This film is a record of the construction of Oaks Water Tower from start to opening, alongside the development of the Gleadless Valley Housing. Produced by Sheffield Waterworks Film Council. Title Card - ‘Oak Water Tower, 1961’ overlaying image of the water tower. Title Card - ‘A Record of its Construction’. A map of Sheffield and the surrounding areas appears, which shows the water supply. New housing area in the Gleadless Valley is shown. The Oaks water tower can be seen in the...

This film is a record of the construction of Oaks Water Tower from start to opening, alongside the development of the Gleadless Valley Housing. Produced by Sheffield Waterworks Film Council. Title Card - ‘Oak Water Tower, 1961’ overlaying image of the water tower. Title Card - ‘A Record of its Construction’. A map of Sheffield and the surrounding areas appears, which shows the water supply. New housing area in the Gleadless Valley is shown. The Oaks water tower can be seen in the background. Houses are shown. Residents can be seen walking the streets. The parkland is shown. Housing estates and tower blocks are shown. Children are seen playing on school playground. Families are shown walking down the street. Vehicles drive past a wooded area. A sign is shown which reads ‘CLM, Currall Lewis & Matin Ltd, Civil Engineering Contractors, 11 Booth Street, Birmingham 21, Tel. Nor. 6531’. The main road next to the water tower construction is shown. Scaffolding on the tower at the start of construction is shown. The plinth can be seen. Workers can be seen moving pieces of construction. Constructed columns and beams of the water tower are shown. Workers are shown working on the columns with tools. The outer ring wall enclosing the plinth is shown. Workers confer with each other on the site. Workers are seen continuing labour work from the perspective of the lift, which travels several levels up the water tower. Wall segments are shown outside waiting for installation. The joiner’s shop is shown with piles of materials outside. Two workers are shown using equipment to bend a metal rod to the required shape. Large plinths are shown. Workers are shown sawing and scraping wood, as well as hammering nails into place. Plans are shown, as a worker points to different areas with a pencil. Progress on the construction site is shown. Sand is shown being tipped out of a dump truck. A worker is shown shovelling cement mix. More workers are shown shovelling composite materials. The cement mix is shown going into the mixer, and the mixer is shown rotating. The cement is poured into a wheelbarrow. A worker moves the wheelbarrow onto a lift, and sends the cement upwards by using a pulley system for the lift. More cement is seen pouring into a wheelbarrow and then transported by the lift. Workers are shown moving the cement to its desired location and tipping it out; other workers smooth it down with shovels, wooden planks, floats and trowels. Workers are shown installing steel bars to reinforce the skeleton of the water tower. More wooden construction pieces are added to the structure. Workers continue building on the structure. The water tower construction near completion is shown with the scaffolding surrounding the building work. The complete water tower next to the main road is shown in the landscape. A closer look at the top of the tower is shown. The bottom entrance to the water tower is shown. Above the door it reads ‘SCWW, 1960’. The Lord Mayor of Sheffield shakes hands with some smartly dressed men outside the water tower, ready for the official opening. He is accompanied by the Chairman of the Water Committee, and the General Manager/Engineer. The Lord Mayor opens the door to the Water Tower and all of the smartly-dressed guests enter the tower behind him. The pumps in the pump room are shown. The Mayor opens the valves. The Major toasts with a glass of water. The Major is shown interacting with the control panel in the control room. Flow and Return pipes are shown in the background of the tower, behind a staircase. The central lift shaft is shown. The Mayor and his chaperone take the lift to the observatory at the top of the tower. Views of the countryside from the top of the tower are shown. The smartly dressed men at the event are seen looking out of the observatory windows and standing on the balcony outside. A new suburb can be seen. in the distance. The Major unveils a plaque behind a curtain in the Water Tower. It reads ‘Sheffield Corporation Water Works, Oaks Water Tower, Inaugurated by the Lord Mayor of Sheffield Alderman J.W. Sterland M.B.E. J.P. on the 12th July 1961, Capacity of tank 300,00 gallons, committee: councillor C.R. Ironmonger - Chairman, W. J. Robins - Vice-Chairman, Alderman O.S. Holmes F.C.A., Alderman H. Slack M.B.E. J.P., Councillor A. Conroy, Councillor T.W. Lambert, Councillor T. Lowe, Councillor G.H. Manley, Councillor H. Molloy, Councillor D.J. O’Neill J.P., Councillor J.A. Towns, Councillor J. Yeardley, Town Clerk J. Heys C.B.E.’ Credits - ‘The End’ overlaying image of a spinning film reel. Credits - ‘Produced by Sheffield Waterworks Film Unit’.