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.
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The Cass Family, Selby, One
Evidence of a time when people commonly kept budgies in cages, did card tricks, went to Sunday school, raced motorcycles on Scarborough beach and were transported by A4 Gresleys.
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Overview
This 1930s ragtail collection of film of a Selby family, local industry and events, and anything else that seemed to be interesting at the time, is typical of so-called ‘home movies’. The randomness of the footage gives it a certain authenticity lacking in neatly packaged films. And so we move from shipbuilders to motorcycle racing on Filey beach, to both a dog and a woman having a hairdo, to glimpses of the Mallard whizzing by pulling the Coronation train.
This is one of a collection of films from two generations of the Cass family from Selby, North Yorkshire. The films were taken by Walter Cass who worked at Cochrane Shipbuilders. As well as family films, and showing local events over five decades, they also extend to local industry, especially of Cochrane Shipbuilders, where many past workers are shown and identified. Sand racing on Filey beach was very popular before the war and during the 50s, and was revived by the Auto 66 Club, formed in June 1966. Cochrane & Sons Shipbuilders built Greenpeace's flagship vessel, Rainbow Warrior II. After changing hands several times, the yard closed in 1992.
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