| Meeting Report November 6th 2006 |
| Mike Jackson from Dover visited us complete with video player, an LCD projector and a selection of films from the collection of the late John Norton. John Norton was by profession an architect but had a passion for trains and ships and took up the cine camera during the 60s and filmed both trains and ships. He originated from Birmingham but various career moves eventually brought him to Kent in the mid �70s. Sadly John died of a heart attack at the early age of 72. His widow has allowed his films, of which there are literally hours, to be transferred to video and ultimately DVD for public viewing. John not only filmed the ships but was passionate in taking �men at work�. The first film that was shown was one in the process of being edited and portrayed the activities within the Humber ports in the mid �60s, covering Boston, Grimsby, Immingham, Hull, Selby, Goole and Newark. In Grimsby we saw the fish dock and trawlers and drifters leaving for a fishing trip. Also to be seen were boats being attended to in the repair yards. At Immingham was an �A� class Shell tanker in the repair yard. Coal was a large commodity export with deliveries to the dockside being made by rail wagon and barge. The barge traffic was largely from Newark where we also saw the work carried out in Hepworths barge building yard. Hull docks looked busy with ships alongside nearly every quay, but it was thought that this was taken during one of the seaman�s strikes. We also crossed the river on Wingfield Castle, now restored and at Hartlepool Historic Quay. There were some shots of handsome freighters and ferries of the time: City of Gloucester; Huntingdon; City of Khartoum, and Norwind to name just a few. Hull, the home of Ellerman Wilson line, meant we saw a good many ships owned by them including their tugs. There were also many small coasters and North Sea traders from the Danish �butter boats� to Polish Ocean and coasters from Everard�s and Metcalf�s. Everard�s ships always looked so clean and tidy from the paintings on the back cover of Sea Breezes, but from this film they were perhaps not as we remember. The large number of tugs in use compared to today also struck one. Following the break we saw a short film of John and his wife taking a trip to Hamburg and Bremen on Argo Line's Auriga. In another film, on a visit to La Rochelle, there was a brief sequence showing the coaster Maria arriving in dock. She of course was the 1890 built Robin and is now administered by the SS Robin Trust and moored at West India Quay in London�s Docklands. The last film showed ships in ports around the north of the UK, taking in Grangemouth, Blythe, and the Tyne. At Seaham harbour we saw the old paddlers Eppleton Hall and Reliant, and also Ewell and Croydon, regulars to London feeding the power stations. In Middlesbrough we took in the Transporter bridge and, in a much better state than at present, the paddle tug John H. Amos. We also visited Barrow before ending the evening at Birkenhead with some fine views of Ellerman and Blue Funnel ships. We must thank Mike for making the journey from Dover on a rather �murky� night and for showing us some remarkable films. Also to John Norton�s wife for allowing their showing and of course to John who took such a remarkable series of films recording the shipping activities of the day all at a time when film and processing were by no means cheap. These form a unique history of shipping at the time, and demonstrated the amount of hard phisical work that was involved in ship handling. |
| Films of the Humber and other Ports in the 1960s |