A film by a local amateur filmmaker, Kenneth Raynor, this film features some aspects of village life in Swallownest, South Yorkshire, as autumn arrives. Title  On The Trail Of The Fall The film opens with a poem, “When the summer glory that was summer fades, – imperceptivity at first and then quickly, think always of what past tradition remains – war-time or peace.  Because of steam and what covers travel Harvest in England or anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere has lost some of a vital...

A film by a local amateur filmmaker, Kenneth Raynor, this film features some aspects of village life in Swallownest, South Yorkshire, as autumn arrives. Title  On The Trail Of The Fall The film opens with a poem, “When the summer glory that was summer fades, – imperceptivity at first and then quickly, think always of what past tradition remains – war-time or peace.  Because of steam and what covers travel Harvest in England or anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere has lost some of a vital meaning, and importance because there is the hope, and promise of the Southern Harvest . . But Harvest remains still in England . . ” This is followed by fields with hay bales, and leaves fallen onto the ground.  A boy, standing on top of a ladder, picks apples from a tree which he brings down in baskets.  He eats one with a small girl.  Around the farm, there is a horse-drawn cart stacked with hay, and chickens wander around.  An old harvester cuts the grain which is then stacked into high piles. The film moves to the village where there is a school and shops, Hiltons selling crafts and shoes.  A number 28 bus pulls up for Wickersley. Intertitle  –  The bread in the shop window . . . reminds me!  The window-less green grocers reminds us of the food from the Earth! In the shop window there is bread, and a woman buys some groceries.  Three boys paddle in a pool where people are walk around the park and sit among the trees.  A woman and a small girl stand on the corner of Middle Lane.  Next is Rotherham Minster and the city centre full of buses and shoppers. Intertitle  –  Perhaps this is a case of Bread for Energy! In a school playground girls perform exercises and games in lines.  Washing hangs out to dry in the sun and the wind.  There is more harvesting, and some boys gather bales and put them together. Intertitle  –  Meanwhile while strong men work and sweat . . . May we introduce some never-sweats? Some men and women come out of houses and pose for the camera.  One man walks onto the main road through the village. Intertitle  –  You’re not really reading Olive, now are you? A woman in glasses stands reading while a group of people sit in deckchairs in a field. Intertitle  –  Stay Put!!   Stay Put!!   Stay Put!!    Stay Put!!   Stay Put!!  . . . . while Mr J W Duckham ASC also Miss Peggy Cagen of unknown qualifications . . takes your photos . . . . A man and a woman stand facing the camera and take photos. Intertitle  –  that’ll be better than yours – with the cine camera! The man wags his finger at the cine camera and winds on his film. Back at the school playground, girls skip around the schoolyard.  The cine camera is perched on the handle bars of a bicycle filming from the front wheel as rides along.  Then the bicycle is parked near a field. Intertitle  –  A sunny afternoon in Beighton A van with “Crawfords” written on the back passes down the main road of the village.  Children play in a side street. Intertitle  –  . . . darkness into evening as the pigeons wheel . . as the clouds gather by the church tower . . . . Some swallows fly overhead, and there are scenes of the village church. Intertitle  – In the same evening, the thresher arrives and goes up to sleep in the farm-yard for a hard tomorrow . . . . A large tractor pulls a wagon of hay, and a bus, number 15 for Sheffield, arrives in the village. Intertitle  – Now fades the glimmering landscape on the slight; And all the air a solemn stillness holds: There are more views of fields and with an old plough and a harvester being pulled by a tractor.  Farm labourers fork the harvest from large stacks into a steam thresher whilst the grain is put into sacks and the hay carried off to be put into large stacks.   Intertitle  – Without comment  . . . .   Some pigs lay basking in a field, followed by returning to the school playground where girls play a game with a ball.  Outside women stand with prams.  Intertitle  – Symbolic in utter expression.  Today, or a century ago . . . Aston Church throu’ a frame of age-old form.  Both unchanged . . .  An old plough stands abandoned in a field, and children and adults walk through the churchyard.  Some of them sit on a bench and look at the camera. Intertitle  – At the farm they’re on another job-chaffing. Farm labourers sweep up the remains of the hay and put it into sacks. Intertitle  – By afternoon gone is the strong brilliance of the morning.  The woodside is dull and colourless save where a branch touches a section of cloud against the setting sun. . . . . The film shows the sky, the wind blowing in the trees, and the ploughed fields. Intertitle  – Some flowers are left.  Much leaf has fallen – most brown with green touching gold.  Nature always presents what seems to be anomaly . . The end of the year, is the time of colour. (Colour) In a park there are pink flowers and fallen leaves.  A woman buys an ice cream wafer from a vendor selling ice cream from a cart, with ‘Ebory’s’ written on the side. Intertitle  – A wandering farewell to Swallownest in an open exhibit – There are images of the school, cows, a horse, men walking, and a Belisha beacon. Intertitle  – Our old familiar farm, on top of the ridge . . . The earth turned moist and brown and waiting. The autumn proper here again. More images of fields, cows, pigs and piglets, and a group of elderly men stand on a road by a field. Intertitle  – Kiddies must be got rid of when housework is on the air A small boy stands by a blanket hanging out to dry in a garden, and back in the school playground, girls stand in a large circle and play another kind of game with a ball.  This is followed by more shots of the surrounding countryside.  Two cart horses pull a plough, and hay bales are made up by men and boys in a field. The film closes with an and title – The End,  8mm documentary, On the Trail of the Fall No. 1 F K Raynor