The East Anglian Film Archive, the first and largest Regional Film Archive in England, was established in 1976. Since 1984, EAFA has been owned and operated by the University of East Anglia, Norwich (UEA), to support research and work to preserve our moving image heritage. More than 250 hours are freely available online as examples of the wide range of film which attracts interest the world over.
This film is part of Free
Video Player is loading.
Holiday Hooliganism
Easter Monday crowds pour off the trains at Skegness and in Yarmouth, mods and rockers skirmish with the Police on Marine Parade.
From the collection of:
Overview
The long, sandy beaches at Great Yarmouth offer donkey rides and two piers, and the ‘Golden Mile’ seafront boasts twelve amusement arcades as well as numerous other attractions. The beaches both hold Blue Flag awards for cleanliness. Skegness and Great Yarmouth, both seaside towns, were popular bank holiday rendezvous points for East Anglian mods and rockers in the sixties and early seventies, when trouble between youths and the Police was a regular occurrence.
While most of the youths featured in this Anglia TV report don’t appear to follow the fashion style of mods or rockers, the scale of the crowds indicates some cohesive intentions. The rocker subculture centred around motorbikes and so they chose to wear black leather jackets and boots or brothel creepers. They wore their hair fairly long and swept upwards off the face. Mods, on the other hand favoured clean-cut, smart suits and haircuts, and many rode Vespa scooters, or similar. Music was important to both subcultures, and music venues and gigs were often the trigger points for hostilities.
Related
Watch for free
Easter Holiday Troubles Easter Holiday Troubles
Non-Fiction 1968 3 mins Silent Location: Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth, Cleethorpes, Skegness and Clacton all feature sunbathing, donkey rides, bank holiday traffic queues and rowdy youths.
Watch for free
Butlins Butlins
News 1979 10 mins Location: Skegness
Anglia TV reporter, Paul Barnes revisits the busy Butlins holiday camp at Skegness where he once worked as a Redcoat.
Watch for free
Royal School for the Deaf, Derby: Sports Day and Outings 1936 Royal School for the Deaf, Derby: Sports Day and Outings 1936
Amateur film 1936 10 mins Silent Location: Skegness
From donkey rides to sports day: a year in the life of the hearing impaired of Derby.
Watch for free
From the Wolds to the Sea From the Wolds to the Sea
Promotional 1980 26 mins Location: Skegness
There's something for everyone in Lincolnshire - from the excitement of the seaside to the peaceful inland wolds
Watch for free
Happy Sea Side Holidays Happy Sea Side Holidays
Home movie 1956 9 mins Silent Location: Southport Sands
An enterprising family make the most of, not one, but eight seaside beaches dotted around the north of England, all in one summer.
Watch for free
Bolton: Skegness 1935 Bolton: Skegness 1935
Home movie 1935 5 mins Silent Location: Skegness
Happy carefree days on the beach at Skegness for the Bolton family.
Watch for free
New Perspectives: Pusher New Perspectives: Pusher
Short documentary 2025 5 mins
Noah Bell of Northumbria University explains why you should seize the chance to watch Nicolas Winding Refn's debut.
Watch for free
Twin Peaks star Kyle MacLachlan on working with David Lynch - Q&A Twin Peaks star Kyle MacLachlan on working with David Lynch - Q&A
Inside Film 2025 38 mins
Kyle MacLachlan talks to BFI CEO Ben Roberts about working with David Lynch on the legendary series Twin Peaks.
Watch for free
On Falling - Exclusive Q&A On Falling - Exclusive Q&A
Inside Film 2025 30 mins
Writer-director Laura Carreira talks to Nia Childs about her debut feature, On Falling.
Watch for free
Layla - Exclusive Q&A Layla - Exclusive Q&A
Short interview 2025 27 mins
Writer, director and performer Amrou Al-Kadhi talks to Rico Johnson-Sinclair about their debut feature.
Watch for free
All We Imagine As Light - Exclusive Q&A All We Imagine As Light - Exclusive Q&A
Short interview 2025 28 mins
Payal Kapadia discusses her Cannes prize-winning and Bafta-nominated drama with Ashanti Omkar.
Watch for free
Khichdi Khichdi
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2023 16 mins
The interwoven stories of four best friends who reunite in the UK, thirty-five years after training together as nurses during their teens in Ferozepur, Punjab.