace Hotel. Some of the many children waiting on the sea front for the comedy duo are laughing and waving to camera. Laurel and Hardy take their seats on the Plaza Hotel terrace overlooking the beach. Title: Just look at the people who have come from far and near to pay tribute to the Comedy Kings …” Overhead shot of a crowd of hundreds, many of them poor children who have been gifted a day at the coast through the Chronicle Sunshine Fund. Title: “… Now – They’re going to let STANLEY sing!” On the terrace, Laurel and Hardy improvise some of their screen role gags, culminating in Laurel’s characteristic crying routine. A crowd of children wave to camera. Stan Laurel says thank you and blows kisses to the welcoming crowd. The comics sit down. They sign autographs for some of the children. In the next footage, there are various shots of neon signs at night in Newcastle including the Queen’s Hall on Northumberland Street, the premier Gaumont theatre in Newcastle. Buses drive along the street at night. The cinema advertises “Sanders of the River” (released 1935) starring Paul Robeson. A few cinema goers walk past the ticket booth into the cinema. Neon lights advertise the Paramount Cinema on Pilgrim Street, “Last Crazy Week Now Here” and “The Stage Balmy Days”. Various shots follow of shop window displays in the city centre at night. A glitter ball turns inside a large dance hall. Lights play on a dark ballroom floor where couples are dancing, women in long gowns, lit up intermittently by the ballroom spotlights. A band plays at the ballroom. More shots of couples dancing follow. Heavy snow and sleet falls on a Newcastle street, street sellers still doing business in the poor weather. A man drives a horse-drawn cart down the street, past Henderson’s Costumes shop. Two men are trying to deliver coal from a horse-drawn cart on a snowy street. A group of small boys in Wellington boots are shovelling up piles of snow. Traffic drives by the Church of St Thomas the Martyr on Barras Bridge. A man shovels a path in the snow outside a shop, piles of snow in mounds on the roadside. A man tips another pile of snow on the roadside as other men continue to shovel. Men are working on the football pitch at St James Park, terraces in the background. Rows of metal drums and lit braziers stand around the pitch, a wheeled cart carrying small logs also parked on the ground, which is strewn with straw. It looks like they are trying to thaw the snow so a match can take place at the ground. Men are piling onto the terraced stands at St James Park football ground, Newcastle, before a match. The terraces are packed. The Newcastle United football team emerge from the players’ tunnel, followed by the opposing team. Footage of the football match against Arsenal follows. Children walk and skate on a frozen lake in Leazes Park (or perhaps Paddy Freeman’s Park) Ducks and geese are paddling and gathered around the one hole in the ice.  A woman in a muffler and skirt skates around the pond, watched by the kids. A man in knickerbockers twirls around, showing off his skills. The pair skate together, trying a few moves. The man instructs the woman on a skating move. As the sun sinks behind the trees, men practice ice hockey on the frozen lake Title: The End