This amateur film by Philip Warren and the RGS Film Unit shows pupils of the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle upon Tyne, visiting the Isle of Eigg in the Scottish Inner Hebrides for a 'survey expedition' camp. The pupils use survey equipment, learning electronics as well as outdoor pursuits such as rock climbing. The film opens with a sketch drawing of a man operating a cine camera with an assistant. Title: Isle of Eigg Survey Camp, R.G.S. Film Unit Title: Photographed by Philip...

This amateur film by Philip Warren and the RGS Film Unit shows pupils of the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle upon Tyne, visiting the Isle of Eigg in the Scottish Inner Hebrides for a 'survey expedition' camp. The pupils use survey equipment, learning electronics as well as outdoor pursuits such as rock climbing. The film opens with a sketch drawing of a man operating a cine camera with an assistant. Title: Isle of Eigg Survey Camp, R.G.S. Film Unit Title: Photographed by Philip Warren, R.G.S. Film Unit The film begins with a travelling shot from a steam passenger train travelling through the Scottish landscape en route to Mallaig. The station name board for Mallaig appears. Members of the school expedition camp get off the train and collect baggage together on the station platform. The boys use a trolley and a costermonger’s barrow to transport some of the heavier luggage and equipment. At their destination they use similar barrows to move their luggage onto a boat moored at the quayside named the ‘Western Isles’. The boys load their luggage, equipment and provisions onto the boat. General views show fishermen at work on another boat in the harbour. A line of fishing boats are anchored nearby. The expedition boat sets sail, passing other boats in the harbour. General views show a town on a rocky coastline and the boat's destination in the distance. The sea begins to get rough then the film cuts to a view of cottages on a hillside not far from the shore. The boat approaches the harbour side on Eigg where some men wait to greet the survey team. The team gets off the boat and unload the equipment and luggage on the quayside to sort out and transport to their camping site. They load some of their equipment onto the back of a flatbed lorry. Some of the team enjoy a rather precarious trip sitting on their luggage as the lorry takes them to their temporary headquarters. A general view follows of a hillside across some open water showing a small cottage and bell tents in a field. A closer view follows of the tents at the team campsite. [Blank section] A view follows of one of the tents with farm buildings nearby, the sea and the magnificent scenery of mountains in the distance. One of the leaders on the trip checks his watch then blows a whistle.The boys race down a track carrying plates and mess tins. and run up a narrow path between some rose bushes. Porridge is served on the metal dishes they are carrying, from a table outside. Then they have a second course of sausages and baked beans. A pile of dishes and cutlery wait to be washed, three of the team get to work washing up. A briefing session follows as the whole survey team are given instructions by their leader. A close-up follows of him speaking. Piles of white bread sandwiches and cake are laid out on a table. The survey team head off down a track away from the camera. The track takes them up a hill. A dramatic view follows of the south eastern end of a mountain known as An Sgurr and its south eastern point, known as the Nose of Sgùrr. [Eigg] The walkers pass by the camera and continue on their way along a track. They pause not far from the imposing bulk of An Sgurr The walkers head off towards the mountain, a closer view follows of what is the result of one of the last eruptions of a volcano, the cooling lava forming column like structures similar to the Giant’s Causeway. The walkers arrive at the foot of the mountain and start climbing up towards a gap in the rocks. They make their way over the fallen rocks, which litter the pathway through the gap. They finally sit down on some grass near a rocky outcrop to eat their sandwiches. General views follow across open water to other parts of the island, and a smaller island nearby, the landscape, mountains and sea. Three members of the survey team take measures using poles and a surveyor’s compass. One boy dictates readings from a notebook as another plots them out on paper. Next a campfire and a meal next to a corrugated iron shed. Two boys go out on the water in a rowing boat, their friends helping to shove off from the shore. Two team members continue surveying using a different method, a plane table and alidade. The film cuts back to the two boys in the rowing boat. The boys at the plane table use the boys in the rowing boat to plot positions in their survey. One of the boys in the boat drops a weighted piece of thin rope into the water perhaps to check water depth. [Blank Section] A number of the team gather together branches from small trees or bushes, trimming leafy twigs or cutting them into shorter pieces using axes and machetes. They start digging turf using square patterns made by the trunks or branches off small trees. They then pile some of the cuttings and small bits of wood into the square patches in the turf. They are set alight and a night view shows the burning piles of wood on the bonfire. [underexposed film] A performance of country dancing, Scottish bagpipe, folk music with guitars, melodeon and banjoes and singers takes place in a small hall. One of the survey team operates wireless telegraphy equipment connected to a radio mast. Close-ups show the point of needle on a meter on the front of one piece of equipment oscillating back and forth, and a small open reel tape player in operation. A member of the team sits next to the operator taking notes. Another view shows a piece of electrical equipment on its side, exposing the components inside. Two members of the team make some repairs, one using a soldering iron the other uses a meter to test the circuitry. [Blank Section] A team member climbs a rock face with a safety rope attached. A view taken from above shows his progress. A colleague below him plays out the safety rope as he climbs. He successfully reaches the top and his colleague below follows on. Next, two climbers abseil down a rock face to the ground, one after the other. [Blank section] Members of the survey team pack up tents and gather luggage and equipment for the journey home. Everything is piled on the truck again and it moves of with some of the boys sitting on the pile of tents and equipment. A view follows of open sea dotted with small islands and a mountain range in the distance. The survey team are waved off by islanders on the jetty as the boat takes them back to the mainland. Title: The End – R.G.S. Film Unit - MCMLXI