This amateur newsreel of important local events in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1933 was produced by members of Newcastle Amateur Cinematographers Association (ACA). The film covers the official opening by HRH Prince George, Duke of Kent, of the new Poor Children’s Holiday Association building at 66 Percy Street, Newcastle, headquarters of a charitable organisation that ran numerous projects for underprivileged children. Another item records the Northumberland Plate event at Gosforth Park Races 20...

This amateur newsreel of important local events in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1933 was produced by members of Newcastle Amateur Cinematographers Association (ACA). The film covers the official opening by HRH Prince George, Duke of Kent, of the new Poor Children’s Holiday Association building at 66 Percy Street, Newcastle, headquarters of a charitable organisation that ran numerous projects for underprivileged children. Another item records the Northumberland Plate event at Gosforth Park Races 20 June 1933. The final documentary shorts are of the British Hospitals Air Pageant at Cramlington Aerodrome on Saturday 12 August 1933 with aerobatic displays by, amongst others, Flight Lieutenant Charles William Anderson Scott, AFC, and aerial footage of Newcastle upon Tyne and surrounding countryside flmed from one of the special passenger flights taken at the air pageant. Title: ACA News Reel Events of 1933 Title: H.R.H. Prince George Visits Newcastle to Open the P.C.H.A. New buildings in Percy Street. 6 October 1933 Title: At city boundary The long royal cavalcade of cars is parked up on a road (probably the Great North Road in Gosforth) at the edge of Newcastle upon Tyne. A row of young children are perched along a wall watching the visit of the distinguished and royal guests. General view of the cavalcade of cars. A crowd of onlookers stand beside the road. A small group cross the road towards the cars. The cars pull away, the chauffeurs driving their distinguished guests. Prince George is seated in one of the cars with his escort as it drives by with the roof lowered. The long line of cars travel along the road to Newcastle. Title: Arrival at P.C.H.A. headquarters A Boys Brigade troop in uniform stand in formation on Percy Street awaiting the arrival of Prince George, in the background the police on horseback and the Arthur Wright wool shop. General view of Percy Street where police on foot guard the street, the crowd grouping on the pavements behind. The Boys Brigade troop are instructed by their senior leader. A lone cyclist rides up Percy Street, the massed crowds lining the street expectantly. A Girl Guide troop march along a covered walkway at the entrance to 66 Percy Street and the new Poor Children’s Holiday Association (PCHA) headquarters and boys’ home.  A large crowd of children are outside an iron gateway and also perched on the gate to the building. A huge number of adults and children are strolling down Percy Street, with crowds of spectators squeezed onto the pavements. Two bishops wait at the entrance to the new PCHA headquarters, the door guarded by policemen. Prince George arrives at the building for the grand opening, Percy Motors visible in the background. The Girl Guide leader salutes. Prince George gets out of the royal car.  He speaks to the Lord Mayor of Newcastle, Dr.  J.W. Leech MP, who wears ceremonial dress. The Prince performs the official opening by opening the door of the building. The distinguished guests follow him into the new PCHA building. Exterior shot of the PCHA building façade. General view of policemen and crowds down Percy Street, including the many children. There are close-ups of some of the children in the crowd. Girl Guide troops form a guard of honour at the walkway entrance to the PCHA building, specially constructed for the royal guest. General view of the mass of people at the official opening, spilling from the upper windows of the Halford Cycle shop, sited next to the Handyside Arcade. The street is decorated with streamers and a Union Jack. Title: After the ceremony The mace carriers and the Lord Mayor and his wife leave the building after the official ceremony, followed by Prince George and his escorts, who get back into the royal car. The other distinguished guests leave the PCHA building, including women guests wearing fox furs and fur-trimmed coats. Police are holding back the lively crowd on Percy Street, all squashed together opposite the PCHA building, the Three Bulls Head public house in the background. Title: Gosforth Park Races 20 June 1933 General view of men wearing bowler hats at the Gosforth Park Racecourse marking race cards. A bowler-hatted gent looks at the bookmakers betting ring boards for the odds on the horses. The horses are led out into the parade ring. The jockeys mount up and are led to the racetrack. The horses are ridden to the start of the race on the racetrack. Punters consult the bookmakers’ boards in the betting ring. A horse is led into the parade ring. General view of racecourse visitors, many of the men in trilby hats or bowler hats, and women wearing cloche hats and fashionable 1920s dresses. A clock marks the time at 3:35 pm. Tic tac men signal odds and price changes with white-gloved hand from the stands to bookmakers. A jockey rides a horse into the straights. The race starter rings the bell to start the race, which may be the famous Northumberland Plate race (also called "the Pitman's Derby"). General view of horses coming down the flat and chase course to the finish line, a huge crowd watching from the rails. Leonard was the winner in 1933. Horses are led back into the parade ring. The jockey dismounts from the winning (?) horse, frisky after the saddle is removed. On a sunny day, race goers mill around near the grandstand and café. In the next event filmed, a poster advertises “British Hospitals Air Pageant. 15 Star Pilots led by C W A Scott AFC. 15 Aircraft. 20 Thrilling Events. For the Royal Victoria Infirmary. Cramlington Aerodrome, Newcastle-on-Tyne. One day only. Saturday August 12th. Continuous Noon till Dusk. Pageants at 2:30 and 6:30pm. Admission 1/3 Children 6d Cars 1/-. Passenger Flights.” General view of Cramlington aerodrome, hangars in the background, where the touring British Hospital Air Pageants will hold an air circus in aid of hospitals. Various advertising banners are displayed including one for Shell Oil and BP. The Daily Sketch publicity van is parked at the airfield, its loudspeakers to later broadcast conversations from ground to pilot to the audience. A bi-plane lands on the aerodrome field. Many cars are parked beside the field. Some of the visitors watch displays from the car roof. A great many aircraft are parked on the field. General view of one of the thrilling displays, the plane swooping as it comes in to land shakily on the field. Flight Lieutenant John Pugh sits in the cockpit of the Miles M.1 Satryr (registered: G-ABVG), a single-seat aerobatic biplane with its distinctive checkerboard fuselage. He speaking with another man, possibly a member of the ground crew. In the air the biplane performs an aerobatics display including rolls, loops and upside-down flying thousands of feet above the ground. Back on the ground John Pugh climbs out of his cockpit to look over the aircraft engine with the man seen previously, as a Pratt’s fuel lorry drives up. Someone prepares some kit on the ground for the flight. (This may have been the cinematographer of the Newcastle ACA who filmed the aerial footage.)  The ground engineer turns the propeller and this plane taxis to take-off. The G-ABUP plane takes off. This is probably one of the special passenger flights advertised. [The first passengers at Cramlington were flown by Miss Pauline Gower in a Spartan 3-seater Hermes II.] Title: Newcastle and District from the Air. Contrast the clear atmosphere outside, with that over the city. Traveling shot from the plane as it takes off from Cramlington Aerodrome. Aerial shots follow (the wing and aircraft occasionally in shot): the country landscape outside of Newcastle; the edges of a very smoggy Newcastle cityscape; Tyne River and Ouseburn Viaduct; the bridges along the River Tyne, including Tyne Bridge. The aircraft then turns back to Cramlington Aerodrome. Traveling shots pick out the shadow of the aircraft cast on the fields; a steam train races across the landscape in front, and then immediately below, the aircraft. Title: The End (over trees at Jesmond Dene)