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
Oh Hull
A whole posse of jovial amateur filmmakers descend upon Hull to film many of the features now gone, such as the ferry and St Andrew’s fish docks.
Overview
From the collection of:
A film of the Wakefield Cine Club out on a day trip to, of all places, Hull, back in 1972. This was before the Humber Bridge was built, and so they take a trip across the Humber on the New Holland ferry, before touring Hull docks, showing a line of tugs belonging to United Towing, then to trawlers at St Andrew’s fish docks, and on to the Ross factory. All given a light touch by Doug Brear’s thick West Yorkshire accent providing a whimsical running commentary.
This outing of Wakefield Cine Club was filmed by two of its most notable members, Doug and Norah Brear, who made over 60 films between 1960 and 1985, many shown at film shows across Yorkshire up until the 2000s by their friend and fellow filmmaker Roger Spence. Wakefield Cine Club didn’t form until 1961, on February 13th, with 30 people in attendance. In 1968 they moved into their present location on Clarendon Street and later changed their name to Wakefield Movie Makers. St Andrew’s fish docks closed in 1975 while the ferry stopped running in June 1981, the same year that Ross Foods on Brighton Street closed. In the late 1980s the United Towing Company was bought by Howard Smith Ltd of Australia.