Bede College, Durham University, educational department's record of school children's local studies lessons. The opening shot is of a display board of maps and diagrams entitled The Work A Day World of Dalton in Furness'. Cumbria. Title: [A heading on a classroom notice board] ‘The Work A Day World of Dalton-In-Furness’ The notice board is covered with the work of the class showing maps, graphs and other documents. Children, all boys work diligently at their desks, a...

Bede College, Durham University, educational department's record of school children's local studies lessons. The opening shot is of a display board of maps and diagrams entitled The Work A Day World of Dalton in Furness'. Cumbria. Title: [A heading on a classroom notice board] ‘The Work A Day World of Dalton-In-Furness’ The notice board is covered with the work of the class showing maps, graphs and other documents. Children, all boys work diligently at their desks, a teacher is on hand to give assistance on a local history project. A close view shows the contents of a page of a pupil’s workbook. The film moves outside to a large three storey stone-built building with windows on each storey. The building is thought to be Low Mill, a former cotton mill in Ulverston now a leather tannery. The film shows workmen at benches working with the animal skins which will be refined into leather. In another part of the building are large vats of liquid, where workers walk across boards mounted between the vats. Other workmen manhandle soaking skins into rolling machines. The skins are then hung from wooden frames. Two women take some dried skins and hang then from a wooden frame next to a window. The film cuts back to the classroom and the boys at work. The film then moves to another working environment where a man measures a large piece of stone on a flatbed cutting machine. An overhead rotary saw cuts the stone lubricated by water. The location is thought to be the Burlington Stone company based in Kirby in Furness. General view follow of other parts of the workshop. A man cleaves through a piece of slate he’s working on. Another worker trims a roof slate using a special bench and tool to produce straight edges. In the classroom a boy points to an item on the notice board, while he talks to the rest of the class. A static view shows the notice board with pupils’ submissions. A table in front of the board has various items on display. A drawing on the notice board depicts a roof slate cutter. The film returns to the slate works showing a worker cleaving more sections from a single stone. Another workman cuts these thin sections again to create an ideal thickness for roof tiles. The film returns briefly to the drawing of the roof slate cutter. Returning to the classroom another boy reads to the class from his workbook. The film moves on to show a Volkswagen camper van entering a compound under the supervision of a man in uniform who signals the driver to stop. He checks a document handed to him by a passenger and then waves them on. This and the next section of film are thought to be based at Barrow-in-Furness shipyard. The film then shows a workman using a screwdriver on a piece of equipment he has in his hand. Another change of scene shows a man sitting on a raised steel plate, welding. The film then moves on to a woodwork workshop. A view of a metal workshop shows large cylinder structures lying on their sides. The film moves back to the classroom where another pupil reads to the class from his workbook. The film moves on to show a busy open plan office then it moves to the shipyard entrance when the workers leave in huge numbers into the street at the end of the day by foot, bicycle or motorcycle. The film then shows shipyard cranes in the distance. As the view pulls back from the cranes there are views of allotments, back gardens of houses and the cranes in the distance. Children play in what looks like junk pile or waste tip at the base of a hill. Two children carry the remains of an old spring mattress or bed. Others pick up stones and other pieces of rubbish to throw. A group play with a football, which then evolves into something that looks more like a rugby match. The film goes back to a classroom view, but not the same class as seen earlier. This class has produced pictures of fish for their notice board including different species such as John Dory, Sea Scorpion and Sunfish. The film cuts to a boy standing in front of a large street plan or map. He has a large piece of paper resting on the map and a pen in his hand. An interior view of a steelworks follows, thought to be Barrow Steelworks Ltd. The film shows a large vessel presumably holding molten steel. Two men operate controls in cramped conditions. Two large sections of hot steel are fed into a cutting mill. The cut sections are moved automatically along a conveyor system and then pushed or ‘parked’ next to each other. Large strips of still glowing metal are man handled into a machine for cutting or other processing. Another machine rapidly pushes out strips of hot metal which snakes its way across the workshop floor. A view from the countryside gives a panoramic view of buildings some of which may be industrial. The film cuts back to the boy standing in front of a map [some over exposure],the film ends with no credits.