Windermere on Film screening

The North West Film Archive at Manchester Metropolitan University is pleased to announce A Film Archive Roadshow and Windermere on Film, two events held as part of its programme to make this fascinating collection available to the public of the Northwest region.

Supported by Northwest Vision and Media, Cumbria County Council and as part of the South Lakes Development Trust’s ‘Windermere on Water Festival’, the NWFA will hold a public film archive roadshow at Windermere Library and an evening screening at the Hydro Hotel Windermere.

Both will take place on Thursday 12th of June 2008 - the roadshow from 2.00pm until 5.00pm, with the screening due to start at 7.30pm.

The North West Film Archive, based at Manchester Metropolitan University, wants to find out about your moving image records of life in Cumbria from the 1890s to the present day. The Archive is the new home for film and video relating to Cumbria, so if you’ve found some old home movies out in the shed or cine film in the attic, do bring them along, have a chat with Archive staff and find out more about the work of your regional film archive.

The films in the screening will feature life in and around the central part of the Cumbria and Lakeland areas over the past 100 years. This specially selected compilation of fascinating films includes workers leaving the Vickers Yard in 1900 and particularly poignant are scenes of the unveiling of the war memorial in Egremont in 1922. Step back in time to the Bowness sports day of 1914 and the Grasmere games of 1946, watch as the Abrahams brothers scale the heights of Nape’s Needle and as Sir Henry Seagrave attempts the water speed record in 1930. Also from the 1930s and 40s, are promotional films for the Lake District featuring its many attractions. Travel by Postbus in 1974 to the far flung communities of the fells and see how lakeland’s waters have kept distant towns and cities supplied for over 140 years.

The Archive’s Service Manager Marion Hewitt said “This is a great opportunity for the people of Cumbria to uncover those long hidden films in their cupboards, and then take a look back at life in their area in the past century”.

Northwest Vision and Media’s Alice Morrison said "The North West Film Archive is one of our region's real gems and Northwest Vision and Media is proud to support these events, enabling local people to access a piece of their region's past".

The roadshow will be hosted by the Archive’s Acquisition and Documentation Officer Nick Gladden. For further information, interview, and footage contact Geoff Senior on 0161 247 3097 who will also be presenting the screening.

Tickets for the screening are free and can be obtained in advance by calling 015394 40020 by emailing emma@sldt.co.uk or at the venue on the night. The venue seats 200. Book early to avoid disappointment!