Metadata
WORK ID: YFA 1484 (Master Record)
| Title | Year | Date |
| EYE ON THE RIVER | 1987-1988 | 1987-01-01 |
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Details
Original Format: Super 8 Colour: Colour Sound: Sound Duration: 14 mins 48 secs Credits: Commentary Richard Perkin, production team: Arthu Steels, Duncan Ward, Fred Wells, Doreen Wood Leeds Movie Makers Subject: Urban Life |
| Summary This is a film documenting work being done in Leeds to clean up the rivers, waterways, and restore old buildings. The film was made by members of the Leeds Movie Makers. |
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Description
This is a film documenting work being done in Leeds to clean up the rivers, waterways, and restore old buildings. The film was made by members of the Leeds Movie Makers.
Title - Leeds Movie Makers Presents: Eye on the River
The film begins showing the North Yorkshire landscape and the River Aire, warning of its pollution. A sign for the Yorkshire Water Authority at Esholt is seen before the river enters Leeds. Along the side are derelict warehouses and evidence of pollution. Out of this...
This is a film documenting work being done in Leeds to clean up the rivers, waterways, and restore old buildings. The film was made by members of the Leeds Movie Makers.
Title - Leeds Movie Makers Presents: Eye on the River
The film begins showing the North Yorkshire landscape and the River Aire, warning of its pollution. A sign for the Yorkshire Water Authority at Esholt is seen before the river enters Leeds. Along the side are derelict warehouses and evidence of pollution. Out of this common problem of pollution came the European Year of the Environment, with the theme of 'Water and the City.' Included in this scheme is a competition for cleaning. A group of people are clearing up a wooded area and Leeds Town Hall and Leeds Dept. of the Environment are shown. The place is in the Kirkstall Valley, near an abandoned power station, where a nature reserve is planned. A makeshift sign requests polluters to take their rubbish with them. People from Newlay Conservation Society are busy loading a skip and cleaning the plot of land close to a river.
The film then moves to the Pollard cast iron bridge, and other bridges over the river, such as Victoria Bridge, as it makes its way out of Leeds to merge with the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, past the new Asda building and Leeds Bridge. On the bridges, Victorian style lighting is being installed. There is the redevelopment of Victoria Quay turning the warehouses into apartments. The river then flows past other bridges on its way out of the city, with further evidence of pollution. Workman from the River Authority cut branches off trees that have fallen into the river and take samples of water to test the levels of pollution.
A derelict mill, now inhabited by cats, is overlooked by the old cooling towers of Skelton Grange Power Station. The Thwaite Mill restoration group have come together to repair the water wheel, adding a fish ladder, for the Mill to open as a working industrial museum. A delegation from Leeds twin city, Lille, visits an event at the newly built visitor centre at the mill. They then go on a cruise on the canal. They make their way through several locks until they reach Armley Industrial Museum where they are met by the Curator, and after the visit, it's onto Meanwood Valley Urban Farm where they plant a chestnut tree as a momento if their visit.
Geoff Hoggart, President of the Leeds Environment Association, receives the trophy on behalf of the Leeds project for winning first prize in the European Year of the Environment competition.
End credits: commentary Richard Perkin, production team: Arthur Steels, Duncan Ward, Fred Wells, Doreen Wood
Context
The film was made by members of the Leeds Movie Makers, a local filmmaking group with roots that can be traced back to Leeds Cine Club and the original Leeds Camera Club set up in 1893. As a not-for-profit amateur film club, the primary aim was to encourage movie making in its many forms through workshops, practical sessions, and competitions. Many of the productions attributed to the group were the result of the collaborative efforts of many members including regulars Alan Abbott, Arthur...
The film was made by members of the Leeds Movie Makers, a local filmmaking group with roots that can be traced back to Leeds Cine Club and the original Leeds Camera Club set up in 1893. As a not-for-profit amateur film club, the primary aim was to encourage movie making in its many forms through workshops, practical sessions, and competitions. Many of the productions attributed to the group were the result of the collaborative efforts of many members including regulars Alan Abbott, Arthur Steeles, Doreen Wood and many more. The group garnered respect from their peers and clearly a reputation in high places as in the late 1970s they were hired to film the Leeds Annual Lord Mayor’s Parade and did so regularly over subsequent years. These films are now collected at the Yorkshire Film Archive. See LORD MAYOR'S PARADE 1984 (LEEDS) (1984) and others.
The film ‘Eye on the River’ forms part of a large collection of Leeds Movie Makers films held at the archive, most of them shot between 1974 and 1985. Narrated by Richard Perkin of the group, the film begins by charting the path of the River Aire from its underground origin in the village of Malham North Yorkshire through the Airedale Valley and onto Leeds where the story of the European Year of the Environment (EYE) is told. To put this film into context 1987 was a significant year. The Single European Act (SEA), which was the first major revision of the 1957 Treaty of Rome, came into effect on 1st July 1987. The Act set the European Community an objective of establishing a single market by 31 December 1992 and laid out the blueprint for closer European integration, strengthening the EU Parliament and laying the basis for a European foreign policy. 1987 was also the 30th anniversary of the founding of the European Community (EC) and as such was considered an excellent opportunity to reflect and think about the direction Europe was going particularly concerning environmental issues. The burgeoning environmental movement and growing public awareness of 'green' issues gathered pace from the mid-1980s onwards and was brought into sharp focus through the activism of campaigning groups such as Greenpeace and the public outrage surrounding the sinking of the flagship vessel Rainbow Warrior in 1985. As the Chairman of the Committee on the Environment Mrs Beate Weber states in the opening paragraphs of the European Parliament Research papers from the time,“Events in Seveso, Bhopal, Chernobyl and Basel have shown quite clearly that there are two sides to industrial development…economic growth does not go hand in hand with an improvement in the ecological and social situation.” She continues with words that resonate even more strongly today, “Environmental problems are by their very nature supranational. National Legislation is virtually powerless when it comes to the pollution of seas and oceans, acid rain, radioactivity or the destruction of the ozone Layer in the atmosphere. In many areas relating to the environment it is only by working together that we have the chance of making some progress and also supporting the action taken at Local and regional Level.” The scenes of industrial decay on the once thriving Leeds waterways are used to illustrate the wider point of neglect and pollution common to cities all across Europe. In 1987 groups of people in these cities were determined to do something about these problems and the idea of the European Year of the Environment was born. The theme of ‘Water and the City’ was chosen and incentives would be offered with awards for the best projects. Relying on the enthusiasm of teams of dedicated volunteers, the ‘cooperation of commerce and industry’ and the funds that were made available through Leeds City Council and the Department of the Environment a number of initiatives could begin to get off the ground and the film charts the progress of some of these schemes. One of the first projects mentioned in the film is the redevelopment of Kirkstall Valley and a large area of land that would become the Kirkstall Valley Nature Reserve. The reserve is a 25.5 acre site that is managed by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and comprises wild flower meadows, wild orchard, woodland, scrubland and wetlands and includes a 7.5 acre island set in the River Aire. For the visitor today, playing a round of golf at Gott’s Park Public golf course or strolling along the path where the Aire meets the Leeds Liverpool canal, it is very easy to take this unspoilt natural haven for granted; but the calmness of this pleasant oasis away from the bustle of the city and the busy A65 belies the true history of its conception - the story behind its difficult birth is long and complex. In 1987 there were still many questions hanging over what was to be done with the site. After years of hard campaigning, legal wrangling and political corruption in high places (look up Mountleigh/LCDC scheme) the nature reserve finally came into being and opened to the public in 1992. The site was originally the location of Kirkstall power station built in 1931. The power station’s twin cooling towers were a familiar local landmark for many years, however changes to how electricity was supplied in the 1970s (Kirkstall was converted from coal to oil and impacted by the oil crisis resulting from the 1973 Arab-Israeli War) meant that many local power stations became redundant and it was closed in 1976. It was to be demolished three years later on 13th April 1979 and the site subsequently used as land-fill. See Leeds Movie Makers excellent film DAVID OF ARABIA AND COOLING TOWERS DEMOLITION (1979) for great footage of the prelude and aftermath of the demolition. The idea for a Kirkstall Valley Nature Reserve dated back to the Leeds City Council local plan in 1981, long before the Leeds Development Corporation (LDC) was established. At this stage the Council resolved to establish a "Kirkstall Valley Park" along the River Aire, stretching from the Armley Mills Industrial Museum nearest the city centre, to the open countryside near Rodley. Less than two miles from Leeds City Centre, the site belonged to the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) which was eventually privatised, and the land transferred to the National Grid Company (Gridco). The lagoons had been tipped with low grade building waste and fly ash from the power station with a thin layer of soil scattered on top, but the area was slowly regenerating, and had become an attractive area of sparse meadowland with wild flowers. With the collapse of the Mountleigh/LCDC scheme previously mentioned, it became obvious that the north-western tip of the Gridco land had very limited development potential. The idea of a permanent nature reserve was further developed by a team of local volunteers during the European Year of the Environment (EYE) in 1987 as mentioned in this film. Their proposal from "EYE on the Aire" eventually won first prize in the international European Year of the Environment competition and Geoff Hogarth the Treasurer of Leeds Environment Association collected the award from Prince Charles HRH the Prince of Wales. The final project was a joint venture between the former Leeds Development Corporation, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, EYE on the Aire and the Kirkstall Valley Campaign with Gridco providing the licence for the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust to occupy the land. 15,000 trees were planted to complement the existing oak, birch and willow on site as well as fruiting shrubs such as guelder rose, blackthorn and sea buckthorn. The area, once noted for orchards in medieval times, also supports a number of fruit trees including medlar, quince and five apple varieties. According to Yorkshire Wildlife Trust over 180 plant species have been recorded on site along with 65 species of birds including grey partridge and sixteen butterfly species. The reserve is also home to mammals such as foxes and badgers, there are also bats and otters can sometimes be seen by the old ford. Every spring the island at the centre of the river is enveloped in a colourful carpet of wild bluebells. The legacy of the project serves an example of what can be achieved through dedication, hard work and a certain amount of goodwill towards the interests of the wider community. The result of the hard work of campaigners like those volunteers and coordinators featured in this film (and no doubt individuals involved in the film’s making) mean that Kirkstall Valley Nature Reserve is one project that can be considered a resounding success and one that, thanks to those dedicated individuals, can be still be enjoyed by all to this day. For further viewing see: YORKSHIRE FROM THE AIRE (2000) This is a documentary about boats and barges on the River Aire, and those who use them. The film was made by Vera Media Production as part of the Yorkshire Media Consortium project. The documentary features interviews with many people connected with the river and its canals, from its source to Goole and on to the North Sea. THE SPIDER'S WEB (1970) This documentary focuses on the preservation efforts of the Yorkshire countryside made by Yorkshire Naturalists' Trust founded in 1946 and now known as Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. References: Yorkshire Wildlife Trust on Kirkstall Valley Nature Reserve Kirkstall Valley Campaign European Year of the Environment 1987-1988 in Research and Documentation Papers, Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection Series No. 10, 1987 Greenpeace and ‘Rainbow Warrior’ Kirkstall Valley Park |
