London’s Screen Archives enables Londoners see their past come alive on film. Managed by Film London, we are a unique network of historic film collections that cares for, collects and screens heritage film across the city. Together we preserve London’s rich film heritage from feature films to home movies, public information films, newsreels, and records of the capital’s many different industries.
This film is part of Free
Skiing and Carol Singing in Newham
Get to know the side of Newham you never knew, thanks to this fantastic 1980s compilation of the weird and wonderful the borough has to offer.
From the collection of:
Overview
This excerpt from the compilation Filming the Unusual, showcases some of the quirkier phenomena that the borough plays host to, aside from capturing some of Newham's most well-known sites, such as London City Airport and the North Woolwich Station Railway Museum. Swish down the dry ski slope at Beckton Alps or enjoy a special Boxing Day ceremony - a parade of carol singers on horseback trotting down the road before entertaining local residents and receiving a tasty reward.
Princess Diana attended the opening of the Mountaintop dry ski slope at Beckton Alps on 7 December 1988. The unusual attraction was built on a toxic spoil heap left over from the defunct Beckton Gas Works and closed down in 2001. However, the contaminated mound remains on the site. This film is from the collection of Newham Local History Resource Centre, a member of the London's Screen Archives Network.
Related
Watch for free
Beckton Coke Works Beckton Coke Works
Industry sponsored film 1926 10 mins Silent Location: Beckton
The awe-inspiring industrial splendour of Beckton gasworks is on show in this beautifully photographed film
Watch for free
World's Greatest Gasworks World's Greatest Gasworks
Non-Fiction 1926 1 mins Silent Location: Beckton
It’s a gas gas gas as George V and Queen Mary visit Beckton's giant coal gas plant - where 60 years on Stanley Kubrick would build his Vietnam.
Watch for free
Engineers to the World Engineers to the World
Promotional 1963 29 mins Location: Lincoln
Historic Lincoln where 100 acres are dedicated to the Ruston Group whose engines provide power for industry across the world.
Watch for free
Getting it Back: The Story of Cymande - Q&A Getting it Back: The Story of Cymande - Q&A
Inside Film 2024 22 mins
The director of a documentary about British funk pioneers Cymande joins the band at BFI Southbank to talk about the film.
Watch for free
The West Case The West Case
Action and Adventure 1923 28 mins Silent Location: Tilbury
Plotting world domination, Devil Doctor Fu-Manchu steals plans for a new aero-torpedo in this earliest surviving thrill-a-minute serial instalment.
Watch for free
Enter the Scala!!! Enter the Scala!!!
Inside Film 2024 16 mins
Filmmakers Jane Giles and Ali Catterall discuss their documentary Scala!!!, revisiting the legendary and inspirational cinema venue and some of the most notorious films that screened there.
Watch for free
Smith Smith
Charity appeal 1939 10 mins
Long thought lost, this Powell-directed promotional short for a veteran’s charity was only rediscovered in 2003.
Watch for free
An Airman's Letter to His Mother An Airman's Letter to His Mother
Documentary 1941 6 mins
A poignant, stirring letter from a recently deceased pilot to his mother is read by John Gielgud.
Watch for free
The NHS75 Celebration The NHS75 Celebration
Short documentary 2023 3 mins
Former Bristol Poet Laureate, Miles Chambers reads a poem specially commissioned for the 75th anniversary of the NHS.