Moo'd in a Market

Hold your nose as we join Beryl Armstrong getting up close and personal, with a Super 8mm camera, to bulls, cows, sheep and pigs at Bakewell's lively livestock auction

Beryl Armstrong's film, made while she and her family were on holiday in Derbyshire, captures all the atmosphere and activity at Bakewell's livestock market. We see cattle, sheep and pigs being herded into a maze of pens while farmers and auctioneers weigh up their worth. Beryl's lively commentary describes what's going on as we see the animals being loaded on and off trucks - destined to go to other farms or the abattoir.

New Zealand born Beryl Armstrong began making films while living in India in the early 1960s. For the next thirty years her output was prolific and Beryl’s films, which often captured aspects of rural life in Sussex and Hampshire, appeared at local amateur film making festivals and competitions, where they won trophies and certificates of merit. She also wrote articles for film magazines and taught her sons Richard and Anthony, who often appeared in her productions, the art of filmmaking. Both went on to create their own collections of short documentaries, comedies and animations. Beryl is also a successful author, publishing twelve novels as well as a book about designing and building doll's houses.