Hackney Family Holiday to Isle of Wight
Super 8mm film Colour Silent 1968 11:16
Summary: A collection of home videos of a family trip to the Isle of Wight in 1968 including amusement park Blackgang Chine and a gondola ride to the beach.
Title number: 22950
LSA ID: LSA/30139
Description: The film opens showing a dirt road and zooming in on a sign reading ‘Swallow House’ with an arrow pointing left. A shot of the wooden fence gate to the house with a board that also reads ‘Swallow House.’ A shot of the side of the stone house with white-paned windows with a young boy stood in front. He runs as the camera moves to stay in the centre of the frame. The scene changes to outside, presumably, the front door. There are two chairs and two boys. The elder, the boy stood in front of the house sits in a chair while the younger stands on the doorstep wearing sunglasses. A woman, the mother all in pink briefly joins them before stepping inside, and both boys sit in the chairs and look at the camera. They are all dressed for spring/summer.
Panoramic shots of the surroundings proceed including a big garden attached to the house, a blue car in the driveway, and views of the rolling countryside and sea. The weather is clear and bright. A zoomed in shot on white sail boats. A shot of the sign for ‘Isle of Wight Steam Railway: Haven Street Station.’ There are crowds of people including the family seen at the house in the same clothing. People cross the train tracks and there is a sign A shot of the passenger carriages (3rd class) has the family stop as they are boarding and point and smile at the camera.
On the train, the mother and youngest boy smile and wave at the camera. Film shows the train moving, with the camera being held out of a window, as a young boy ahead also leans out. The family are seen also leaning out of the windows. A moving shot of a signal box with workmen sat outside. On the platform, the film shows people getting off and a railway worker The family exits the train. The steam engine without carriages travels towards the camera as the crew lean out the sides.
The filmmaker is back on the train and records out of the window as the train travels forward. The camera pans to capture the sign for ‘Haven Street.’ A scene briefly captures the younger boy in his swimming costume running across the sand with a bucket at the beach among other beachgoers.
A busy shot of the entrance to Blackgang Chine with many visitors. The family appear as the boys stand on a monument. They have all changed clothes so this must be a new day. A close-up of the older boy. Both boys stand on the monument and then get down, with a teddy bear, a bag and a guidebook. There is a pan of the scenery from a bridge as the family are crossing out to the sea. A shot shows the family on a viewing platform. The next scene shows a miniature world among lots of colourful plants and greenery, with crowds including the family looking. A shot shows the sign for ‘Nurseryland, Maze, Dinosaurs.’ The film captures the family and others in a mock castle, recorded from below. The boys play in model mushrooms that are all colours and sizes. The youngest goes in and out. The family play on machinery, turning cogs and pulling levers.
A shot of a pirate ship against the backdrop of the sea, with people and the two boys climbing and running around. An entrance sign to ‘Jungleland’. Jungleland is filled with model exotic animals including elephants and zebras. Children, including the two boys, are sat on the zebras. The younger boy crosses a chain bridge in a playground as the mother watches. The older boy plays in the rope nets and other areas of the playground. There are shots of dinosaurs among the greenery. Both boys and other children climb on a dinosaur model with spines. The film shows scenery including a wheel and multiple buildings, crowds and cars. It pans to a large cannon with the older boy and the man of the family, the dad, sitting and walking on it.
Film shows the family among the public walking into castle grounds through a big gate. It pans up to show the stone castle. There are then scenes of the castle grounds with the public sitting and moving around. A shot shows a sign reading ‘Well House and Donkey Wheel.’ More scenes show the two boys playing on smaller cannons. The clothes have changed again suggesting another new day. The older boy climbs the castle stairs before the camera shows the younger climbing with the mother. Film shows castle walls filmed from a higher perspective. A pan shows the surrounding villages and people walking along the castle walls. The family are shown looking at from the viewpoint of the castle walls and pointing. The boys and the mother are then with a donkey. The younger and the older both have a go feeding and sitting on the donkey.
Next, the clothes have changed again suggesting another new day. The family ride a gondola over the car park and cliffs. Film captures the beach from above as people walk down. A shot shows the steep angle of the gondola as it descends towards the beach. It also shows the crowds around an outdoor shopfront (?). The mother and the younger boy are helped off their gondola carriage by a man as the wind blows. Shots show the cliffs and zoom in on a lighthouse. The family walk along the beach together. The boys are seen sliding down and climbing up the dunes next to the cliffside.
A shot shows the father and the older boy on a gondola carriage together as they ascend back. Presumably it is the mother who is filming now. The queue for the gondola is seen behind them. They get off the gondola and the boy runs off. Film shows multiple angles of a large ship while the weather is bright and clear. Children are seen playing on anchors and cannons. The older boy reads intently on the cannon. The younger then climbs on and mimes his teddy climbing on too. They sit together on the cannon. A final shot of the ship closes the film out.
Locations: United Kingdom, Isle of Wight, Swallow House, Blackgang Chine
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