This is a film from the Noel Beardsell Collection of a holiday on the coast of the Lowlands of Scotland just before the outbreak of the Second World War. Intertitle – "Further outlook - unsettled" said both the air ministry and the foreign office as we steamed northward . . . but we resolved to risk it. A train pulls away from a station, and the journey is filmed from on board the train.   Intertitle – The youthful outlook is seldom overcast. David and Peter sit in a carriage...

This is a film from the Noel Beardsell Collection of a holiday on the coast of the Lowlands of Scotland just before the outbreak of the Second World War. Intertitle – "Further outlook - unsettled" said both the air ministry and the foreign office as we steamed northward . . . but we resolved to risk it. A train pulls away from a station, and the journey is filmed from on board the train.   Intertitle – The youthful outlook is seldom overcast. David and Peter sit in a carriage where they read comics (possibly the Beano and a Mickey Mouse comic).  They pass over a bridge, past an industrial area (possibly Newcastle), and then along the coast overlooking the sea. The pass over a long viaduct and over another bridge. Intertitle – And the outlook from "Ebba Strand" was well worth the effort to reach it. There is a view over the bay, and then their holiday house.  They sit and have breakfast which includes cornflakes. Intertitle – Coldingham Bay looked its best in the morning Beardsell stands in the garden where he looks through a large pair of binoculars on a tripod.  Peter clambers down some rocks to the sea, and his father watches him through the binoculars.  The family relax on the beach where other families sit and swim in the sea. Intertitle – Onlookers see most of the game - but bathing must be enjoyed on the spot. Lots of people are paddling and swimming in the sea. Intertitle – Sun-bathing offered the photographer some charming "exposures". A man goes around with a camera, taking photos of some of those sunbathing in their swimming costumes. Intertitle – Then distant gun-fire on the Firth of Forth drove sinister intruders among the bathers. Some small squid wash up on the shore, and everyone gathers around to see them. Intertitle – Even in those August days there were menacing shapes in the dark waters of the North Sea. Intertitle – But gathering clouds could not obscure the promise of happy days to come. The film ends with a rainbow which can be seen on the horizon.