Sharing local film with local people
Local and Community History Month is celebrated each year throughout the month of May. The aim of this month is to increase awareness of local history and encourage all members of the community to participate. This provides archives, libraries, and museums a great opportunity to host events that showcase the unique history of their town and people. To celebrate our local history, we teamed up with Andover Library and shared a specially produced showreel compiled of footage of Andover that we currently have at Wessex Film and Sound Archive (WFSA).
What an amateur filmmaker chose to record with their precious cine camera call tell us a lot about their background, but also the world in which they lived. From the contents of our collection, we know that Andover has a wealth of male and female amateur filmmakers who all enjoyed recording different aspects of their town!
The footage that we shared with Andover Library explored the town’s rich history and celebrated the life and work of its local filmmakers. The showreel contained footage from the early days of amateur filmmaking right up until the video age in the 1990s. Below is a summary of some of the footage that was included in the showreel.
The film is not yet publicly available, but we hope to make it more widely available towards the end of the year.
AV1671/3 – Ponting family films
The Ponting family name was renowned for its business and politics in Andover. Winston John Ponting ran a chemist on 19 High Street and later became mayor of the town during the early 1950s. However, Ponting was also an avid amateur filmmaker. This 9.5mm black and white film was shot in the 1940s using Ponting’s Pathescope H camera. It shows the family living in Winchester Street entertaining American Service personnel.
Click here to learn more about Ponting’s vast film collection and how it came to WFSA.
AV939/1 – Ron Morris films
Filmed by local secondary school teacher, Ron Morris, this 9.5mm black and white film captures Andover in 1949. In addition to filming key events in the town’s social calendar, Morris also paid particular focus on the activities happening at his secondary school on London Road. With school sports days, football matches, physical education lessons, and swimming lessons featuring in many of his films, it is clear that Morris was passionate about capturing the lives and sporting achievements of his pupils.
AV6/M373 – 18 Plus Group
The 18 Plus Group was a national organisation for young people aged between 18 and 30 that formed in 1967. Shot using 8mm colour film by local amateur filmmaker, Miss Rosalie Saunders, this footage captures the activities of the group in 1968. In comparison to the other filmmakers included in this showreel, little is known about the life and film of Miss Saunders. So, if you know of her or recognise what you see on screen then we would love to hear from you!
A section of another of Saunders’ films, Round and About Andover, is available to watch on WFSA’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OysaP7GwwYA.
AV64/1 – This is Test Valley
This 1988 colour film is a promotional video that was produced for the Test Valley Borough Council by The Production Unit of Southampton. It provides a picture of the Test Valley area, balancing views and descriptions of the local countryside and the Test River. This section included in the showreel outlined the London ‘overspill’ and development of industry and commerce in the Andover area.
AV467/1 – Le Souvenir
Highlights of Queen Elizabeth II opening the new HAS building in Andover in the early 1990s can be found on this film produced by Town TV. Town TV was a cable broadcasting company in Andover that captured local goings on in the town until 1998. It was mainly concerned with good news stories – local music scene, carnivals, sports news, eating out and charities. In the full hour long programme, viewers can also see highlights of ‘Le Tour’ – when the Tour de France came to Andover – and shots of the Carnival.
As you can see, our showreel contained both amateur film and footage created by local producers. We explored Andover’s past, learnt more about archive film and the life of our brilliant filmmakers!
WFSA were delighted to share this showreel with such an enthusiastic audience. Those who attended enjoyed celebrating their local history, having access to their past and, in some cases, discussing the lives of those they recognised on screen. The only negative was that the showreel didn’t go on for long enough!
So, just as those in Andover Library identified, we have some wonderful footage of the town in our archives, but there are gaps. This is especially true of Andover’s ‘overspill’ past. Despite being over 50 years old, this part of Andover’s history is not represented in screen heritage collections.
We would love for you to help us fill this gap. We want to ensure that we have good quality film that is representative of the lived experiences of everyone in the town. ANYONE can add to WFSA and there are many ways that you can contribute; it can even be with footage that you’ve already filmed on your phone!
If you have a story to tell, please get in touch.
This event was part of a series of events that will be happening over the course of this year to support our project, Andover: An Overspill Story. This is a 12-month community project created with the support of the British Film Institute, awarding funds from the National Lottery to help develop our collections. At these events, we strive to engage communities with WFSA content, start a dialogue with individuals about their heritage and break down the barriers to accession for communities currently under-represented in archives and heritage. For information about future events, please use this link.
If you would like to support the project, please use our contact form or email: archives.enquiries@hants.gov.uk
*Unless specified, the images included in this post are the author’s own.
Andover: An Overspill Story 