Metadata
WORK ID: YFA 5410 (Master Record)
| Title | Year | Date |
| THE WATKINS TROPHY 1964 | 1964 | 1964-01-01 |
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Details
Original Format: 16mm Colour: Colour Sound: Silent Duration: 15 mins 35 secs Subject: Sport |
| Summary This is a film of the 1964 Watkins Trophy small boat sailing race between contestants from York, Leicester and London. The competition was held in York on the River Ouse. |
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Description
This is a film of the 1964 Watkins Trophy small boat sailing race between contestants from York, Leicester and London. The competition was held in York on the River Ouse.
The film begins with a green pennant with a yellow lion symbol flying in the wind. A silver metallic trophy of a yacht is shown.
Intertitle – Held at York RI Division June 1964
Below the clubhouse, a group of men and women, including the crew, prepare their small yacht (2120) on the grass. They are next to a steel...
This is a film of the 1964 Watkins Trophy small boat sailing race between contestants from York, Leicester and London. The competition was held in York on the River Ouse.
The film begins with a green pennant with a yellow lion symbol flying in the wind. A silver metallic trophy of a yacht is shown.
Intertitle – Held at York RI Division June 1964
Below the clubhouse, a group of men and women, including the crew, prepare their small yacht (2120) on the grass. They are next to a steel bridge going over the River Ouse. One of the crew stands on a walkway on the bridge and films.
Intertitle – Practise Sail
They lower the boat on wheels down a ramp onto the river, where they are joined by yacht 5678. A man marks up the start time on a blackboard and yells out instructions through a loud hailer. Three boats line up (2120, 2911 and 3589). The teams are also marked on a blackboard: M Huthwaite and R Taylor of London, E Walker and L Korczack of Leicester, and H Jones and A Smith of York.
Intertitle – First Race
A blackboard marks the time, wind direction, laps and where the buoys are placed. Someone rings a bell to start the race, and six boats set off. The race is being watched by a small group on the side. As they pass the bell, the times are noted down.
Intertitle – Second Race
The boats are seen in the distance and then each close up as each crew, some of them mixed, lean over to keep the boats upright. The race is shown.
Intertitle – Fourth and final race
The crews line up, and again the blackboard with the race details is seen. The bell ringer starts the race, and they set off under the bridge up stream. The bell rings again as they return. The scores are shown: Leicester 56 ½, London 52 ½ and York 38 points. At the end the Trophy is presented, with the winner making a speech in front of the crowd, and tankards are also given out. The winner shows off the Trophy before the boat is dismantled and pushed across a field.
The End
Context
This is one of two films donated to the YFA by Peter Monahan, the other being the The 1968 Compass Trophy Race. Mr Monahan was a member of the York Railway Institute, a non-profit members club that has existed for over 100 years and is now recognised as a registered charity. The Institute offers a wide range of sporting and leisure activities such as badminton, sailing, table tennis, brass band, football and drama. This film shows a race between York, Leicester and London and is hosted by the...
This is one of two films donated to the YFA by Peter Monahan, the other being the The 1968 Compass Trophy Race. Mr Monahan was a member of the York Railway Institute, a non-profit members club that has existed for over 100 years and is now recognised as a registered charity. The Institute offers a wide range of sporting and leisure activities such as badminton, sailing, table tennis, brass band, football and drama. This film shows a race between York, Leicester and London and is hosted by the York RI division.
York Railway Institute has existed since 1889, and was created for workers of the North Eastern Railway Company, which was York’s biggest employer in the 1880s. The institute was based on Victorian values of instruction and self-improvement, and was at first mainly focused on providing the means for members to educate themselves. The Institute had a library and reading room and three classrooms but it also provided some leisure activities, with a smoking and games room. By the 1920s, the Institute shifted its focus from education to more on the sporting side of things. A gym was built and the Institute began hosting popular boxing matches, and a badminton court was installed in 1926. York RI still has a sailing club, and they hold regular Sunday races during spring, summer and autumn as well as informal Wednesday evening races during summer. In the 1950s and 60s, Britain was enjoying a post-war economic boom. Prime Minister Harold Macmillan famously said in a speech that the British public “had never had it so good”. Wages increased and working hours had almost halved; from approximately 70 hours down to 40-45, plus paid annual leave had been introduced for the first time. The typical 8 hour day, 5 day week had been established and was becoming increasingly common. Workers were enjoying a lot more free time than ever before. Housewives also enjoyed an increase in free time, technological innovations led to the creation of many time-saving domestic appliances, such as vacuum cleaners and dishwashers. Young men were free from conscription for the first time, and youth culture (which had been imported along with Rock and Roll from the US) had begun to pick up steam and would soon become a global phenomenon with bands like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones acting as mouthpieces for the teenage generation. Scenes like the one in this film would be a common sight in 1964; men, women and teenagers suddenly being able to enjoy more free time meant an increase in outdoor activities and hobbies. Sailing as a competitive sport was first introduced by the Dutch in the 17th century and was spread to England in 1660 with Charles II, and in turn was spread to the English American colonies. The oldest and most prestigious event in Sailboat racing is the America’s Cup Race, which was started in 1851 after the New York Yacht Club won a friendly race against some British sailors around the Isle of Wight. The race has since become a popular international sporting event. The first sailing club appeared in England in 1820, which was an exclusive club for the upper-classes as originally they would be the only ones who had the time and money required to participate in such an activity. Since then, sailing became more main stream and hundreds of sailing clubs have been established in Britain and it remains a popular sport to this day. The history of this genre of amateur film can be traced back to the 19th Century, where innovators of this new technology would film simple day-to-day events, as they wanted focus to be on the technology used rather than the content of the film. This sort of film is known as an actuality film. Some filmmakers did focus on more specific subjects such as sporting events; an early example of this would be Robert Paul’s film of the 1896 Epsom Downs derby, which captured the winning horse galloping past the winning post. Boxing was a staple of early sport actualities, and were so popular they would be shown in theatres. Spectator sport became very popular in Britain, and provided many a filmmaker with a subject to record, which in itself helped develop the technology and widen the audience of this type of film. References Boyle, Raymond and Haynes, Richard Power Play: Sport, the media and Popular Culture, Edinburgh University Press, 2009. Donnelly, Mark Sixties Britain: Culture, Society and Politics, Routledge, 2005. David McComb, Sports: An Illustrated History, Oxford University Press, 1999. Kaufman, Will and Macpherson, Heidi Britain and the Americas: Culture, Politics and History: a Multidisciplinary Encyclopaedia, ABC-CLIO, 2005. Richard Vinen, National Service: Conscription in Britain, 1945-1963 The History of York Railway Institute Further Reading York R.I. website York R.I Sailing Club |
