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
The Wharfedale Scene
With the so-called ‘winter of discontent’ on the horizon, here we have summer contentment generated by the serenity and simple life of ‘God’s own county’.
From the collection of:
Overview
Leeds amateur filmmaker Ken Leckenby provides a perfect illustration of why the Yorkshire Dales is justly famous for its rolling hills and often stark beauty. All is peaceful in the villages of Wharfedale, as if the manic decade of the 1970s – of strikes, Ziggy Stardust and punk – had passed them all by. A place to go away from the madding crowd: to stroll by the river or ramble over Brimham Rocks.
Although Ken Leckenby made films as a member of the Mercury Movie Makers Cine Club of Leeds, he also made many films of his own, including a series of films he titled ‘Out and About’, documenting local events. But he also made a number of documentary type films similar to this one, extolling the virtues of Yorkshire. Usually Ken would provide an informative commentary to go with the film. Ken would go out most weekends filming these, from the 1960s through to the 1980s. This film uses Alan Sidi’s innovative cine-synch sound.
Related
Watch for free
Cricket 1952 (Featuring Locations in Ilkley and Sleights) Cricket 1952 (Featuring Locations in Ilkley and Sleights)
Amateur film 1952 8 mins Silent Location: Ilkley
The 1950s, the zenith of cricket as the perfect expression of the English refinement of leisure, along with smoking a pipe and having a beer.
Watch for free
Wharfedale Wharfedale
Home movie 1956 14 mins Silent Location: Ilkley
Young hikers take to the hills in the time of motorcycles and sidecars, Morris dancers are still a novelty, and children balance barefoot over the stepping stones at Bolton Abbey.
Watch for free
Outdoor Training of Police Cadets Outdoor Training of Police Cadets
Documentary 1962 25 mins Location: Ilkley
Looking ahead to a life of chasing rogues over garden fences, or auditioning for Norman Wisdom’s ‘On the Beat’ – made the same year – police cadets take on an outdoor assault course.
Watch for free
The Bradford Godfather The Bradford Godfather
1976 49 mins Location: Bradford
Meet Mohamed Fazal Hussain, elder statesman and all-round Mr Fixit of Bradford's Muslim community, and a film mogul in the making...
Watch for free
China O'Brien: The Reunion China O'Brien: The Reunion
Documentary 2024 60 mins
Cynthia Rothrock, Richard Norton and Keith Cooke reunite three decades on from the groundbreaking martial arts classic.
Watch for free
Women in Action Panel Discussion Women in Action Panel Discussion
Inside Film 2024 28 mins
Action Xtreme - the UK's leading action film studio - hosts this panel discussion with four leading women in action cinema - Soo Cole, Jo Rolison, Jadey Duffield and Ioanna Karavela.
Watch for free
Starve Acre - Exclusive Q&A Starve Acre - Exclusive Q&A
Short interview 2024 24 mins
Daniel Kokotajlo talks to Nia Childs about Starve Acre, his folk horror about a couple digging deep into grief in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales.
Watch for free
Sky Peals - Exclusive Q&A Sky Peals - Exclusive Q&A
Short interview 2024 30 mins
Sky Peals director Moin Hussain and lead actor Faraz Ayub talk to Tomisin Adepeju about their magic realist drama.
Watch for free
Inside the Archive: The Early Films of Michael Powell Inside the Archive: The Early Films of Michael Powell
Documentary 2024 42 mins
Documentary exploring the BFI National Archive’s role in rediscovering and remastering the early films of Michael Powell.
Watch for free
Inside the Archive: The Riviera Revels Inside the Archive: The Riviera Revels
Short documentary 2024 12 mins
Bryony Dixon, curator of silent film at the BFI national archive, explores the origins of a series of comic travelogues, and Michael Powell's involvement in making them.