This amateur film shows pupils and staff from Percy Hedley School in Newcastle on a hostelling holiday to western Scotland in 1975. The film opens with a member of the school staff standing next to the school building; he walks to one of the school mini-buses which is parked nearby. Two other staff members walk out from the school building to the same bus A change of scene shows a different school bus parked next to a single storey café. Members of staff stand at the rear doors of the bus...

This amateur film shows pupils and staff from Percy Hedley School in Newcastle on a hostelling holiday to western Scotland in 1975. The film opens with a member of the school staff standing next to the school building; he walks to one of the school mini-buses which is parked nearby. Two other staff members walk out from the school building to the same bus A change of scene shows a different school bus parked next to a single storey café. Members of staff stand at the rear doors of the bus remove luggage and other items. A side view of another bus reveals some information about its origins. The words ‘Present By Variety Club of Great Britain, appear on the passenger door, the charity the Variety Club of Great Britain presented the bus to the school. The vehicles are named by the club as ‘Variety Club Sunshine Coaches’ which also appears on the side of the vehicle as does the word ‘Ambulance’. A passenger in wheelchairs is taken from the first bus seen earlier at the café. From the Variety Club bus, wheelchair passengers leave by a platform lift at the rear. All the passengers gather in the café car park. Next a change of venue at another car park where all three buses from the school stand next to each other, two dark blue buses and one Variety Club bus, in the background a line of tall trees in full leaf. The passengers gather in small groups next to each bus. At the rear of the Variety Club coach, a kettle boils on a small stove placed the platform lift, watched over by a member of staff. In one of the other coaches a boy sits on his own at the rear of the coach with the doors open, he smiles at the camera. General views show staff and pupils milling around chatting amongst themselves, or giving assistance to those who need it. The film cuts to a large white light grey stone-built house, one of the youth hostels the school is staying at in Scotland. The school party is preparing a trip from the youth hostel. Pupils and staff mill around the buses while arrangements are made and pupils wait to board the buses. A phantom passenger view follows of a loch surrounded by mountains. The visitors stop at an open grass area bordering Loch Fyne. Their destination is Inverary and the buses are parked near the town’s Argyll Hotel. The pupils gather on the grass to play games or look at the view. A statue of a soldier on a plinth stands as a war memorial next to the loch. The bridge in the distance is Inverary bridge. Some of the staff sit on a park bench near the buses and prepare sandwiches and other snacks. Two of the pupils try the public viewing scope at the edge of the loch. Seagulls fly low looking for food as some of the children mill around, one has an open packet of crisps. A change of view follows showing the three buses parked on narrow country road. Another stretch of open water comes into view, bordered by tree-covered hills. The group has made their way to the Isle of Seil which is 12 miles south of Oban. A view follows of the old stone Clachan Bridge which connects the island with the mainland in Argyll, popularly called 'The Bridge Over The Atlantic Ocean' or 'Atlantic Bridge’ one of the buses drives over followed by the other two buses. The convoy stops outside the whitewashed ‘Tigh a Truish Hotel’ which is not far from the bridge. The name means The House of Trousers, as after the Jacobite Risings in Scotland when kilts were banned, the islanders were reputed to change out of their kilts and into trousers or ‘trews’ at the house, before going to the mainland. The film shows the school group making their way on foot down a roadway past single storey houses. A view of a steep hillside follows which is covered in shattered rock from a cliff face above. Members of the group try to make their way over the broken rock in an attempt to reach the cliff face above, most seem to stop on the treacherous broken rock. A change of view shows a jetty where cars are parked, where a few of the children explore. Some clamber over an outcrop of rock jutting out into open water. Some of the children including those in wheelchairs look out onto some derelict staithes or remains of an old jetty. The view changes to show a mountain rising in the distance, with whitewashed buildings in front. A track between two walls heads towards the buildings, some of the children walk along it towards the camera. Out on the open sea, a small motorboat passes in front of the camera. General views follow showing children and some of the staff exploring a rocky shoreline. One of the pupils throws some large lumps of rock into the sea. A member of staff appears on camera he points at locations off-camera, while speaking. A couple of the children are in swimming costumes. Some of the others try to gather one of them up in a tarpaulin and carry him along the beach down to the sea’s edge. They succeed in getting him wet, but he escapes and runs off. Some of the children and at least one member of staff join some other holidaymakers who are trampolining. An area near a beach car park has a number of trampolines set into the ground so that users can walk on and walk off, without the inconvenience of clambering onto one at waist height. One of the children in a wheelchair tries going down an incline which leads to the beach. His wheelchair comes to a dead stop when it hits the sand at the bottom and the boy is thrown out. He manages to get back on, and starts to make is his way back up. In a car park, in dull overcast weather, the hostellers all gather together and pose for the camera, and then they all applaud. A few staff members gather near one of the buses, one tries to tempt some adventurous seagulls flying overhead to take bits of food from his hand. Some of the others nearby try to do the same. The film cuts a view of one of the buses parked on a coast road. From the pavement, the film shows the other two buses driving past the camera. In the background, a large ship or ferry crosses open water. The film moves to a large field and a pole similar to a flagpole with a number of guy ropes tethering it to the ground. A number of pupils from the school gather next to it. However their attention is diverted when a football appears and an impromptu football game begins, some of the staff join in the game. Beyond the field are views of open water and hills in the background. The view changes to another field or park in an urban location. A number of pupils stand in line behind a wheelchair passenger in preparation for a race. The race begins and finishes very quickly. The race’s goal seems to get to drinks and snacks that the staff has been preparing on a portable table. Everyone settles down on the grass with a spectacular view of a loch and hills in the background. Someone in the group is having something stronger to drink, as a bottle of wine and a can of strong lager appear on the table next to the sandwiches and teapot. Some of the pupils start a game of cricket, the batsman is caught out. A member of staff comes into bat. The batsman strikes the ball; a fielder catches but then drops it. The film ends with the match continuing with another staff member about to begin his innings.