This amateur film documents a car rally with treasure hunt clues at locations from Newcastle upon Tyne, through rural loactions, to Cresswell on the Northumbrian coast, organised and filmed by members of the Newcastle & District Amateur Cinematographers Association (ACA) in 1963. Competitors drive a wide variety of 1950s and 60s cars along the course. Title: Newcastle & District ACA Presents Title: Cine Car Rally 1963 Credit: Devised by Morris Burdon Course and clues concocted by...

This amateur film documents a car rally with treasure hunt clues at locations from Newcastle upon Tyne, through rural loactions, to Cresswell on the Northumbrian coast, organised and filmed by members of the Newcastle & District Amateur Cinematographers Association (ACA) in 1963. Competitors drive a wide variety of 1950s and 60s cars along the course. Title: Newcastle & District ACA Presents Title: Cine Car Rally 1963 Credit: Devised by Morris Burdon Course and clues concocted by Reg. Townsend Credit: Film record by Reg. Townsend and George Cummin Cars are lined up in a row, possibly in a car park off St. Mary’s Place, Newcastle upon Tyne, for the start of a car rally organised by the Newcastle & District Amateur Cinematographers Association (ACA), a popular sport in the 60s. Cars include a Ford Anglia estate and a two-tone Hillman Minx. A group of men and women gather around a Volkswagen with an ACA sign in the windscreen, the rally control car. Three men consult the list of questions to be answered on the rally route. Reg. Townsend gets into a Rover P3. A woman leans out of a Fiat 500 to sign up. Some of the ACA members mill around a sky blue Mini parked next to a Wolsey. Contestant No. 4 drives up. The Newcastle ACA marshal checks as cars drive into the car park before the start. Two ACA competitors consult the route questions. A Hillman Minx estate sets off from the car park, followed by a grey Ford Popular (pre-war design). Competitor No. 9 in a Ford Anglia drives away. Gradually, more of the cars set off on the rally including a turquoise Mini. One of the ACA drivers checks his watch. A boy sticks a competitor’s number on a windscreen, watched by his parents. A passenger with a blonde bouffant hairstyle consults the rally questions inside a car. A man consults his questions and schedule. The ACA marshal times off the last car. He shouts them back, runs after them and jumps into the back seat. Another marshal waves them off. Various ACA cars drive down the Great North Road next to the Town Moor. Shot of a sign for Kenton Road, a garage on the corner. A white Standard Vanguard passes the turn off for Kenton Avenue. A Ford Cortina follows a Mini through a modern housing estate. The blue Anglia estate passes Coxlodge Road, Gosforth, Newcastle. Shot of a train passing a level crossing. The blue Anglia estate turns towards Cramlington. Close-up of a hand filling in a quiz question. Shot of the North Terrace corner pub on Claremont Road. General view of the Co-operative store on Cramlington Road, the windmill seen in the background. Brief shot of the two-tone turquoise and white Hillman Minx parked in front of a new social club building. The white Ford Zephyr drives along a road towards 1930s semi-detached houses. General views of the Jubilee pub, probably on Wansbeck Road, Newcastle. General views of the modern pub, The Fawdon, on Fawdon Park Road, and St Matthews Church, and the Bay Horse pub next to Nelson store. The Hillman Minx drives into a car park. General view of Beech Avenue. Close-up of the road sign. A Hillman Minx estate turns down a road. General view of the modern Cramlington District Co-operative store. The black 50s car drives up to the store. One of the Newcastle ACA competitors leaves the store after searching for a clue. Another competitor is also checking for clues. Close-up of a plaque: “Cramlington District Co-operative Society Ltd. Havannah Branch”. A car drives around a roundabout twice before turning off in the right direction. A cream Anglia approaches slowly. Another car, a maroon Ford estate, drives up to the Bay Horse pub. Two ACA men check their quiz questions, a pre-fab glimpsed in the background. Another car arrives. A man clambers up to a red-brick single storey building. Close-up of Dinnington Village War Memorial Institute sign. A Mini is driven away from the building. On a country road, a sign post points to Berwick Hill and Ponteland. An estate car passes another sign post heading for Berwick Hill from Dinnington. Close-up of a sign that reads “Danger Grenade Range Keep Out When Red Flag is Flying” at the Ponteland Rifle Range, a military training range. General view of a road and landscape. Close-up of a signpost pointing to Stannington, Ponteland and Kirkley Mill.  A black car parks down a lane. A woman jogs out to read a sign on a fence: “WF Jackson Low House Farm”. She races back to the car. Another signpost points to “North South Carter Moor Only”. At a T junction, a signpost points to Ponteland and Throckley one way, and Shilvington and Morpeth the opposite way. General view of a sign by the road. Close-up of the related quiz question. General view of a sign that reads “Danger Hogback Bridge”. This is probably Bellasis Bridge over the River Blyth. A black car is driven over the bridge. General view of a T junction with signposts. A two-tone Ford Zephyr estate pulls up outside some single storey cottages. General view of a signpost to Ponteland, Morpeth and Stannington. A car heads in the Morpeth direction and continues past a sign for Ogle. Two more ACA competitors, in a light blue Mini and a cream Anglia, head towards Morpeth. One of the competitors pulls up at an iron gateway, checking the sign, which reads “Northumbrian Kart Club”. Close-up of the quiz question No. 13, which is filled in with the word “KARTS”. Another signpost points to Molesdon and Melden, Mitford and Morpeth, and Gubeon and Whalton. The black car pulls off the main road down a country lane. The camera pans back to the ruins of a tower beside the road, probably Mitford Castle. The tower of the Church of St Mary Magdalene at Mitford is glimpsed through trees. General view of a village store and post office at Mitford. The ACA competitors take a break at Mitford. A man takes a photograph outside the Plough Inn pub. The black car pulls up, stopping at an iron sign with a crest of arms, “Broadlaw”, possibly part of the Kirkley Hall Farm Institute. A few of the ACA cars follow each other over a bridge, two little children running quickly across the road in front of a scooter. Close-ups of the quiz show cryptic signs used as directions along the rally route. Close-up of an old road sign for St. Leonards Road and Benridge & Pigdon. A man stands next to the road taking a photo. He re-joins the car. A woman approaches a signpost with a multitude of directions. She begins to count up the miles listed on the signpost as one of the rally clues. A series of clues are shown, all related to road signs on the rally route. Some of the competing cars turn down a road towards Hebron and Cockle Park. A car pulls over and checks out a sign on a white fence that reads “Morpeth & District Boy Scouts Association Camp Site” A man points to a red brick house, its name “Dene View”. He gets back in the car. General view of a farm. Several of the ACA competitors have pulled up at the farm. General view of the Cockle Park Tower. Several ACA competing cars are at the same point along the rally route. General view of the upper storey of Gothic style housing seen through trees. General view of a steep hill leading to a narrow bridge. A sign points to Ulgham Grange and the cars head in this direction. The Ford Anglia drives through a ford through the River Lyne. Two ACA marshals are beside the ford and step gingerly across stepping stones to cross the river. A male driver grins from the Ford Anglia as he drives by camera. Close-up of three small number plates screwed to a wooden electricity pole. One of the ACA competitors writes down the numbers for a quiz answer. A woman walks over to him. General view of a train speeding past the Ulgham Grange manned level crossing. Close-up of a sign that reads “Ring for Gateman”. A woman in a pinny opens the gates of the crossing and lets a queue of ACA cars through. General view of pretty shacks in the distance. The black car drives up. The passenger leans out of the car window. The shot cuts quickly to a boy dressed in a folkish Robin Hood outfit pointing a bow and arrow at the car. The car quickly drives away. The boy poses with his hand in a peace gesture. General views of the Plough Inn, Front Street, Ellington. Close-up of the sign “JL Armstrong Licensed to Retail”. General view of streets in Ellington. A signpost points to Cresswell, Ellington and Tynemouth. The cream Ford Anglia drives off down the road to Cresswell. View down the road towards Cresswell and the sea. Pan across to a white gateway with a sign reading “Shangri-La”. General view of a chapel, and cottages with tall chimneys. Close-up of a carved doorway arch on one of the cottages. General view of the road to Cresswell, where the ACA cars begin to gather.  A man fixes an ACA sign on the blue Volkswagen parked on the road from Cresswell. He stops the white Hillman Minx and checks their rally quiz. Gradually all the ACA competitors stop for a picnic along the coastal road at Cresswell.  Reg. Townsend jokes with another ACA member. George Cummin rests in a deckchair, chatting. Another man pulls on a knitted bobble hat. Meanwhile, the black car pulls up down a shady country lane. The men consult a map from the car boot, then fling it on the ground and pull out a telephone from the boot, dial and make a call. The members are clearly lost. Back at Cresswell, some of the ACA members are starting to pack up their picnics. A child and family are enjoying ice creams. Another group are still having a picnic. The black car finally pulls up at Cresswell. All the members chat and enjoy their food. One of the men picks up a large glass flagon and pretends to drink from it. George Cummin is filming people loading up their cars. Other ACA members are filming the occasion, their cameras on tripods. Some of the ACA members race from the field. The scene cuts to them rolling down the sand dunes as a woman films them. A man films another group of members jokingly trying to shut the overloaded boot of their car. A child steps into the back seat of another car. The black car drives off into the distance on a country road. Now back at the Newcastle & District ACA clubhouse at Ship’s Entry, Newcastle upon Tyne. A man is addressing members, standing next to an Ampro speaker. A woman presents an ACA member with a tankard trophy. The ACA audience clap. The man continues to speak to the packed ACA audience. Another trophy is presented and the audience clap. Title: The End. An ACA production.