Resort’s past glories preserved on film

Jan 28 2008 by Laura Sharpe, Liverpool Daily Post

Southport film

PIONEERING aviators from 1911 and workers from Southport’s famous car manufacturing industry are hitting the silver screen next month.

Footage of an early Autogyro plane leaving Freshfield and the Vulcan car works in 1913 are just some of the 12 films to be screened as part of Southport on Film.

After wading through hours of donated footage, the North West Film Archive is preparing to show the best selection of films depicting life in around the busy seaside town.

And it is thanks to a keen amateur camera man that the archive has so many hours of film.

Don Sykes, 74, first picked up a 9.5inch cine-camera at the tender age of ten, and now has almost 100 hours of film stored in his Ainsdale home.

A former employee of Southport authority’s tourism and attractions department, Mr Sykes shot hours of promotional tourism material dating from the 1950s to the 1970s.

The best of these “Wish you were here” postcard-type movies will be shown alongside the launch of Formby’s lifeboat in 1916 and the Queen Mother’s presentation of the regimental colours at Harrington Barracks.

Mr Sykes said: “Some of the best material I was given was from a Formby projectionist who used to work on silent films.

“Any time he got a news reel of local interest, he would snip a bit out before he returned the film.

“As a result, I was given lots of old 35mm flammable film which was likely to combust at any time, but luckily I managed to transfer it to 60mm safety film.”

Some of the archive has never before been seen on a big screen and the showing has been made possible thanks to funding from Northwest Vision and Media.

Mr Sykes added: “I prefer Southport how it used to be. I like progress but it’s a shame Peter Pan’s Playground, the Floral Gardens and the Palace Theatre have all gone.”

The archive’s service manager, Marion Hewitt, said: “This is a great opportunity for the people of Southport to take a look at life in the area in the past century.”

The screening will take place at Vue Cinema Southport, February 7 at 7.30pm. Tickets £3 in advance from the box office.

laurasharpe