This film is part of Free

Out and About

Before the age of watching everyday lives became mass entertainment on reality TV, here everyday leisure activities are documented as a contribution for our sense of sharing.

Non-Fiction 1970 18 mins

From the collection of:

Logo for Yorkshire Film Archive

Overview

Based in his native Yorkshire, amateur filmmaker Ken Leckenby strays further afield in one of his regular films documenting local places and events, with informative commentary. For a digest of typical British leisure activities in 1970 look no further: here we have the Model Village at Bourton on the Water, traditional Swedish dancers in West Burton, geese, swans and ducks at the Wildfowl Trust at Slimbridge and a canoe slalom on the River Wharfe at Appletreewick.

This is one of many films made by amateur filmmaker Ken Leckenby, a member of the Mercury Movie Makers Cine Club of Leeds. MMM made films as a collective, but Ken also made many films of his own, including a series of films he titled ‘Out and About’, which all had the form of bringing together film and information of local places and events. Each event would have a subtitle and Ken would often supply an informative commentary to go with the film. Ken would go out most weekends filming for these, and this continued from the 1960s through to the 1990s.