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Castleford Advert 1

Adverts not to get punters to buy anything, but just to enjoy sports and preserve memories of seaside holidays, in “real” photographs.

1939 Silent

From the collection of:

Logo for Yorkshire Film Archive

Overview

A real throwback to the age when local businesses were touting for customers by putting small ads on at the local cinema. Here, in Castleford in 1939, we have a simple caption for the Castleford Sports Stadium along with one for a “photographic chemist”, when photos were usually kept on chemically sensitized paper.

Castleford Sports Stadium, next to the River Aire on the east of Lock Lane, was originally a football stadium used by Castleford Town F.C. and Castleford Tigers during the 1920s (also known as the Sandy Desert ground), and later for greyhound racing. The ad for Castleford Sports Stadium may well have been prompted by the competition offered by the opening of Castleford Whitwood Stadium in the same year as this, and which also hosted greyhound racing. Photographic chemists were once commonplace, but alas it is doubtful whether many would today describe themselves as a “photographic chemist”.

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