701-720

701  LINCOLN CO-OP FIRE
Lincoln  1969
2.75 min  Colour  Super 8mm  Silent
Street scenes as powerful water jets from various appliances hose down the building after the flames have been extinguished.  Later scenes effectively depict the blackened ruins.

702  CLAY PIGEON SHOOT
Gedney Drove End  1964
3.25 min  Colour  Standard 8mm  Silent
Organised by the Holbeach & District Wildfowlers’ Association.  Participants seem remarkably diverse in both character and age. The noted wildfowler Kenzie Thorpe is said to be present.

703  PEA VINING
Holbeach Hurn  1964
3.75 min  Colour  Standard 8mm  Silent
Filmed at a farm belonging to A.H.Worth Farms (of Fleet).  Vining takes place in a large yard, where the harvested vines are fed into a long row of machines with the help of tractors and hand operated grappling hooks.  After processing, waste is seen going up an elevator and into waiting lorries, whilst the peas flow out into capacious hoppers, the entire operation being illustrated with admirable clarity.

704  BUILDING THE HUMBER BRIDGE
Barton on Humber  1973-81
72 min  Colour  Standard 8mm  Sound
Exhaustive coverage of all the main stages of construction (though certain developments on the north bank were filmed from the south bank using telephoto lenses).  Preliminary stages such as the building of temporary work roads are followed by the casting of the main concrete towers, portal beams and anchorages, the spinning of the steel support cables, the lifting of prefabricated deck sections into position, work on the roadway, and the first crossing by sightseers.  There are also some effective views from the top of the south tower.  Though somewhat repetitive, the film contains many dramatic images of considerable interest, and its coverage of the official opening by H.M. The Queen usefully supplements footage of the same event seen in 669.

705  HUMBER BRIDGE
Barton on Humber  1980/81
4.75 min  Colour  Super 8mm  Sound
A random collection of scenes filmed on Super 8mm at the same time as the matching Standard 8mm footage used in 704 and not significantly adding to it.  Main items are the lifting of deck sections, views from the south tower, and scenes of traffic crossing the bridge at dusk.  There is no voice over.

706  THE SEARCH FOR ENERGY
[CLEETHORPES GEOTHERMAL PROJECT]
Cleethorpes  1984
27 min  Colour  Super 8mm  Sound
In the hope of using naturally occurring hot water from deep below the earth’s surface as a source of energy, a number of exploratory bores were drilled in various parts of the country.  This film is about the one at Cleethorpes.  The operation of the drilling rig is shown in considerable detail: first the drilling itself, accompanied by the pumping of liquid mud into the hole; then the lining of the bore hole, the extraction and inspection of rock cores, and the use of liquid nitrogen in the bore so that subterranean pressure would drive the water up to the surface.  A visit to the site by Giles Shaw, Under Secretary at the Department of Energy, is also featured.  Sadly, the temperature of the water recovered was lower than had been hoped, and the film ends with the dismantling of the rig and the site itself left deserted and abandoned.

707 PRINCE CHARLES VISITS RUSTON BUCYRUS
Lincoln  1979
3.5 min  Colour  Standard 8mm  Silent
Prince Charles examines earth-moving equipment parked in the forecourt, and then moves inside for a tour of the factory.  Informal footage filmed unofficially by an RB employee, whose presence Prince Charles acknowledges with a friendly smile.

708 A DAY IN THE LIFE OF CHELMSFORD GIRLS’ SCHOOL
Grimsby  1961
18.5 min  Colour  16mm  Silent
Chelmsford is fondly remembered as a happy school, and this delightful evocation of the life there makes it easy to see why.  With a good eye for atmosphere and interesting detail, it covers almost every aspect of the Secondary Modern curriculum, with classes for Housekeeping, Needlework, Maths, Biology, History, Music, English, Geography, Dancing, Science, Cookery and Art.  Gym, Games, Exams and the School Play are also featured, together with such staples as Assembly, the Register, free milk and school dinners.  This was clearly a school of which staff and pupils were justifiably proud, and the picture the film presents is likely to induce a profound sense of nostalgia in anyone for whom those were the days.

709  THE GOOD THINGS OF LIFE
Various  1961
22 min  Colour  16mm  Sound
An earlier Smedleys promotional film than The Harvest Is Yours (see Acc No 663), and perhaps less imaginatively photographed, but full of interest nevertheless.  Fieldsmen are seen at work in various locations, and the Spalding and Wisbech factories are both featured.  Major sequences cover the tinning of Scottish raspberries and the production of frozen peas.  Two generations of the Smedley family are also seen.

710  VISIT TO ELSHAM COUNTRY PARK
Elsham  1979
6.5 min  Colour  Super 8mm  Silent
Laceby History Group’s annual summer outing.  The Group have quiz sheets to fill in as they spot trees, plants, exotic birds, etc.  The highlight of the visit is not so much a picnic as an amazing full scale buffet including hot dogs. ham salad, cakes, etc, all brought with them on the coach – an organisational tour de force.

711  PICNIC AT NORMANBY HALL
Normanby  1980
6.75 min  Colour  Super 8mm  Silent
Another outing by the Laceby History Group, with exterior views of the Hall, visitor attractions in the Park, and another stupendous picnic.

712  STANFORD SCHOOL 250th BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS
Laceby  1980
6.5 min  Colour  Super 8mm  Silent
Hoisting the school flag, primary school children with presentation mugs, prolonged scenes of the children dancing round a maypole, and informal scenes at the church, where the bishop (of Lincoln?) is present in full regalia.

713  CENTENARY GARDEN PARTY
Laceby  1989
6.25 min  Colour  Super 8mm  Silent
The annual Laceby Church fête usually followed a well-established tradition, with the same stalls and very similar entertainments every year.  But for this special centenary occasion, the organisers and some of the visitors dressed in Victorian costume, and by contrast, the principal attraction was a troupe of child majorettes.  The usual tombola stalls, etc, are also seen.

714  STANFORD SCHOOL 260th BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS
Laceby  1990
6.75 min  Colour  Super 8mm  Silent
The children and teachers are all dressed in (roughly speaking) Victorian or Edwardian costume, and play typical period games, bowling hoops, whipping tops, riding hobby-horses, and walking on stilts, whilst parents and visitors watch from the sidelines.  Country dancing follows, and the children are then seen, still in costume, entering the church.

715  OPENING GLADSTONE STREET FILLING STATION
Gainsborough  1959
2.25 min  Colour  16mm  Silent
A considerable crowd gathers to watch as the Carnival Queen arrives in a veteran car to be greeted by various civic officials, a Charlie Chaplin lookalike and a line of costumed chorus girls.  More razzamatazz than a couple of petrol pumps might seem to warrant, but an unusual item of more than local interest.  The pumps themselves, though the latest thing in their day, now seem very dated.

716  MOLLY PILCHER WEDDING
Boston  1938
6 min  B/W & Colour  16mm  Silent
The wedding of Rosalind Mary Pilcher to Dr Philip Vincent Hardwick at Boston Stump on 28 June 1938.  This was clearly a major event in the town’s social calendar, and the film itself is now of much historical interest, for both costume (top hats, fancy summer frocks) and custom (the street outside lined with onlookers).

717  SUGAR FROM BEET
Wissington (Norfolk)  1976 c
14.5 min  Colour  16mm  Sound
The extraction and refining of sugar from beet is explained with admirable clarity (and a welcome absence of self-congratulation), from the arrival of the beet lorries and the testing of the load’s sugar content, to the subsequent processing of the crop and the distribution of the end product in its familiar packaging.  The manufacture of animal feed as a useful by-product is also briefly noted.  Filmed at the British Sugar Corporation’s flagship factory at Wissington (near Downham Market) but since the process was virtually identical at all the BSC’s other factories, one stands for all, giving a good impression of work at the Spalding, Bardney and Brigg refineries.

718  AERIAL CROP SPRAYING
Boston Area  1970s
18 min  Colour  Single 8mm  Silent
The work of the Lincolnshire Aerial Spraying Co, based at Boston Aerodrome.  Piper Pawnee aircraft are seen spraying and dusting crops in the Boston area, landing periodically so that ground crew can replenish their tanks and hoppers.  The material is as shot, and of variable quality, but contains much of potential interest.  (See also Acc No 401)

719  THE 'ROSS KELVIN' AT SEA
Grimsby, North Sea  1968 c
16 min  Colour  Standard 8mm  Silent
Scenes at Grimsby Docks, followed by typical commercial fishing activities aboard a small North Sea side trawler, hauling in the catch, gutting fish, etc.  Filmed by the ship’s cook, and probably combining footage from two different voyages.

720  FARMING AT BUTTERWICK
Butterwick (Nr Boston)  1948 c
9 min  B/W  9.5mm  Silent
Scenes ranging from working horses to crop-spraying by helicopter emphasise the way in which technical innovation and long-established tradition could be found side by side on farms in the immediate post-war period.