This film is part of Free

North Ormesby 3rd Annual Carnival Cargo Fleet

There’s no place like home for the children at this Land of Oz themed carnival in North Ormesby, Middlesbrough.

Amateur film 1978 8 mins Silent

From the collection of:

Logo for North East Film Archive

Overview

‘Somewhere over the rainbow’ is the theme when the streets of ‘Doggy’, as North Ormesby was affectionately known, put on a festive face for carnival. A brass band heads up the parade from James Street, the locals creating a colourful spectacle of floats and inventive costume, which includes The Very Hungry Caterpillar, the Cargo Fleet Sweet Factory, a Tin Man and the precision-marching Cleveland Militaires juvenile jazz band, striking a chord with drums and kazoos.

This amateur film by a Dunkirk veteran, Jack Boyer, born during the First World War, who lived in North Ormesby all his life, reflects the great community spirit in this working class area, south of the River Tees. It was established in the mid-1800s to accommodate a huge influx of workers after large seams of iron ore were discovered at Eston in the nearby Cleveland Hills, transforming Middlesbrough into the greatest iron producing capital of the world. There are several theories about the district’s nickname, one suggesting it referred to the illegal whippet races once held there, another that it was due to the ‘wet dog’ smell that lingered from the iron works at its boundary.