A home movie produced by Ken Ellwood of three school trips undertaken by pupils of Water Street School in Skipton North Yorkshire in 1963 and 1964. Their first trip in 1963 is to the Lake District and a voyage across Derwent water by boat and a hike to the summit of Cats Bells. In 1964 the school visited the city of Chester in Cheshire for a cruise along the river Dee, a walk along the city wall and a visit to Chester Zoo. The same year the school also returns to Derwent Water for another...

A home movie produced by Ken Ellwood of three school trips undertaken by pupils of Water Street School in Skipton North Yorkshire in 1963 and 1964. Their first trip in 1963 is to the Lake District and a voyage across Derwent water by boat and a hike to the summit of Cats Bells. In 1964 the school visited the city of Chester in Cheshire for a cruise along the river Dee, a walk along the city wall and a visit to Chester Zoo. The same year the school also returns to Derwent Water for another boat trip and hike up Cats Bells but this time in the pouring rain. The filmmakers three eldest children David, Deborah, and John each appear in the film along with their mother Kath acting as a chaperone. In the final part of the film shot at the grounds of the school itself pupils take part in May Day celebration for 1965 with dancing around a Maypole. Title: Water Street School Trip 1963 to Lake District On Derwent Water in the Lake District a group of women and children make their way along a jetty boarding two waiting motor launches. As the group find their seats the ship MV Swan pulls into a nearby jetty. One of the motorboats pulls away revealing a pair of swans in the water nearby. As the motorboat travels across Derwent Water the children lean over the side looking at other passing boats while the women sit happily nearby watching over them. A boy waves at the other motor launch travelling parrel, children on that boat wave back. Pupils and teaches get of a bus and begin the ascent to Cats Bell along path or track. Title: Chester 1964 Again, woman and children climb aboard a motor launch on the river Dee. The cruise underway they look out on the river and other boats on the water. Two other launches pass in the opposite direction, one of them turning in the water to follow the launch. The school party walks along Chester City Walls passing a sign for King Charles’ Tower. In a car park nearby several parked coaches one of the women speaks to a boy. Inside Chester Zoo a large crowd watches as seals are fed fish. Various animals inside their enclosures including bears, a tiger, parrots, camels, and gorillas. Kath and Deborah Ellwood walk along a path in the zoo past beds of colourful flowers changes to another enclosure of chimpanzees. In another enclosure Pelicans, flamingo and an Emperor Penguin. A polar bear goes swimming in his enclosure. David and brother John walk hand in hand along a path in the zoo before looking down into an enclosure of crocodiles inside a tropical house. On Derwent Water again women and children make their way along a wet jetty climbing aboard the motor launch ‘Princess Margaret Rose’. The children smile on happily even in the torrential rain. The launch departs the dock, and the children look out onto a misty lake. Still in the rain the school party begins the ascent of Cats Bells walking along narrow winding paths. Near the summit a teacher watches as a group of children build a stone cairn, mist covers the surrounding hillsides. The group continue to the summit posing for the camera and looking out around the misty landscape. They begin their decent. On the playground of Water Street School in Skipton, Headmaster Tom Booth puts up a Maypole. A group of older pupils pick up the pole ribbons, nearby two young boys wearing white outfits and bowties. Two girls pose for the camera holding bouquets, two other girls pose for a camera followed by the original pair standing with an older girl in white dress. Around the Maypole the children begin to dance after which the children seen previously stand in front of the pole posing for a series of photographs. The two boys in bowties poses with the older girl in the white dress, one of the boys holds up and blows a fake trumpet. The dancers around the pole stand posing for the camera. The children perform another routine around the Maypole changing to seven girls in gowns and head garlands posing beside another taller girl wearing a crown and holding a large bouquet. Two boys stand in front of her one holding a cushion the other a trumpet. Back around the Maypole more dancing.