A new series shows footage of the region's past shot by amateur film-makers. Steve Pratt reports on their remarkable work.

WHEN producer Liz Treadway approached local amateur film-makers about showing their old home movies on TV, the response was usually the same. "What do you want to watch them for?," people would ask.

But, as the new Tyne Tees Television series The Way We Were demonstrates, these moving pictures from the past provide a valuable historical and social insight into what might nostalgically be called the old days.

The eight programmes take a journey through life in the North-East over the past three generations with unique, and often unseen in public, footage from amateur movie-makers.

The first edition alone includes 1920s film of King George V and Queen Mary celebrating the opening of Newcastle's Tyne Bridge and rare footage of children playing in Gateshead's Saltwell Park just after the Second World War.

Redcar is shown in its glory days as a major seaside resort, film from the 1930s features the famous skipping festival in Scarborough and footage of Swaledale shows life has changed little over the decades.

Future programmes cover topics such as growing up, going to school, people at work and play, wartime and holidays. The final show celebrates the local amateur film-makers without whom The Way We Were wouldn't be possible.

"Last year's series concentrated on industry - coalmining and shipbuilding and the effect on those who were there at the time. This year we've concentrated more on people," says Treadway.

"As well as using footage from the Northern Region Film Archive, I found a lot through amateur film-makers. There's about 18 minutes of old film in each programme.

"Most of the film was 16mm which has exquisite quality. Some is so good you think it looks like Heartbeat. There were a lot of amateur cine clubs around and much of the colour stuff is from the 1940s and 1950s."

She spent nine months working on the series, including tracking down the photographers and their children, many of whom appear on camera talking about their film-making relatives.

To accompany black and white footage from 1936 of one of the earliest nursery schools - in Darlington - she located one of the lads who was there at the time.

The series itself developed from When We Were Kids, shown four years ago. The ITV network adopted the idea, changing the title to The Way We Were. Other regions produce their own programmes.

The Tyne Tees series features Dorothy Morton, who lives near Bishop Auckland and was one of the few female amateur film-makers. She belonged to Bishop Auckland Photographic Club and remembers having to order her movie camera through the town's Co-op store because it couldn't be bought over the counter.

She switched from 8mm to 16mm to record foreign trips to places such as Russia, Egypt and the Caribbean. Holidaying in such exotic locations was much more unusual 40 years ago and she wanted to make a record of her experiences.

"I look back on those films as we go from Bishop Auckland station to London, which took seven or eight hours, and we were dressed up to the nines with gloves, hats and suits. You had matching luggage too," she says.

Nearer home, she filmed walks and picnics. Nowadays her camerawork is confined to family occasions, including weddings and christenings. "I have film from over 50 years ago and the colour is great," she says.

Chris Gardiner welcomed the chance to talk about his film-maker father, Bev. "He was so proud of what he'd done and this was an opportunity to fly the flag for him," he says.

He had hundreds of feet of his father's home movies in the loft, shot from the mid-1940s until his death in 1981. Bev Gardiner belonged to a Newcastle cine club and filmed his children growing up and holidays at Butlins in Filey and Seahouses, as well as local events including a ship going down the Tyne.

"When I was a kid and we had birthday parties, he'd show some of the films. Kids found them exciting because not many people had televisions," Mr Gardiner explains.

"He lost a leg in the Second World War in Italy and was limited in terms of what he could do as a hobby. Before he was a sportsman and dancer. He took up photography.

"The films were something he put a lot of effort into and was proud of, so it's not something you want to throw away."

In 1966, as president of the Dunkirk Veterans' Association, Bev Gardiner took the official film of the old soldiers' pilgrimage to Dunkirk. That led to an incident in which his fellow travellers feared for his safety.

"This particular day we were off to visit one of the Dutch islands," recalls his son, who was on the trip. "He was taking film of our departure and missed the boat. When we couldn't find him on the boat, we were left with the idea that he'd fallen overboard. Happily, he came over on the next ferry. But it was typical of his dedication to film-making that he missed the boat.

"What Liz has done in the series, which I really do appreciate, is give me the opportunity to sing his praises. It's like a diary in picture form and a good opportunity to share the films with people."

* The Way We Were begins on Tyne Tees Television tomorrow at 7.30pm.

Published: 05/01/2004