The North East Film Archive is one of a network of regional film archives established to collect, preserve and show film made in, or about the North East of England. Our collections are non-fiction, and date from the early 1900s to the present day, providing a rich record of life in the region over the 20th century. Many of our films are available to watch, free of charge, on our website.
This film is part of Free

Farm*
Reflections on the seasons of traditional farm life around Hartlepool in the 60s.
From the collection of:

Overview
Through the lens of a local farm hand, the slow rhythms of a farming year gently unfold at the friendly Ogle family farmsteads near Hartlepool. In sight of the North Sea coast sand hills, Hart Mill and Steetley magnesium works, livestock roam free and locals muck in with potato harvests. Traditional hay-stacks celebrate old skills but the gleaming red power machinery at the Stokesley Agricultural Show hint at a hi-tech future on the horizon.
The rush to produce food to beat the U-boats during the Second World War introduced a time of change in British agriculture, though modernisation of farms was uneven across the country. This first-hand chronicle of life on Hart Warren, Middle Warren and Throston Grange Farms in the 1960s proudly charts the gradual post-war turn from farm hand to machine – the Fordson Major tractor, automatic baler, combine harvester – whilst highlighting that manpower and traditional farming methods were still to the fore on these small farms. Stokesley Agricultural Show, one of the largest in the North, was founded in 1859 at a meeting held in the High Street inn, The Golden Lion.
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