This film was produced on behalf of the Todmorden News and Advertiser to give readers an insight into what goes into the making of their local newspaper.  It was the result of a collaboration between the Works Manager, Peter Waddington – son of long-time proprietor George Waddington – and an electrical retailer Norman Brown.  They were both keen to take up filmmaking as a hobby.   Peter Waddington got his father-in-law, Harry Mitchell, an authority on the printing industry, to provide a local...

This film was produced on behalf of the Todmorden News and Advertiser to give readers an insight into what goes into the making of their local newspaper.  It was the result of a collaboration between the Works Manager, Peter Waddington – son of long-time proprietor George Waddington – and an electrical retailer Norman Brown.  They were both keen to take up filmmaking as a hobby.   Peter Waddington got his father-in-law, Harry Mitchell, an authority on the printing industry, to provide a local accent for the narration.  It isn’t clear what the ‘B & D’ stand for above the silhouetted faces in the credits; the face on the left presumably represents the pipe smoking man in the shop (looking rather like Harold Wilson!).  The film premiered at a local college, and had several more public showings before being stored away, only to be shown again now; thanks to the Todmorden Antiquarian Society.

Sheila Nixon (née Howell), who appears several times in the film, has provided some notes on the film and those times.  She writes that the editor, Sam Tomkiss, would make the staff aware that, unlike national reporters, they lived within the community they served.  Sheila also notes that the chief reporter, John Graham, gave appreciated support to the Ukrainians who settled in Todmorden after the war.

Sheila herself started at the paper in 1959, going on to a forty year career in journalism.  Sheila has provided a day-by-day account of her working week.  It included covering the Juvenile Court and writing up weekend reports, such as cricket, on Mondays; travelling around the town on Tuesdays and Wednesdays getting information from local societies etc.; attending the Magistrates Court on Thursdays; whilst on Friday writing a children’s column, as well as the ‘Donkey Years’(25, 50 and 75 years ago) and other stories.

The film does indeed provide a fascinating view into the workings of a local newspaper fifty years ago: the kind of material that went into the paper, how it was gathered and how the paper was produced.  Surprisingly little has changed in relation to the kind of stories and events covered by local newspapers.  They still remain the only real source for much local information, even allowing for the growth of this on the internet – in fact often to be found there on local newspaper websites. 

Yet as far as the other two aspects of running a local newspaper is concerned, a great deal has changed.   Sheila Nixon notes that back then there were far fewer phones, and so reporters had to physically visit far more people and places to get stories and information.  As for the actual production process, the film provides a rare chance to see the old linotype printing process, using hot metal typesetting, in operation and explained in detail.  This has changed out of all recognition as linotype was replaced in the later 1960s and 1970s by offset lithography printing and computer typesetting.   Although it wasn’t until the mid-1980s that Rupert Murdoch’s News international made the switch, provoking the bitter strike of the print unions as Murdoch led the move for all national newspapers from Fleet Street to Wapping.  The YFA has several films showing the changeover in printing methods at the Yorkshire Post.

The film is re-appearing at a pivotal time for newspapers, both national and local.  At the time of writing (26th April 2012) MPs are holding a special debate on the future of local newspapers, called for by Louise Mensch, who claims that some 33 million people, over 70% of the adult population, read local newspapers.  Yet there has been a decline in advertising revenue, especially from the advertising markets of property, cars and jobs.  Along with other factors – the internet being another – this has led to many dailys becoming weekly, or closing down altogether.  The Newspaper Society, which represents the local press, estimates the year-on-year advertising slump at between 10% and 20%.  In this situation Mensch, a Conservative MP, argues for government subsidies for the industry.

At this same time, the Leveson Inquiry, into the ‘Culture, Practice and Ethics of the Press’, is well underway, revealing illegitimate, not to say often illegal, dealings between newspapers and the police and politicians.  Many of the practices that have been unearthed have no doubt been around for a long time. Yet this film paints a very different picture.  Here everything is above board and for the benefit of the local community, where journalists act with “sincerity and courage”.  Whatever the truth of this, the filmmakers seem keen to portray civic life in the best possible light, and the important role of the local newspaper in civic life.  Hence we are shown the local courts and local government in operation.  The filmmakers have clearly gone to some lengths to stage the accident scene (on Rochdale Road?), and obtain the co-operation of the police, the court and the local authority.

The example provided of the local magistrates court in action, a motoring offence – presumably the motorcycle accident (although a £3 fine seems a small penalty for a dangerous driving offence) – shows road safety as a theme of the film.  The bicycle training being another aspect of this.  Road safety was a major concern in the post-war period as the accident rate soared: in 1960 there were 262,000 road accidents compared to around 150,000 today (comparisons are difficult to make given the greater number of road miles now travelled).  Motorcycles were also much more common then: until the mid-1950s motorcycles outnumbered cars on our roads (although the trend is upward again, and there is still an average of 78 accidents involving motorcycles in the UK every day). 

The cycle training for children shown in the film is another connection to a topical issue.  Many of those who had bicycles in the 1960s will remember going on cycling proficiency courses as seen in the film.  Although cycling was in decline after the war, there were still many more cyclists on the roads in 1962 compared with today, and more cycling accidents.  There has been a recent rise in cycling though, and some 17,000 cyclists are killed or injured in reported road accidents each year.   Hence the current promotion of the Government supported cycling proficiency scheme, Bikeability.  The YFA has many other films relating to road safety from this period – see the Context for Tomorrow is too Late (1952).

Another interesting feature of the film is the reference to the connection between Cross Stone Vicarage and the Brontes.    There are in fact several connections.  An uncle of Mrs Patrick Bronte, the Rev John Fennel, was at St Paul’s Church, Cross Stone, from 1819-1841 (becoming vicar in 1929); the Bronte children stayed on a visit in 1829; one of the curates, Parson William Grimshaw, later moved to Haworth where he preceded the Rev Patrick Bronte; and his successor, the Rev. Sutcliffe Sowden, was a friend of the Bronte family. 

The very widespread role that local newspapers play, from recording births and deaths to bringing local politicians to account, has been highlighted by journalist Stephen Moss.  He notes that the internet is no real substitute for a local paper: “There are . . potential class and age issues here: the blogging community is young and middle-class, readers of local papers older and more working-class. If the transition is out of synch and tracts of the country are deprived of their papers before this more organic network of news-gathering, information-sharing and social action is properly developed, the great unplugged will be left in limbo, sitting in pubs fretting about their declining communities and lost relatives.”

Fortunately, the Todmorden News and Advertiser is still going (although now called just Todmorden News).  The court, however, was closed in January 1993 when all the district’s criminal courts were amalgamated in Halifax, becoming part of the Calderdale Magistrates Court.  Todmorden Town Council retains the same structure now as it had then, with three councillors for each of the six wards – although the make-up of the council is now refreshingly more diverse in age, sex and ethnicity!

References

Notes made by Sheila Nixon held at YFA.
Health and Transport Group, Active Transport: Cycling
MPs told local press decline bigger issue than hacking, Press Gazzette
Stephen Moss, Stop press