An edition of the Tyne Tees Television rural affair programme Landmark presented by Eric Robson. In this edition, co-presented by Mairi MacIver from the Gateshead Metro Centre, interviews with exhibitors at a 'Food and Farming' exhibition that will show consumers where their food and agricultural products comes from. Also, in the programme a report on a new exhibition of photographs by Derry Brabbs relating to opencast mining in County Durham and a farm in Northumberland that is...

An edition of the Tyne Tees Television rural affair programme Landmark presented by Eric Robson. In this edition, co-presented by Mairi MacIver from the Gateshead Metro Centre, interviews with exhibitors at a 'Food and Farming' exhibition that will show consumers where their food and agricultural products comes from. Also, in the programme a report on a new exhibition of photographs by Derry Brabbs relating to opencast mining in County Durham and a farm in Northumberland that is breeding rare breed sheep for wool spinning. Title: Landmark The first item in this edition is on Harrogate photographer Derry Brabbs and a new exhibition featuring his work taking place in London for the Council for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE). Derry talks about how he became interested in the countryside after being commissioned to take photos for 'James Herriot's Yorkshire'. He has been commissioned by the CPRE to take photos of around County Durham to show how the countryside has been damaged by changing circumstances and to show it has retained much of its ancient splendour. The emphasis of Derry's work is opencast mining and photographs of mining operations which the CPRE are against. Derry describes how his photographs show the acreage and desolation of the landscape and how such operations can 'gobble up' miles and miles of countryside. At Castleford (?) on the site of the old Consett Steel Works Derry is trying to record 50 years of countryside alterations. He sees that progress has brought problems such as electricity pylons which cross the landscape. He talks about how he takes photograph and how much of it is down to being in the right place and the right time as experience. The second part of the programme comes from the Gateshead Metro Centre where a 'Food and Farming' exhibition is taking place during a yearlong promotional event designed to show consumers where their food and agricultural products come from. From an open space exhibition sheerer, David Jones demonstrates how a sheep is spawn. The aim of this demonstration is to show consumers the skill and processes in the agricultural industry. During the day David is a lecturer at the Northumberland College of Agriculture, but he once had a contact sheering gang that could sheer 250 sheep a day. In another part of the centre, Mairi MacIver interviews Joy Scott about Northumberland Rugs. Joy talks about how she started at three-and-a-half making her first rug, as well as the two types of rug 'proggy' and 'hooky'. She then demonstrates how to make a proggy mat using bits of cut up old woollen clothes. Title: Landmark The second part of the programme begins at the Metro Centre with Mairi MacIver interviewing Syd Ross about the traditional craft of making shepherds crooks. Syd talks about the history of crooks and how they are made from boiling Ram horns to soften then enough to bend into a desired shape. There are examples of the craft including a Sea trout which took over 60 hours to produce. He used soldering iron to burn in the many scales. Ram's horns are the best, but you could also use goat. The black horn of the Water buffalo is becoming popular, but as a harder material takes longer to soften. The next report comes from Lemington Hill Head Farm in Northumberland where sheep farmers Angela and Peter Drummond breed rare sheep for traditional wool spinning. Angela has become hooked on hand spinning but was looking for something different from the usual types of wool. After contacting the Rare Breed Survival Trust, they bought a number of rare breeds from the Hebrides including Manx Loaghtan and Whitefaced Woodland. Although rare breed sheep have little commercial value at present, Peter Drummond believe they are important as there is much that can be learn from them. Before spinning the wool needs to be carded to help create an even thread. They now have a small business in wool and spinning equipment which they sell, in the main, at agricultural shows. In her front-room beside her spinning wheel Angela goes through some of the different types of wool. Hebridean wool is soft and idea for garments to be worn next to the skin. The Manx Loaghtan wool is brown in colour and hard wearing. The wool of the North Ronaldsay is the colour of the shoreline where the animal lives off the seaweed. This year has been a great success with each of the breeds producing a ewe lamb. Back at the Metro Centre Eric Robson brings the programme to an end by looking at a few rare breed animals on display in the car park. All the animals come from the Bill Quay Community Farm in Gateshead including the Ancient Longhorn cow which is currently being looked at by geneticist to see if its genes can be used to improve beef in other cattle. There is also the Lincoln Long, a hardy lean sheep which has been exported to Russia. It has also been successfully crossed with the Merino to produce quality wool. Finally, Eric introduces 'Snork' an iron-age pig which is a breed of Wild Boar and Tamworth that has become a delicacy in the restaurant trade. Title: Hoi Polloi Film and Video Credit: Camera Chris Sutcliffe, Ken Slater Credit: Sound Paul Gunn Credit: Electrician Bill Hughes Credit: Production Assistant Pauline Grant Credit: Production Secretary Coreen Harvey Credit: Sound Postproduction John Overton Credit: VT Editors Amanda Baxter, David Middleton, Robin Sinton Credit: VT Assistant Editor Claire Storey Credit: Executive Producer Chris Potter Credit: Director Simon Lawson Credit: Producer Charles Bowden End Credit: Waterfront Productions for Tyne Tees Television© MCMLXXXIX