The Gems Story - The Thursday Movie Club!
If you were to take a guess at what the Cheshire Archives team have been getting up to on Thursday mornings lately, you’d probably be surprised to hear we’ve been busy watching films at a makeshift cinema in our meeting room. But these aren’t your run of the mill blockbusters we’ve been screening – these are Gems!
We’ve been selecting moving image clips sourced from films of Cheshire provided by the North West Film Archive (NWFA) at Manchester Metropolitan University. The process of selecting these clips is supported by the local stories provided by volunteers and members of history groups from across Cheshire.
The footage covers a wide range of themes dating back over 100 years. So far, we’ve come across: the construction of a steam locomotive at Crewe in 1911; a family taking in Mersey View, Frodsham, during the late 1940s; footage of Neston Ladies’ Day, both around 1910 and in 1989; and a performance from Foden’s brass band, around 1964.
These clips were chosen by our crack team of Gems spotters at the Archives who have been working through the films provided by NWFA to identify short sequences of 30 to 60 seconds that best represent each community story.
Quite often it is clear which clip stands out as a definite Gem. However, sometimes there are so many great options to choose from, the team will work together to make a choice from the selection (we are, after all, a very democratic bunch). Even then, we will sometimes agree that the final choice is best left to the community. So…
Can you help us decide which clips should be selected as Gems?
Have your say by following the links below to surveys for Sandbach and Northwich. Remember, your contribution will help decide which Gems appear on our new digital platform that is currently under construction.
For Sandbach, click: https://forms.office.com/e/z9ekSws5LG
For Northwich, click https://forms.office.com/e/q3VFFE974Y
By Paul Frith, Collections Information Improvement Officer
