This home movie was collected by the Newcastle & District Amateur Cinematographers Association (ACA) which has been making cine stories and capturing the north east on film for nearly a century. It is the sole survivor of the five original ACA organisations in Britain, first set up in 1927. Newcastle & District ACA were storytellers, entertainers and documentarians – recording simple or sophisticated drama and comedies to travelogues and home movies, of which this is a charming...

This home movie was collected by the Newcastle & District Amateur Cinematographers Association (ACA) which has been making cine stories and capturing the north east on film for nearly a century. It is the sole survivor of the five original ACA organisations in Britain, first set up in 1927. Newcastle & District ACA were storytellers, entertainers and documentarians – recording simple or sophisticated drama and comedies to travelogues and home movies, of which this is a charming example.

This film dates from the golden age of home movies shot on 9.5 mm cine film. From the early 1900s to the 1960s, cameras became more accessible to the masses which increasingly allowed everyday people to record special moments and share them with family and friends at home. This technology was expensive, particularly before WWII, so was usually only accessible to the most affluent in society. (1)

9.5 mm film was part of the Pathé Baby amateur system introduced by the French company, Pathé Frères, in 1922. It was initially designed for showing commercial films at home, but a camera was soon produced which allowed people to shoot their own films. This film is silent as optical sound was not introduced for 9.5 mm until 1938, and colour film was not available until after the Second World War. The 9.5mm was hugely popular in Europe, with around 300,000 projectors being sold in France and England, but it suffered a decline after the war due to competition from Kodak’s less costly 8 mm film. (2)

The family enjoy a picnic in Allen Banks, a Victorian garden in a gorge of the River Allen in Northumberland. The garden was a labour of love for estate owner Susan Davidson who spent 30 years developing the beds of flora and fauna, paths and rustic bridges during the mid-nineteenth century. The estate remained in private hands until 1942 when it was donated to the National Trust. The suspension bridge which the family cross to get back to their car was damaged by flooding in 2005 and was replaced by the National Trust in 2007. The gardens suffered further damage during the storms of 2016.

The area is also known to locals as Plankey Mill, named after the old water powered corn mill which sits within the gardens. The first mention of watermills was in the first century BC and the technology spread quickly across the world. By the sixteenth century waterpower was the most important source of power in Britain, with the number of watermills peaking at 20,000 mills by the nineteenth century. The Norman feudal system dictated that everyone was forced to have their corn milled at the mill owned by their Manorial Lord, which was a requirement until as late as the nineteenth century. (3) Prior to the Davidsons who bought the estate in the nineteenth century, the Manorial Lords responsible for corn milling at Plankey would have either been the Ridley or Lowes family who owned the estate from 1567 and the mid-eighteenth century respectively.

Two men are shown wearing knitted bathing suits so evocative of the era. During the 1920s, bathing costumes were very similar in style for men, women and children, typically a scoop-necked, sleeveless, shorted one-piece. They could be hand or machine-knitted in jersey and cotton fabrics which clung to the contours of the body. Design was usually plain but any patterns and motifs were often geometric in design towards the end of the decade in reference to the Art Deco movement. When exposed to water however, the knitted costumes became heavy and warped, so cross straps on the back were sometimes added to provide extra support. (4) Design issues of the 1920s have clearly been rectified by the 1930s as rather than a strap being added, the support strap on these two lads’ costumes have cleverly been integrated into the design.

By the 1930s, horse-drawn carriages had all but vanished from Britain’s city streets and it was now the motor car which ruled the roads. Where the advancement of the railway had opened up coastal towns to British leisure seekers in the nineteenth century, the motor car allowed the exploration of more rural areas. With a tank full of petrol and an Ordnance Survey map, motorists were free to explore minor roads and byways, discovering new places of adventure. Prior to the 1934 Traffic Act, anyone over the age of 17 was able to drive a car. Now speed limits were enforced in built up areas to address the 7000 deaths per year in road accidents and all drivers were required to have a licence before letting loose behind the wheel. (5) In this film we see a variety of fashionable new cars in the Allen Banks parking area, including what appear to be an early Austin, Ford and Morris.

There are many examples of early swimwear fashions in the collections at North East Film Archive. Check out these bright young things (all members of the cone club Newcastle ACA) at the beach in the 1930s:

ACA OUTING TO WARKWORTH ON 16 JULY 1933

References:

(1) 9.5mm film (1922-1960) - https://obsoletemedia.org/9-5mm-film/

(2) The History of Cine Film - http://www.rutlandproductions.co.uk/history-cinefilm/

(3) The History of Watermills - http://www.jesmonddeneoldmill.org.uk/mill/technology.html

(4) http://screenarchive.brighton.ac.uk/portfolio/screen-search-fashion/leisure/swimwear-and-seaside-clothing/

(5) Gardiner, Juliet. The Thirties: An Intimate History of Britain, 2010