The Yorkshire Film Archive collects, preserves, and shows film made in, or about Yorkshire. Our collections are non-fiction, dating from the 1890s to the present day, and providing a rich and visually compelling record of all aspects of lives, cultures, landscape, industries, major events and everyday activities, many of which are available to watch, free of charge, on our website.
This film is part of Free
Focus on Nidderdale
This gentle portrait of Nidderdale brings out a sense of place that is revealed through the eyes of someone who has spent a lifetime getting to know its many charms.
From the collection of:
Overview
A beautifully shot reflection on the delights of Nidderdale in the Yorkshire Dales around 1982. The rather languid pace of the film reflects both the place and the temperament of its makers Ken Leckenby and his wife. A seasoned cine club member, Leckenby has made the most of the marvellous qualities of Kodachrome to produce some wonderful shots of the Dales, exceptional for an amateur filmmaker.
Although Ken Leckenby made films as a member of the Mercury Movie Makers Cine Club of Leeds, he also made many films of his own, including a series of films he titled ‘Out and About’, documenting local events. But he also made a number of documentary type films similar to this one, extolling the virtues of Yorkshire. Usually Ken would provide an informative commentary to go with the film. Ken would go out most weekends filming these, from the 1960s through to the 1980s. In fact, this film may well have been the last made by Ken or MMM using 16mm cine film, with Sony introducing their first camcorder, with combined sound, in 1983.