A compilation tape containing examples of various arts and community events that took place around East Cleveland and the wider Tees Valley in 1982 and 1983 that were supported in some way by Village Arts. Title: Village Arts AGM and Opening Evening Thursday 13th May 7.30pm North Skelton Village Hall A compilation of community arts activities put on by Village Arts across East Cleveland during the first year of its operation in 1982. In a school yard at Loftus children perform a piece of...

A compilation tape containing examples of various arts and community events that took place around East Cleveland and the wider Tees Valley in 1982 and 1983 that were supported in some way by Village Arts. Title: Village Arts AGM and Opening Evening Thursday 13th May 7.30pm North Skelton Village Hall A compilation of community arts activities put on by Village Arts across East Cleveland during the first year of its operation in 1982. In a school yard at Loftus children perform a piece of theatre related to spring featuring two handmade giant puppets of full-length figures controlled by strings attached to all four limbs of the puppet. They are accompanied by a man playing on a set of homemade percussion instruments and at the end a choir singing. As part of the opening of Skinningrove Community Centre children from a local school perform for a crowd various skills they have learned during a circus school. Sitting in the floor in front of a watching audience they sing a song about the circus accompanied by a man in guitar. Most of the children are wearing clown makeup on their faces. Following the song, they perform juggling and gymnastic routines for the audience ending of two children throwing clown pies into each of their faces much to the amusement of the audience. Title: Women Live May ‘82 A months Celebration of the Creative Work of Women A phantom car ride following a Morris Minor van as it travels into a village in East Cleveland. Pulling up near a green the film changes to a group of women and girls performing a traditional folk dance around a maypole to help publicise ‘Women Live’ events. The van travels to another village where the women work together to set up the maypole and perform again accompanied by a man playing an accordion. Title: Village Arts Annual General Meeting at 7.30pm North Skelton Village Hall 26th May A second compilation of community arts activities put on by Village Arts across East Cleveland during 1983 begins with a summer playscheme at Carlin How with local children working with a local theatre company who put on a participatory performance to do with the fishing followed by working with the children to make kites which are then flown outside in a field. [Blank] A poster in the window of a house in Skinningrove for ‘Guy Fawkes Night’ and Bonfire Night 1982. On the beach locals working to construct a façade of the Houses of Parliament changes to a montage of still images taken on the night of the bonfire that features several giant puppets which formed part of a procession. A second montage of photographs featuring young unemployed people in Hartlepool in 1982 taking part in musical workshops as part of a project the help codify the needs of those out of work and partly run by Village Arts. As part of the Staithes Smugglers Project in 1983 a large Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI) flag flies from a house along High Street in Staithes. In a garden on a house along Staithes Beck a giant puppet of a man in a red coat and wearing a tricorn hat. Nearby a group of people stand chatting. On the beach a model of a boat made from planks changes to a small boat motoring around the harbour before coming along a nearby pier. A group of adults and children in yellow help a giant puppet of possibly a fisherman or sailor wearing a yellow outfit along the pier and down onto the beach coming to stand beside the model ship. A procession makes its way along Seaton Gather onto the beach that features as well as the giant puppet but also a marching band and three men dressed as hobby horses. On the beach again the children and hobby horses appear to give a theatrical performance for those watch. A promotional film for East Cleveland YTS (Youth Training Scheme) based in Loftus produced by the young people on the scheme with support from Village Arts. In the main yard where the scheme is run interview with Training Officer Ann Laird about what would be entailed being part of the scheme and what those taking part will achieve. As she speaks a montage of some of the young men and women taking part in various training schemes. Filmed at various workshops based in both Loftus and Staithes trainees at work learning skills including mechanics, metalwork, joinery, bricklaying, forestry, gardening and upholstery all intercut with interviews with both supervisors and trainees about the work that is being done, the skill learned and what is being achieved. The film comes to an end with a teenage girl being asked what she thought of this film and if she has any questions. She asks about how people can apply to be on the scheme. Title: East Cleveland Y.T.S. Credit: Made by Wayne Boyes, Paul Garbutt, John Knaggs, Kevin Smith, Karl Marsay, Gillian Logan, Sharon Dabinet [Blank] A young woman visits an arts centre at Ashington in Northumberland and is given a tour of some of the facilities including a metalworks shop and a photographic studio where she speaks with a tutor. In another room she is introduced to a woman who provide details on what the centre offers women from the local area. [Blank] To Jan and Dean singing ‘Surf City’ occasional views of the beach at Saltburn-by-the-Sea and traffic moving along Saltburn Road. Nearby the ‘Beach Café’. [Blank] A short comedy set inside Saltburn Woods about a film crew from Impasse Television looking for terrorists hiding out there following an explosion at the Queens Hotel in Saltburn. In a wooded area a group of young men and women dressed in dark camouflage outfits with some carrying radios and guns. Two soldiers guarding a footbridge through the woods are attacked and possibly killed by the terrorists. The reporter from Impasse Television attempts to give a report to camera from the bridge but is shot by one of the terrorists who take over the broadcast. Believed to be the churchyard of St Nicholas Church in Guisborough a group of young men and women mess around playing up to the camera with the ruins of Guisborough Priory in the background. A young man pretends to walk with a stick, they all hide behind some of the gravestone before doing the can-can. On the back of flatbed lorry travelling along a road a group of young women doing the Can-can dance. A series of decorated floats, juvenile jazz and a man dressed as a baby arriving in a show field. One float for East Cleveland Impasse pulled by a decorated tractor arrives, its theme is music with cardboard records hanging down over the float for OMD, The Who, Duran Duran and other musical groups. A man dressed as a 60s musician wonders around the crowds while onboard the Impasse float cables are being sorted in readiness for a band to perform. A man with a film camera records a local band performing on stage. The song comes to an end and the crowd cheer. [Blank] A sign on the wall for East Cleveland Impasse is intercut with sequence that features both men and women working in a local community centre on various tasks such as men working in a woodwork shop and sorting a collection of photographs while women feature making tea and doing the washing. In an upstairs room a band rehearsing changes to another room where two men work to input a basics program into a computer. In a darkened venue a band perform on stage with the audience dancing on the dancefloor. Around Saltburn Bank at Saltburn-by-the-Sea a woman gives a teenage boy instruction in how to use the video camera. He films what he sees around him including a man fishing in Skelton Beck. [Blank] The camera wonders along Saltburn Road filming the many small fishing boats moored along the shoreline and Saltburn Pier in the distance. A group of male friends appear, and they mess about in front of the camera as the walk and chat along Saltburn beach. In the grounds of St Nicholas Church in Guisborough with the ruins of Guisborough Priory in the background the cameraman films his friends messing around. They are joined by a young woman and they rehearse some of the shot that would feature in the short film seen earlier on this tape. The group is joined by two other women and all three wonder around a nearby field looking for something growing in the ground. As the women walk along the road beside the field, they are stopped by one of the men who conducts a mock interview with them being asked about a ‘musical career.’ A different version of the mock Impasse Television news report featured earlier in the tape follows. Newcastle United footballer Kevin Keegan arrives at the new community centre at Boosbeck and is swamped by fans. Inside he sits at a table with other dignitaries as a speech is given in honour of his visit and the opening of the centre. After Kevin makes a speech talking about his father who was a miner, he signs autographs for fans before drawing raffle tickets from a large barrel. On the grass outside a building a woman works to construct a large frame structure. Inside a man paints a moustache onto the face of a giant puppet, beside him another giant puppet of a bearded man. A young man kneels on the floor, surrounding him three large faces made from papier mache attached to poles. In a community centre a children’s choir perform ‘On Ilka Moor Baht’At’ after which they put on a puppetry performance telling a story about the local ironstone industry. Intercut with this several older people tell stories about what life was like living in East Cleveland in the past ending on the room singing an old song. In a kitchen area a group of women washing up while listing to the room singing. A brass band leads a procession of children through the village of Boosbeck that includes three giant puppets seen being made earlier. Following at the rear a police Sherpa van. The procession arrives in a field after where the children put on a performance relating to the local ironstone industry that featuring the giant puppets. Following views around the site of people enjoying themselves the film changes to a new location where the performance featuring the children and giant puppets is put on again. The performance comes to an end with the puppets being burned.