The North East Film Archive is one of a network of regional film archives established to collect, preserve and show film made in, or about the North East of England. Our collections are non-fiction, and date from the early 1900s to the present day, providing a rich record of life in the region over the 20th century. Many of our films are available to watch, free of charge, on our website.
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Blaydon Races Centenary Celebrations
Tyneside celebrates the Blaydon Races Centenary in raucous style.
From the collection of:
Overview
The Blaydon Races Centenary of 1962 was a spectacular week of street parties, beauty queens, cycle, road and sulky racing, sing-alongs, folk dance, juvenile jazz bands and fireworks - crowned by a 3 mile long parade to Blaydon from the legendary Balmbras Music Hall in Newcastle. Amongst the colourful and eccentric floats pictured, a jockey rides triumphantly through the street on a giant bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale.
This amateur film shot by Ron Harper captures the celebrations initiated by T. Dan Smith, Labour leader of Newcastle City Council, who harnessed the recent folk revival and media interest in the North Easts vernacular culture to encourage business and promote his big plans for a cultural renaissance in the region. Labour leader Hugh Gaitskell was the VIP guest. The centenary marked George Ridleys first Balmbras Music Hall performance of The Blaydon Races, long known as Tynesides national anthem, which tells in dialect the story of a mad-cap omnibus journey (filled with local characters) to the original horse race and fair on 9 June 1862.
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