Amateur film made by Bishop Auckland local Chris Anderson that records the juvenile jazz band performances and the many street parties taking place around the Woodhouse Close area of Bishop Auckland for the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. These events were coordinated by Jackie Dodds and Dave Holder of the Bishop Auckland Family Service Unit. The film opens with a panoramic view of Bishop Auckland. A parade is taking place on the streets around the Woodhouse Close area of Bishop...

Amateur film made by Bishop Auckland local Chris Anderson that records the juvenile jazz band performances and the many street parties taking place around the Woodhouse Close area of Bishop Auckland for the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. These events were coordinated by Jackie Dodds and Dave Holder of the Bishop Auckland Family Service Unit. The film opens with a panoramic view of Bishop Auckland. A parade is taking place on the streets around the Woodhouse Close area of Bishop Auckland on a grey and drizzly day. A banner for the Westernaires 1976 is carried by. Drummers in a juvenile jazz band dressed in red costume pass by. A woman and children in Native American Indian costume are seated next to a tepee on a decorated float. A juvenile jazz band limber up as they prepare to join the parade. Various jazz bands are congregating at the estate. A police car drives by. Floats and juvenile jazz bands from the town join the parade, banners carried at the front of the troupe, including those from Westhouse Close Estate, Bishop Auckland 1976, the Westernaires, and the Bishop Auckland Crusaders in yellow and black-trimmed outfits with kazoos. Also in the parade, many decorated floats drive by with children and adults in fancy dress. These include a road safety themed float, the Warfield Adventure Playground and their ‘Indian encampment’, and the Under-Fives dressed as a deck of cards. Then a group of children on foot in a variety of inventive fancy dress costumes follow the floats. A young girl in red juvenile jazz band regalia walks by with a rifle slung over her shoulder and smiles at camera. The young children stand in a line in their fancy dress. Some women engage the them in a sing-song. Portrait shot of a little girl in costume with a basket of fruit holding an invite in an envelope. All the youngsters are given their invites. Some of the children eat ice cream. There’s a group portrait of some of the older children in fancy dress. The Bishops juvenile jazz band from the Woodhouse Close estate perform for a large number of spectators on a grass recreation ground in front of a car dealership warehouse. Next, local men have a tug o’ war contest. The Westernaires juvenile jazz band performs on the field, followed by the young troupe of the Bishop Auckland’s Crusaders in yellow and black. People browse at toy and food stalls. The three teenage beauty queens are driven away, draped in blankets on a cold summer’s day. A banner across an estate path advertises the ‘Jubilee Garden Fete Sat. June 4th 1:30 All Welcome’. People arrive at the garden fete. There’s a sign for Dene House. Pensioners are seated outside a block of modern flats on which a banner saying ‘Welcome Lions’ is draped. The Shildon Town brass band is performing and there are game stalls for people’s entertainment, but mostly the elderly men and women there are listening to the band. At Aclet Close children and teenagers are gathered wearing a multitude of fancy dress costumes, including Charlie Chaplin, Britain’s No. 1 mum and a Queen of Hearts outfit.  A gent in a suit declares the Jubilee celebrations open, a man in drag standing with the crowd. The toddlers’ fancy dress is judged. There’s a scary Batman in a rubber mask and a morose nurse. The man in the suit hands out sweet to the toddlers. There’s an extreme close-up of the man in drag. Teenagers and younger children cheer and wave to the camera, giving the thumbs up. One older teenager is in a 70s style PVC red and white bomber jacket and wearing fashionable dark blue eyeshadow. At Lusby Crescent, there’s a small street party going on, union jack flags and tea towels strung across a lawn on a string as decoration. A man starts to arrange the flags on another string rope. The camera tracks past the grass lawn where people have carried out tables and chairs from their homes for the communal party. A sign indicates Weardale Drive, West Lane and Langdale Walk on Woodlands Close Estate. People attempt to set up a trestle table with food but the cups keep blowing away in the windy weather, and people are sheltering and getting their food and drink from a tent. The film tracks around the many different Jubilee parties taking place around the estate despite the rainy weather:  Gudmunsen Avenue, Richardson Avenue, Dere Avenue. The Westernaires juvenile jazz band marches back onto the estate after their performance. At Walker Drive, a celebration takes place at a community centre. Youngsters have a comic two-legged race in fancy dress, falling over. At Hardisty Crescent and on to Ruddock Avenue, another street party is taking place. A young woman runs out of one of the houses to join the party. The children wave to camera. Group portrait of some of the children in their fancy dress. The sun’s out now. The trestle table is laden with cakes, buns and tarts and the children grab food and eat messily for the camera, young and old outside for the celebration. The camera tracks quickly past the children’s party in Lowther Road. People pose outside their decorated houses. Children give the thumbs up and run in front of the camera. At Crawford Close, two red, white and blue iced cakes are on display. Portrait shot of a woman enjoying a mug of tea beside the cakes. The camera lingers over the Jubilee decorations in the houses. A young girl and a mum enjoy a dance in the street. General view of the green where the party takes place. Children play on the green down Taylor Avenue and there’s party food laid out for the children, many wearing handmade red, white and blue paper hats as they enjoy a special lunch outside. Various portrait shots of the children follow. The royalist decoration is documented. And there’s a gramophone cabinet outside, a vinyl record on the deck. The children join hands and dance in a large group. At Howard Close, women are arranging food for a children’s party on the long trestle table. A red, white and blue iced Jubilee cake takes pride of place. A woman hands out sweets. General view of children and fathers playing games, two having a wheelbarrow walk. Portrait shot of a man in a dress. Everyone helps themselves to food. Close-up portrait of the man in a dress and wig.  Close-up of a boy being given the ‘bumps’. On Farm Close, some men and women have a kick about with a football as people begin to gather outside. The camera tracks quickly by the street party on Proudfoot Drive, then records the children tucking into the food, happily sitting down a very long table. Various shots of individual children and the general gathering follow. Jubilee mugs are handed out to the children. [The estate, to the east of Bishop Auckland, was built on farmland and pit heaps in the 1950s to home the people being displaced by the clearance of the old mining communities in south Durham.]