Set up in 1977, the North West Film Archive preserves moving images made in or about Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Cheshire, Merseyside and Cumbria and offers a variety of access services to users in the public, academic and commercial sectors.
This film is part of Free
Coloured Woven Cloth Production by Barden Mill Co., (Burnley) Ltd
Warp twisting and high speed pirn winding? Come inside a Lancashire mill to find out more.
From the collection of:
Overview
Warp dressing and twisting, pirn winding and chain beaming. Take a detailed look at the stages of cloth production at the Barden Mill Company in the Lancashire town of Burnley. Designers, skilled craftsmen, mill workers and the high technology of the day all have a role to play. The film concludes in the works canteen where Christmas dinner is prepared and served to the employees.
Sam Hanna was a Burnley-born amateur filmmaker with a lifelong passion for making films. Born in 1903, he became a teacher of handicrafts and, against strong opposition from the education authorities, pioneered the use of film in the classroom. Self-taught, Hanna's filmmaking spanned six decades, from the 1930s to the 1980s. Sam was also an inventor, developing new techniques for screening and editing films such as the daylight screen, the Loop Absorber and the Effects Box.
Related
Watch for free
Caefelin Laundry, Llangollen Caefelin Laundry, Llangollen
Home movie 1937 20 mins Silent Location: Llangollen
Nellie Boote's laundry in Market Street in operation, the women dashing away with all manner of smoothing irons as clothes are sorted, mended, washed, ironed and sorted again.
Watch for free
For Sheer Perfection For Sheer Perfection
Documentary 1965 24 mins Location: Langley Mill
A mile of yarn and a million loops to make one stocking: the culmination of a four hundred year old craft.
Watch for free
Paper Fashion Paper Fashion
News 1967 6 mins Location: Newcastle upon Tyne
Fashion doesnt grow on treesor does it! Tyne Tees TV was bang on-trend with this brilliant news feature on the hip 1960s cult for a disposable age - paper fashion.
Watch for free
Fancy Yarn Production Fancy Yarn Production
Industry sponsored film 1971 23 mins Location: Greengates
Twisted yarns and empty spindles, everything from Bouclé to Slub yarn, from beginning to end, and all, in the end, displayed on a ‘normal’ model in typical 1970s fashion.
Watch for free
Working to a Pattern Working to a Pattern
Documentary 1980 32 mins
Rag trade revival or sweatshops? In the back streets of Brick Lane, Bangladeshi machinists sew 70s fashions
Watch for free
Winter Fashions have been Modelled in a Park in Exmouth Winter Fashions have been Modelled in a Park in Exmouth
News 1977 2 mins Silent Location: Exmouth
Wearing Fur gets Hairy
Watch for free
A Bit of Old Burnley A Bit of Old Burnley
Amateur film 1940 5 mins Silent Location: Burnley
Come for a drive around the streets of a busy Lancashire town.
Watch for free
Play is Education Play is Education
Amateur film 1965 10 mins Silent Location: Burnley
Learning is fun, but fun also means learning for Burnley nursery school children.
Watch for free
Preston Ladies Football and T.A. Volunteers Preston Ladies Football and T.A. Volunteers
Amateur film 1945 11 mins Silent Location: Preston
Playing the beautiful game - the ladies from Lancashire demonstrate their skills.
Watch for free
Helliwell Family Trip with Violet and Jack Helliwell Family Trip with Violet and Jack
Amateur film 1964 21 mins Silent Location: Heysham
Colourful amateur film showing family outings around Lancashire and a trip to Southampton to meet travellers from America
Watch for free
Lancashire League Championship Season 1938 Lancashire League Championship Season 1938
Sport 1938 15 mins Silent Location: Burnley
An exciting finale to the cricket season, and a chance to see the great George Headley in action.
Watch for free
Last Time Last Time
Amateur film 1982 6 mins Location: Burnley
The end of an era for a piece of Lancashire's steam-powered industrial heritage.
Watch for free
Getting it Back: The Story of Cymande - Q&A Getting it Back: The Story of Cymande - Q&A
Inside Film 2024 22 mins
The director of a documentary about British funk pioneers Cymande joins the band at BFI Southbank to talk about the film.
Watch for free
The West Case The West Case
Action and Adventure 1923 28 mins Silent Location: Tilbury
Plotting world domination, Devil Doctor Fu-Manchu steals plans for a new aero-torpedo in this earliest surviving thrill-a-minute serial instalment.
Watch for free
Enter the Scala!!! Enter the Scala!!!
Inside Film 2024 16 mins
Filmmakers Jane Giles and Ali Catterall discuss their documentary Scala!!!, revisiting the legendary and inspirational cinema venue and some of the most notorious films that screened there.
Watch for free
Smith Smith
Charity appeal 1939 10 mins
Long thought lost, this Powell-directed promotional short for a veteran’s charity was only rediscovered in 2003.
Watch for free
An Airman's Letter to His Mother An Airman's Letter to His Mother
Documentary 1941 6 mins
A poignant, stirring letter from a recently deceased pilot to his mother is read by John Gielgud.
Watch for free
The NHS75 Celebration The NHS75 Celebration
Short documentary 2023 3 mins
Former Bristol Poet Laureate, Miles Chambers reads a poem specially commissioned for the 75th anniversary of the NHS.