Metadata
WORK ID: YFA 4163 (Master Record)
| Title | Year | Date |
| ALL ABOARD THE MOONRAKER | 1975 | 1975-01-01 |
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Details
Original Format: 16mm Colour: Colour Sound: Sound Duration: 9 mins 20 secs Credits: Produced by Ken Leckenby Subject: Transport |
| Summary Made by Ken Leckenby of the Mercury Movie Makers, this film captures a journey along the River Ouse on a sunny summer's day in 1975. The Cine Club members have joined the crew of the Moonraker, a boat which is docked in the marina near Bishopthorpe, just outside York. |
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Description
Made by Ken Leckenby of the Mercury Movie Makers, this film captures a journey along the River Ouse on a sunny summer's day in 1975. The Cine Club members have joined the crew of the Moonraker, a boat which is docked in the marina near Bishopthorpe, just outside York.
Title - A Magnetic Sound Stripe Film Cine-Sync Sound System
KL Films Presents
All Aboard the Moonraker
Produced by Ken Leckenby
The film opens as two women walk down a dock at a marina just outside of York. They are...
Made by Ken Leckenby of the Mercury Movie Makers, this film captures a journey along the River Ouse on a sunny summer's day in 1975. The Cine Club members have joined the crew of the Moonraker, a boat which is docked in the marina near Bishopthorpe, just outside York.
Title - A Magnetic Sound Stripe Film Cine-Sync Sound System
KL Films Presents
All Aboard the Moonraker
Produced by Ken Leckenby
The film opens as two women walk down a dock at a marina just outside of York. They are headed towards the Moonraker, a boat on which they will travel along the River Ouse. It appears to be a warm, sunny day, and there are shots of the sun sparkling on the surface of the water. The women board the boat, and a man can be seen cleaning a sign which display's the boat's name. The boat sets off from the marina, and views can be seen from the boat's cabin.
The crew goes about their business, and one of the women collects water from the river by hanging a bucket over the side of the boat. A woman waves at the camera. As the boat approaches York, Bishopthorpe Palace can be seen on the lefthand side of the river. The Palace is home to the Archbishop of York.
A man in a kayak passes the Moonraker, and the boat makes its way under a new bridge and past a boat with many sunbathers. Other boats are docked, and as they continue on their journey, they pass the York Motor Yacht Club and Terry's Chocolate Factory. Further on, the Moonraker passes under Skeldergate Bridge and past Guildhall near Lendal Bridge. After this, the Moonraker docks near the Museum Gardens. Here, the ladies sunbathe on the front of the boat, and one of the men takes pictures of them from the walkway.
After docking and taking a brief rest, the Moonraker heads back down river, passing many boats on the way. The travellers enjoy their lazy day on the river. The boat makes its way back towards Lendal Bridge, the tower visible. Passing under Ouse Bridge, they head back to the marina. Throughout the film, images of the sun-sparkling water are intercut with other images from the journey.
Title - The End
A KL Film Production
Context
This film was made by Ken Leckenby of the Mercury Movie Makers, an amateur cine club based in west Yorkshire which is still running today. This film is one of many made by Mr Leckenby, he also created his own series of documentary-style films about Yorkshire called “Out and About”. He has had a lasting legacy within the club – they have an “Out and About” category as part of their annual competition and the prize is a Ken Leckenby trophy.
The Mercury Movie Makers was formed in 1959, and soon...
This film was made by Ken Leckenby of the Mercury Movie Makers, an amateur cine club based in west Yorkshire which is still running today. This film is one of many made by Mr Leckenby, he also created his own series of documentary-style films about Yorkshire called “Out and About”. He has had a lasting legacy within the club – they have an “Out and About” category as part of their annual competition and the prize is a Ken Leckenby trophy.
The Mercury Movie Makers was formed in 1959, and soon had many talented and passionate members – the 100th person joined the club in 1965. Members like Mr Leckenby had developed their craft over the years and had become adept at using 16mm gauge film, soon forming their own advanced team within the club which they named Mercury Movie Group 16. For Ken’s own films, he fashioned himself a logo for “KL Films” which can be seen at the start of most of his productions. As with most of Ken’s other films, he provides the commentary himself. This film was typical of the MMM’s style. It stars Ken’s wife, enjoying a summer’s day on the boat Moonraker floating down the River Ouse and taking in the beautiful scenery. Amateur filmmaking became a popular pastime when Kodak Eastmann standardised and improved the safety of 16mm film in 1923, making the hobby accessible to the general public for the first time – at least for those who could afford it. Amateur film is extremely useful as a historical source, the most famous example of which is perhaps the Zapruder tape which captured the assassination of JFK in 1963. This footage, shot by its namesake Abraham Zapruder, has been analysed in lots of forensic detail and this information was able to identify the fatal shot. Edited non-fiction films like those produced by the MMM first gained popularity in the early 20th century, as best known from the films of Lancashire film-makers Sagar Mitchell and James Kenyon. Their films would feature local events such as football matches or fairgrounds and were very popular as they featured the Average Joe, who would normally be underrepresented in film at this time. Film workshops and clubs have been around in Britain since the 1930s, examples of which are the Institute of Amateur Cinematographers (AIC) and the Federation of Cinematograph Societies (FCS). In the film we are taken on a roughly five mile journey down the river Ouse from Naburn dock to just past Ouse bridge, which is situated in York city centre. The River Ouse is a total of 52 miles long; forming at the River Ure in North Yorkshire and joining the River Trent at the Humber estuary in East Ridings. The river is an important part of York’s history, and has both aided and hindered the city’s progress. Romans founded York (known to them as Eboracum) on the banks of the rivers Ouse and Foss and connected York to several trade routes. When the Vikings arrived in 866AD, renaming the city “Jorvik”, they brought with them their shipbuilding and navigational skills which increased York’s export and import capabilities via the water-based trade routes. By the time the Normans had established themselves in York in the 14th Century it had become the country’s second richest city, exporting wool and grain to northern Europe and importing fruit from Spain. Unfortunately, this period also saw the Black Death in York, and trading ships from the Humber are partly to blame for carrying the disease and spreading it onshore. A build-up of sediment in the 16th Century made it difficult for merchant ships to navigate the river, so in 1757 Naburn lock was erected to deflect the Ouse’s tide; effectively clearing away the silt and allowing for more maritime trade in the city. The River continued to be extremely useful to the city and helped provide the new Rowntree’s and Terry’s (which can be seen in the video) factories with raw ingredients and machinery, as they are both situated riverside. Despite the arrival of the railway in York in 1839, barges were still used to transport freighted goods between York and Hull until the end of the 20th Century. Today, the river comes under protection from the Canal & River Trust. Pleasure boating really took off in Britain in the 1950s – the decade saw an increase in people holding cruising licences from 1500 to over 10,000. The Annual Festival of Boats began in 1950 and the first boat hire firms appeared in 1952. The 1970s saw an increase in leisure spending by eight times, and holiday allowance was increased from just two weeks to four, five or even as much as six weeks. Thanks to technical and industrial innovation, people had a lot more free time in the 1970s that ever before. The work ethic had changed in this decade too – people where starting to prefer their free time to being at work, and this film depicting a lazy day on the river is a great example of this. The River Ouse is still a large part of York’s tourism industry; York Rotary Club holds the annual Dragon Boat Race and there are many night-time and daytime cruises on offer. The dock at Naburn is still there today but has been renamed York Marina. References: Chapman, James, Film and History, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. Gaal-Holmes, P., A History of 1970s Experimental Film: Britain’s Decade of Diversity, AIAA, 2015. Jorvik Museum’s History of the Ouse: http://www.jorvik.co.uk/river-ouse/ History of York: The Railway Revolution: http://www.historyofyork.org.uk/themes/the-railway-revolution John Sergeant and David Bartley, Barging around Britain: Exploring the History of Our Nation’s Canals and Waterways, Michael Joseph, 2016. York Rotary Club website & history of the boat race: http://www.yorkrotary.co.uk/dragon-history/4543622163 Michael E.J Wadsworth and John Bynner A Companion to Life Course Studies: The Social and Historical Context of the British Birth Cohort Studies, Routledge, 2011. Haworth, J. Trevor and Veal, A. James (eds), Work and Leisure, Routledge, 2005. Further Reading: Canal & River Trust Website: https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/ York Marina Website: http://www.yorkmarina.co.uk/ |
