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Film Search Yorkshire

 

Still from the Heather Reynolds collection. Evacuees in Malton, North Yorkshire, 1940

'Archive film was not made to be put on a shelf to go mouldy, it was made to be seen and enjoyed, and we know that out there in our region there are still an awful lot of film that needs preserving so that we can hand it down to future generations'

     - Binny Baker, Film Officer, Yorkshire Film Archive

 

In 2001 Yorkshire Film Archive was awarded a grant by the Heritage Lottery Fund to run a two year project called 'Film Search Yorkshire'. At the time YFA was part way through moving to its brand new purpose built premises in the centre of York, and 'Film Search Yorkshire' was one way of ensuring that we kept new collections coming in, and that YFA could still be out and about in the region, giving local film shows, holding events, and finding thousands of feet of previously undiscovered film collections.

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Thornton Home Guard, Bradford, 1940s

Amongst the collections that have been uncovered there are films of the Sheffield Steel industry in the 1930's, school life in the 1950's, workers on Hull Docks, cave rescue teams in the Yorkshire Dales, the impact of World War 2, with footage of the Local Defence Volunteers, Land Army girls and evacuees sent to the country from our industrial centres of Leeds, Sheffield and Hull, the harsh winters of 1947 and 1963, and family holidays on the coast, complete with Butlins Knobbly Knees contests.

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Still taken of trams passing through Sheffield c. 1940's

All of these films have added to the richness of the growing collections held by the Yorkshire Film Archive. Many of them needed preservation work undertaking before they could be made accessible, and all of the collections are now stored in our temperature and humidity controlled vaults to safeguard the original material.