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Post by Stephen Byers on Oct 29, 2019 11:06:46 GMT
Canal enthusiasts are seeking this definitive programme from 1969 / 70. Its around but only in very poor quality VHS. The sound track was re-issued on an LP called Narrowboats - this is long deleted, but has been digitised. Not sure where to look for the film, that is what archives might hold this? Apparently not the Beeb. There would be interest by canal enthusiasts in trying to bring the film back into the public domain by creating an official DVD of it. But first we need to know who has a copy!! BTW it would be in the form of a 35mm b&w film. genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/afeb4f65186e43318bfa1f354d194576www.imdb.com/title/tt6364830/SB |
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Post by Peter Stirling on Oct 29, 2019 16:30:52 GMT
Don't know if this may help? This is the Linkin page of the director whom I think also belongs to like a BBC old boys assoc called the Alumini. uk.linkedin.com/in/ian-keill-ab41bb29I expect your canal people are also aware of the kid's canal boat adventure series called The Flower of Gloster (Network released on DVD) ? |
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Post by williammcgregor on Oct 29, 2019 21:55:30 GMT
Stephen The series title is Yesterday Witness The following link has a post some way down that has links to source clips used in the programme Yesterday's Witness BBC 2 1969 www.aveleyman.com/TVEpisode.aspx?FilmID=1456&Episode=19490513Yesterday's Witness BBC 2 1969 Does anyone have any knowledge of this programme, The Narrowboat Men transmitted on BBC 2 April 14th. 1969? Lots... |
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Post by Stephen Byers on Oct 29, 2019 23:06:12 GMT
Thank you - the link doesn't seem to lead to anything to do with Yesterday's Witness though.
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Post by Stephen Byers on Oct 29, 2019 23:13:28 GMT
Don't know if this may help? This is the Linkin page of the director whom I think also belongs to like a BBC old boys assoc called the Alumini. uk.linkedin.com/in/ian-keill-ab41bb29I expect your canal people are also aware of the kid's canal boat adventure series called The Flower of Gloster (Network released on DVD) ? Yes - Ian Keill is the producer. If you do a Google search for "The Narrow Boat Men" is appears that the name and Ian Keill is referenced by obscure - likely unsafe - download sites. But these indicate that a DVD might have been made commercially some years' ago. So we need to track down the origin of this DVD with the aim to re-issue it commercially. |
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Post by Peter Stirling on Oct 30, 2019 0:35:21 GMT
Well you could try to contact Ian Keill through the 'Link In' site shown if you or somebody else is a member.
Link In is for work/profession related inquiries.
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Post by williammcgregor on Oct 30, 2019 21:57:33 GMT
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Post by Stephen Byers on Nov 1, 2019 22:52:12 GMT
We now have the LP (BBC / Argo) 'Narrow Boats' which was based on the film. Also we have the audio recorded out-takes of the film. But it is the film itself we are seeking.
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Post by Stephen Byers on Dec 1, 2019 0:57:08 GMT
Almost the entire audio has been recovered. No video - but the audios are great. Some tapes are missing though.
From Genome ...
Yesterday's Witness: The Narrow Boat Men
BBC Two England, 14 April 1969 21.20
Synopsis
A series which explores living memory
"There's no doubt about it - they were fighters. They used to fight sometimes over a lock, sometimes over a bridge, and sometimes they'd have a fight just to see which was the best man."
"...I was drunk for two days after that, and the only way I got sober was to drink seven pints. It was really a good Christmas that was!"
The pains and pleasures of trading on Britain's narrow canals recalled in tonight's film by: Chocolate Charlie Atkins, Joe Green, Jack James, Sam Lomas, Leslie Morton, Jack Roberts, Joe and Rosie Skinner
Next week: Birth Control in the Twenties
Contributors
Speaker: Chocolate Charlie Atkins
Speaker: Joe Green
Speaker: Jack James
Speaker: Sam Lomas
Speaker: Leslie Morton
Speaker: Jack Roberts
Speaker: Joe Skinner
Speaker: Rosie Skinner
Producer: Stephen Peet
Director: Ian Keill
====
NOTES ON “YESTERDAY'S WITNESS” TAPES
Joe & Rosie Skinner
Owner/boatmen, known as “Number Ones”. The Skinners lived in a cottage on the banks of the canal near Coventry. They were the last of the so-called “Number Ones”, owner/boatmen who carried whatever and wherever they could find a load. The Skinners had a contract to to carry coal from the Ashby canal to the Co-operative Laundry in Banbury on their boat 'Friendship'.
They gave up in the mid-1960s when, owing to the poor state of the towpath, their mule 'Dolly' slipped into the canal, caught a chill and died. Joe died in the early 1970s and Rosie a few years later. The wooden boat 'Friendship' in now an exhibit at the Boat Museum in Ellesmere Port..
Joe Green, boatman
One of the many Greens on the waterways. Based at Birmingham.
Ike Merchant, boatman
Based at Braunston, a famous canal centre near Rugby.
Jack James. Boatman and lock-keeper.
Lived in a cottage at the top lock in the village of Stoke Bruerne, near Northampton. Often seen dressed in traditional costume, playing his accordion and singing traditional songs. His son, John, an artist, owned the narrow boat 'Jason' with which he ran the zoo waterbus service in Regent's Park for many years.
Charlie Atkins. Boatman.
For 16 years, carried chocolate crumb from the Cadbury's factory at Knighton to Bournville in his boat 'Mendip', much to the delight of children along the way. Known to all as “Chocolate Charlie”, died in the late 1970s.
Sam Lomas. Lock keeper.
Lived at Autherley Junction on the Shropshire Union canal. Had a fund of stories with which he regaled passing pleasure boaters in the early days. Died in the 1970s.
Jack Roberts, Lock-keeper
In charge of the staircase flight at Grindley Brook on the Llangollen branch, then, as now, a bottleneck on the canal.
Leslie Morton, Canal Manager.
After a time at sea, he was Manager of the Grand Union Canal Carrying Company (GUCCC) set up in the mid-1930s to take advantage of the recently-merged Grand Union Canal Company and the wide locks between London and Birmingham. The GUCCC built and operated over 200 pairs of boats. Morton left after nationalisation, but in the late 1950s, he set up the Willow-Wren carrying company with capital provided by Captain Vivian Bulkley-Johnson, a canal enthusiast and early Inland Waterways Association member. Shortly after this interview, Willow-Wren folded. Morton, too, died in the 1970s
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