The North East Film Archive is one of a network of regional film archives established to collect, preserve and show film made in, or about the North East of England. Our collections are non-fiction, and date from the early 1900s to the present day, providing a rich record of life in the region over the 20th century. Many of our films are available to watch, free of charge, on our website.
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Holidays at Home - Saltwell Park Gateshead
Rare colour film of a fun ‘holiday at home’ at the People’s Park in Gateshead during World War Two – the jitterbug dance routines are a delight.
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Overview
A rarity from the World War Two era, beautiful colour film captures ‘Holiday at Home’ revellers in Saltwell Park as they take a break from war work to enjoy sports, games, fairground and donkey rides, and Punch and Judy shows. The kids take part in the strangest sack race ever! And as the light fades, Gateshead girls in Victory Rolls jive with American GIs, and each other, to the tunes of a military dance band.
Saltwell Park, dubbed The People’s Park on opening in 1876, played host to Gateshead Council’s month of austerity holidaymaking in 1944, as part of the ‘Holidays at Home’ programme. This national Ministry of Labour campaign was designed to woo civilians away from road and rail travel, and free up the trains for the armed forces and war freight traffic. Made by John W. McHugh of the Gateshead Police Photographic Unit, this colour film is unusual as sales were restricted by the Board of Trade during World War Two, but the police no doubt had privileged access to Kodachrome imported from America.
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