This promotional film was made by Goole and District Junior Chambers of Commerce when Goole would have been near the height of its activities as a port, but under increasing pressure from larger competitors.  The 1960s in particular was a time when local authorities, or local groups of employers, would make promotional material, such as films, advertising the businesses, services and attractions of their local area.  It was made about midway between two similar films on YFA Online: The Brook...

This promotional film was made by Goole and District Junior Chambers of Commerce when Goole would have been near the height of its activities as a port, but under increasing pressure from larger competitors.  The 1960s in particular was a time when local authorities, or local groups of employers, would make promotional material, such as films, advertising the businesses, services and attractions of their local area.  It was made about midway between two similar films on YFA Online: The Brook (1950) and Harrogate: Boardroom of the North (1970-71).  The YFA also has other films showing the involvement of the Junior Chamber of Commerce in Leeds, Bradford and Sheffield.

The British Chambers of Commerce was established in 1860 as the Association of Chambers of Commerce, becoming the Association of British Chambers of Commerce in 1919 and just the British Chambers of Commerce in 1996.  It is basically a non-governmental organisation that helps British business, with local bodies across the country.  Similar bodies had already been set up much earlier in Paris and New York, and an International Chamber of Commerce was set up in 1920.  Soon after this local Junior Chambers were established in many cities and large towns.  Goole is now represented by Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce.

The commentary that accompanies the film provides a wealth of information both about the history of Goole and of the trade that passed through the nine docks.  For even more information about this time, the excellent Goole-on-the-web has published a large extract from the Goole Handbook of 1963, which provides a good supplement to this film (see References).

In the early 17th century Goole, at the time called Gowl, was just a scatter of cottages along the Ouse.  What changed it to become the town that it did was the building of the Dutch River.  The Dutch civil engineer, Cornelius Vermuyden, after much aggravation over flooding caused by previous projects, constructed a link between the Don and the Ouse at Goole, which came to be called ‘the Dutch River’.  Already, with the tide coming down the Humber, the river banks would break up and flood the local field, providing nutrition for the soil, but bad for sheep and the people living there.  The new Dutch River was navigable by small coal barges, which could then transfer their cargo to sea-going vessels at Goole.  This was followed in 1704 with the opening of a canal linking the rivers Aire and Calder, in West Yorkshire, to the River Ouse at Airmyn, just up river to Goole.

The major change came though with the Knottingley and Goole Canal opening in 1826, built by Aire and Calder Navigation.  Prior to that Goole was just a place en route to Selby and York.  This allowed not just products to and from West Yorkshire, but also coal to be brought from the South Yorkshire mining fields.  It was out of this, more specifically the building of the accompanying docks in the 1820s, that the town and Port of Goole grew.

At the time that this film was made Goole had a population of around 19,000 and the docks were thriving.  Some of the industrial places seen in the film remain, as with the ICI paints warehouse and the Hudson Ward grain silo; but many more have disappeared: gone out of business, as with Vessil Ltd., been taken over, as with Crendon Concrete, or moved on, as with British Oxygen.   Coal was the main product that was exported, being brought in along the Aire and Calder Navigation using the  compartment boat system (also known as 'Tom Puddings' or 'pans'), introduced in the 1860s by William Bartholomew, pulled by steam tugs in trains of up to 30 boats, with each compartment boat carrying 40 tons.   A method of transport that is far more environmentally friendly than by road, and which shows the advantages of canals – see also the Context for Is Rotherham a Seaport Town (1959).  Depending on how one looks as this, either fortunately or unfortunately, this coal transportation no longer exists, with only four pits remaining in Yorkshire (as of July 2009) – see the Context for Bands and Banners (1991).

Among the other things that the film highlights is the trading connection with Denmark.  The importation of Carlsberg, Denmark's first lager-beer brewery, through Goole was in fact a relatively recent development, starting in 1957.  Again, depending on ones point of view, it is uncertain whether Goole ought to be thanked for this – the brewery having monopolised so much of the UK’s live music venues.  As of 2009 it was the 4th largest brewery group in the world, and has since established breweries in Britain, such as the one in Leeds, having taken over Tetley; hence the Carlsberg depot at Goole closed in the 1980s.  In fact even Carlsberg Export – which had an advert which suggested Danes were furious at the beer leaving their country – is brewed under licence in Northampton.

Even more famous perhaps is Danish Bacon.  By the end of the 19th century, 90% of Danish exports went to the UK, and this still had more than 25% of the UK market in the 1980s.  The bacon is no longer sliced in Denmark though, as this can now be done cheaper in Germany and Poland.  Much criticism has been made of the way pigs have been bred in Denmark, which compares badly even with the far from perfect conditions of British pig farms – of which there are many now in the East Riding.

Although Goole continues to import and export goods, trade has decline markedly since this film was made.  In fact in the same year, 1964, the Harbours Act was introduced that put the development of British ports, which had been sharply criticised, under the control of a central supervisory body, the National Ports Council (NPC).  After 1981 the Thatcher Government de-regulated British ports and energetically pursued privatisation.  The biggest problem with Goole was that it could only handle relatively small ships, with a capacity of 3,000 tons, whilst the development of bulk carrying ships, along with containerisation and ro-ro traffic, required deep-water berths, such as the one at Felixstowe.

 With the decline in trade at the docks, Goole might be said to have declined in other ways – certainly if contributions to the Goole-on-the-web is anything to go by.  With its agenda of promoting business, this film shows the best of Goole in 1964, and so provides an interesting measure by which to see how it has changed over the years – a judgement best left to the citizens of Goole themselves. 

References

Christopher Ketchell, A Goole Bibliography: sources of local history information about Goole, manuscript, 1998.
Joyce Mankowska, Goole, A Port in Green Fields, William Sessions Limited, York, 1973.
A Review of Industry, Taken from Goole - the Official Handbook, Goole Corporation, 1963
Goole-on-the-web
The Commercial Development of English Canals
Aire & Calder Navigation
Compassion in World Farming, Pig Farming in the EU