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
Pancake Day Scramble
A rag tag of boys and girls all pile on top of one another in a free-for-all fight for a pancake, tossed high in the air by the school cook, with a girl emerging winner to glee all around.
From the collection of:
Overview
In the time before the zealous protection of children, when school kids were even encouraged to be rough, this South Yorkshire mixed bunch of school children enjoy a good brawl in the snow as they fight over a piece of pancake, fresh from the cook’s pan. The teacher looks on in delight as the assorted girls and boys produce mayhem with a pancake, with a girl surfacing with the biggest piece to great acclaim.
It isn’t known who took this film, or which school it is of, but we can be fairly sure it was taken on Pancake Day, or Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday, around 1960. There are many customs associated with Shrovetide, such as mob football, and of course the pancake race, allegedly going back to 1445 when a woman of Olney heard the Shriving Bell while she was making pancakes and ran to the church in her apron, still clutching her frying pan. The school scramble, whose history and extent is unclear, seems to have started in Westminster School in the early 18th century when a pancake was hurled over a 16 foot high beam, with a resulting fierce scramble for the largest piece, the winner receiving a guinea.
Related
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.