1940s-1950s

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0:00:05 > 0:00:10For over 100 years, the people of Scotland have been filming...

0:00:10 > 0:00:11themselves.

0:00:11 > 0:00:13Oh, my gosh, is that Grandpa?

0:00:13 > 0:00:14What does he look like?

0:00:15 > 0:00:18My mum, what's my mum's waist look like?

0:00:18 > 0:00:20Oh, dear!

0:00:21 > 0:00:25Across generations, home movies have recorded the ordinary

0:00:25 > 0:00:28as well as the great moments of life.

0:00:30 > 0:00:32Wonderful. Wonderful.

0:00:34 > 0:00:36From our first steps

0:00:36 > 0:00:39to our furthest travels and everything in-between.

0:00:41 > 0:00:42It means an awful lot to me

0:00:42 > 0:00:46and I feel I've got some gems amongst it.

0:00:48 > 0:00:51Today, we take for granted the ability to record our lives

0:00:51 > 0:00:54on tiny digital cameras and mobile phones,

0:00:54 > 0:00:59but in this series, we look back to the golden age of home movies,

0:00:59 > 0:01:02shot on cine film by our parents,

0:01:02 > 0:01:05grandparents and great-grandparents.

0:01:06 > 0:01:09Unearthed from attics and cupboards across the country,

0:01:09 > 0:01:13home movies from the 1920s to the 1980s

0:01:13 > 0:01:18tell an alternative, more intimate history of Scotland.

0:01:29 > 0:01:341940s MUSIC

0:01:43 > 0:01:47In this episode, we're heading back to the 1940s and '50s.

0:01:47 > 0:01:50From the horrors of the Second World War

0:01:50 > 0:01:52to the optimism of the Macmillan era,

0:01:52 > 0:01:55it was a time of extraordinary contrasts.

0:01:57 > 0:02:00Cheaper cameras meant that Scotland's middle classes

0:02:00 > 0:02:03were now also able to capture their lives on film.

0:02:08 > 0:02:10This is the study.

0:02:10 > 0:02:14This is where I do all my filming and editing.

0:02:14 > 0:02:17As a hobby, 90-year-old Norman Speirs

0:02:17 > 0:02:20has been helping people to reconnect with their past

0:02:20 > 0:02:24by transferring their old cine films to DVD.

0:02:24 > 0:02:27HE MUMBLES TO HIMSELF

0:02:34 > 0:02:38People have found film in the attic,

0:02:38 > 0:02:41made by grandparents or uncles

0:02:41 > 0:02:43and they say they can't show it any more,

0:02:43 > 0:02:47and I've got various projectors of different sizes.

0:02:47 > 0:02:51It usually falls to me to try and do something with it.

0:02:51 > 0:02:54It does give them pleasure, in being able to see films

0:02:54 > 0:02:58that sometimes they haven't seen for 50 years or more.

0:03:00 > 0:03:03Mostly it's been family films.

0:03:03 > 0:03:08We have had some people who have been very pleased with the work,

0:03:08 > 0:03:12because of the memories it evokes from being there.

0:03:14 > 0:03:17You get the same sort of shots in different families,

0:03:17 > 0:03:19different periods.

0:03:19 > 0:03:221950s, 1970s.

0:03:22 > 0:03:26You get the children on the beach, running into the water.

0:03:26 > 0:03:29They all want to jump over the waves as they come in,

0:03:29 > 0:03:33and they all have fond memories of it.

0:03:33 > 0:03:37# It's so important to make someone happy

0:03:38 > 0:03:41# Make just one someone happy

0:03:42 > 0:03:46# Make just one heart to heart you...

0:03:47 > 0:03:50# You sing to

0:03:50 > 0:03:54# One smile that cheers you

0:03:54 > 0:03:59# One face that lights when it nears you

0:03:59 > 0:04:01# One girl you're...

0:04:01 > 0:04:05# You're everything to... #

0:04:06 > 0:04:08Norman has been working with cine film

0:04:08 > 0:04:10for the whole of his adult life.

0:04:13 > 0:04:16Well, I've always been interested in photography,

0:04:16 > 0:04:22and then, later on, the idea cine crossed my mind.

0:04:24 > 0:04:28And then I was married and we were expecting our first baby,

0:04:28 > 0:04:30and I thought, "Now this is an opportunity

0:04:30 > 0:04:34"to start filming in earnest."

0:04:34 > 0:04:39And I managed to get a couple of rolls of eight millimetre

0:04:39 > 0:04:41Kodachrome colour film.

0:04:41 > 0:04:44No camera, but I got the film anyway.

0:04:46 > 0:04:48And...we'd lost the baby.

0:04:50 > 0:04:54So the film lay unattended for a number of years in a drawer.

0:05:07 > 0:05:11Whilst photographs capture individual moments,

0:05:11 > 0:05:15it's these films of family and friends doing things together

0:05:15 > 0:05:18that most movingly evoke our memories.

0:05:18 > 0:05:22They show us how much our lives have changed

0:05:22 > 0:05:24and how much has stayed the same.

0:05:29 > 0:05:33A familiar scene in Scotland's home movies still popular today

0:05:33 > 0:05:35is the community parade.

0:05:36 > 0:05:39This one's held every year in June in Lanark.

0:05:40 > 0:05:44Keith Prentice has taken part for as long as he's been able to walk,

0:05:44 > 0:05:47always recorded on film by his father.

0:05:49 > 0:05:52The Lanimer Parade is one of Scotland's oldest traditions,

0:05:52 > 0:05:54dating back to the 12th century.

0:05:56 > 0:06:00I'm on that float, Peter Pan, I think,

0:06:00 > 0:06:03and I'm Captain Hook at the back and my sister is Tinkerbell.

0:06:08 > 0:06:11This footage is from 1939,

0:06:11 > 0:06:14just a few short weeks before events in Europe interrupted

0:06:14 > 0:06:18this ancient ritual and changed the world forever.

0:06:32 > 0:06:34We all know what happened after Hitler invaded Poland,

0:06:34 > 0:06:39and how badly Scotland was affected by the long and bloody conflict,

0:06:39 > 0:06:43but rare home movie footage from the era shows what day-to-day life

0:06:43 > 0:06:45was like in the country's towns and villages

0:06:45 > 0:06:49and for the children who lived in them.

0:06:49 > 0:06:52I was 12 years old when the war started.

0:06:52 > 0:06:55I didn't know what to expect or what it all meant, actually.

0:06:57 > 0:06:59That's me.

0:07:01 > 0:07:03Me again with my sister.

0:07:07 > 0:07:10Film stock, like everything else, was rationed,

0:07:10 > 0:07:13but Keith's dad ran a chemist shop that sold film and cameras,

0:07:13 > 0:07:17so he was able to make home movies throughout the war.

0:07:17 > 0:07:20Everyone, including the children, had a job to do.

0:07:20 > 0:07:22Keith, on the far left in these shots,

0:07:22 > 0:07:25was a messenger for the local Air Raid Services.

0:07:27 > 0:07:32I didn't think it was serious at all, you know, as I look back.

0:07:32 > 0:07:36You know, things went on just as normal. We went on holiday...

0:07:36 > 0:07:39But, during the Clydeside Blitz, this was the route

0:07:39 > 0:07:43that the bombers took and we heard them going over

0:07:43 > 0:07:46and I vividly remember that it wasn't a very nice sound.

0:07:50 > 0:07:53WHISTLING EXPLOSIONS

0:08:04 > 0:08:07This is a back yard concert, it was all the rage during the war,

0:08:07 > 0:08:12dong small concerts and having an audience and charging them something

0:08:12 > 0:08:15and we gave it to help the war effort.

0:08:16 > 0:08:20This is doing, uh...Sleeping Beauty, I think it was,

0:08:20 > 0:08:23made up by my sister and friends.

0:08:25 > 0:08:27And there's the curtain.

0:08:29 > 0:08:32# Goodnight, children

0:08:32 > 0:08:36# Everywhere

0:08:36 > 0:08:40# Your mummy thinks of you... #

0:08:41 > 0:08:46Keith's dad's films are a rare record of life on the home front.

0:08:46 > 0:08:51He filmed morale-boosting parades, marches and other community events.

0:08:51 > 0:08:55In their own way, these home movies also contributed to the war effort.

0:08:57 > 0:08:59During the dark nights of the war,

0:08:59 > 0:09:02we would brighten ourselves up with some of these films.

0:09:04 > 0:09:06The spirit of togetherness.

0:09:20 > 0:09:23The end of the war saw a landslide victory for the Labour Party

0:09:23 > 0:09:26on a promise of greater social justice,

0:09:26 > 0:09:30a National Health Service and more low-cost council housing.

0:09:32 > 0:09:38But the shadow of post-war austerity lingered well into the 1950s.

0:09:38 > 0:09:41Around this time, a group of young Edinburgh schoolteachers

0:09:41 > 0:09:43came together to form the Norton Park Group.

0:09:44 > 0:09:46They wanted to film their pupils at play.

0:09:51 > 0:09:53The films they made capture a bygone era

0:09:53 > 0:09:56of children playing peevers, peeries and bools

0:09:56 > 0:09:59in the back greens and tenement stairways

0:09:59 > 0:10:02of the smoke-filled Edinburgh streets.

0:10:05 > 0:10:07Isa Gillon was 12 at the time.

0:10:11 > 0:10:15When we were in the playground, that would be the start of it,

0:10:15 > 0:10:19cos at playtime you always played skipping or peevers

0:10:19 > 0:10:24or you would have two balls and stot them off the wall,

0:10:24 > 0:10:27but you always sung a wee song when you were doing that.

0:10:27 > 0:10:31And even when you were skipping, if it was the bumps, you always

0:10:31 > 0:10:33emphasised when you did the double jump

0:10:33 > 0:10:36and things like that.

0:10:36 > 0:10:40You really got a lot of pleasure out of nothing, really.

0:10:41 > 0:10:45And all these songs, you could rattle them off by heart.

0:10:45 > 0:10:47We used to sit in the stair if it pouring with rain

0:10:47 > 0:10:50and we'd all take a turn singing,

0:10:50 > 0:10:52cos you sounded better cos it all echoed.

0:10:52 > 0:10:55And I mean, the neighbours never come out and said get away.

0:10:55 > 0:10:57They must have felt we sung all right.

0:10:57 > 0:10:59# The wind, the wind The wind blows high

0:10:59 > 0:11:02# The snow comes falling from the sky... #

0:11:02 > 0:11:05Although sound on film had been made possible in the late 1920s,

0:11:05 > 0:11:09it wasn't common in home movies until the 1950s.

0:11:11 > 0:11:15In the second Norton Park film, the children's songs and rhymes

0:11:15 > 0:11:16were added to the soundtrack.

0:11:18 > 0:11:20Isa, Cathie, Sandra and Christine

0:11:20 > 0:11:22were all featured in The Singing Street.

0:11:24 > 0:11:27This is the first time they've been together in over 60 years.

0:11:28 > 0:11:30- CHILD ON FILM:- # In and out the dusty bluebells

0:11:30 > 0:11:32# In and out the dusty bluebells In and out the dusty bluebells

0:11:32 > 0:11:34# I am your master. #

0:11:34 > 0:11:37# Pitter pitter patter on your shoulder

0:11:37 > 0:11:39# Pitter pitter patter on your shoulder

0:11:39 > 0:11:41# Pitter pitter patter on your shoulder

0:11:41 > 0:11:43# I am your master. #

0:11:43 > 0:11:44- Oh, there's me!- There you are!

0:11:44 > 0:11:47Very good!

0:11:47 > 0:11:49# I am your master

0:11:49 > 0:11:51# In and out the dusty bluebells... #

0:11:51 > 0:11:54It's hard to believe that it's you, eh?

0:11:54 > 0:11:56I know, we were all very graceful.

0:11:56 > 0:11:58We were all very skinny!

0:12:01 > 0:12:04That's me there in the middle of the ropes with the white shoes on.

0:12:04 > 0:12:06I thought that was Margaret Thompson.

0:12:06 > 0:12:08- Is that you?- That's me.

0:12:09 > 0:12:15Without much traffic, children could play safely outside unsupervised.

0:12:15 > 0:12:17# Ice cake, spice cake all for tea

0:12:17 > 0:12:20# And we'll have a wedding at half past three. #

0:12:20 > 0:12:22Every time you were out in the street,

0:12:22 > 0:12:24there was folk singing, there was people singing.

0:12:24 > 0:12:29If you seen a car then, it was very rare.

0:12:29 > 0:12:31It was a doctor or an undertaker.

0:12:31 > 0:12:33# The wind, the wind The wind blows high,

0:12:33 > 0:12:36# The snow comes falling from the sky

0:12:36 > 0:12:40# Margaret Thompson says she'll die for the want of the golden city... #

0:12:40 > 0:12:45These songs evoke the fun and mischief of long childhood days.

0:12:45 > 0:12:47They were learned from their peers and elders,

0:12:47 > 0:12:49with the favourite theme being first loves.

0:12:49 > 0:12:52# B is his first name His first name, his first name

0:12:52 > 0:12:54# B is his first name Ee-aye-oh, sir

0:12:54 > 0:12:56# M is his second name His second name... #

0:12:56 > 0:12:59If you had a crush on a boy or something and then when you were

0:12:59 > 0:13:03playing that game, you would be saying his initials,

0:13:03 > 0:13:07rather than say to your pal, "I fancy him."

0:13:07 > 0:13:08Jimmy Gillon.

0:13:11 > 0:13:14# Show you face, show your face

0:13:14 > 0:13:18# Now it's time to show your face Ee-aye-oh, sir. #

0:13:18 > 0:13:22I mean, you would need to record it or it would get lost forever.

0:13:27 > 0:13:29I don't know about your grandchildren,

0:13:29 > 0:13:33but my grandchildren don't know any songs like that.

0:13:33 > 0:13:35Don't know any songs like that.

0:13:37 > 0:13:38You'll never see that again now.

0:13:38 > 0:13:42You'll never see how we all came together and played these games,

0:13:42 > 0:13:46and we were so healthy and it's the vitality that gets me.

0:13:46 > 0:13:49I never felt one bit deprived.

0:13:49 > 0:13:52My daughter says, "Mum, how did you manage?"

0:13:52 > 0:13:54- I says, "I managed all right." - You just had to.

0:13:54 > 0:13:55Everybody was the same.

0:13:57 > 0:14:00Do you know, we don't know how lucky we are, now, eh?

0:14:00 > 0:14:04I think it's nice to look at us, look at everybody then,

0:14:04 > 0:14:07cos life was still ahead for us, wasn't it?

0:14:07 > 0:14:09We all had that bloom.

0:14:09 > 0:14:12- Everything was an adventure. - Yeah.

0:14:29 > 0:14:33# Mr Sandman, bring me a dream

0:14:33 > 0:14:38# Make him the cutest that I've ever seen

0:14:40 > 0:14:43# Give him two lips like roses and clover

0:14:43 > 0:14:47# Then tell him that his lonesome nights are over... #

0:14:47 > 0:14:51The 1950s brought a growing sense of optimism to Scotland.

0:14:51 > 0:14:55World War II had been a long and difficult conflict.

0:14:55 > 0:14:59Peace came as a huge relief and people celebrated

0:14:59 > 0:15:01by embarking on new relationships,

0:15:01 > 0:15:04and many sought work and adventure overseas.

0:15:04 > 0:15:07- Mention the tea.- Hmm?

0:15:07 > 0:15:08Tell them about tea.

0:15:08 > 0:15:13Well, I went out to India in 1951.

0:15:13 > 0:15:17I joined a tea company there.

0:15:17 > 0:15:20Robert's sister was our next-door neighbour,

0:15:20 > 0:15:23so that's how I heard about Robert.

0:15:23 > 0:15:27We wrote back and forward for four-and-a-half years.

0:15:29 > 0:15:31And then he came home

0:15:31 > 0:15:33and we got married.

0:15:35 > 0:15:37Engaged and married within six weeks.

0:15:37 > 0:15:38Six weeks. Yes.

0:15:47 > 0:15:50# Again

0:15:52 > 0:15:56# This couldn't happen again... #

0:15:58 > 0:16:02All went well.

0:16:02 > 0:16:04Wonderful. Wonderful.

0:16:07 > 0:16:12Somebody said, "Robert's got his arm pinned to his side."

0:16:12 > 0:16:14I think he was holding himself up.

0:16:17 > 0:16:20I had been at a stag night the night before,

0:16:20 > 0:16:23so I wasn't fully compos mentis,

0:16:23 > 0:16:26I was very hungover at the time.

0:16:38 > 0:16:41This is one I would like you to see.

0:16:41 > 0:16:43Here we are, this is what you want.

0:16:49 > 0:16:52That's Robert...when he had hair!

0:16:54 > 0:16:56Shortly after their marriage,

0:16:56 > 0:17:00Robert took Jessie back to India to live and work on a tea plantation.

0:17:03 > 0:17:05We had a great time onboard the ship.

0:17:05 > 0:17:09You know, there was a group of tea planters and quite a wild crowd

0:17:09 > 0:17:11so we had quite a good party on board.

0:17:11 > 0:17:13Mostly Scots.

0:17:18 > 0:17:20Although the sun was finally beginning to set

0:17:20 > 0:17:23on the British Empire, India and the other countries

0:17:23 > 0:17:25of the newly defined Commonwealth

0:17:25 > 0:17:29were still popular destinations for Scots wanting to work abroad.

0:17:31 > 0:17:33Remember, it was just after the end of the war,

0:17:33 > 0:17:36people had all travelled abroad we had heard all these stories,

0:17:36 > 0:17:40so it was...something you just wanted to do.

0:17:56 > 0:18:00OK, it was a great adventure, but at the same time,

0:18:00 > 0:18:04and by the same token, it was something that a lot of people

0:18:04 > 0:18:06were doing at the time.

0:18:11 > 0:18:13Here's a shot here, coming up.

0:18:16 > 0:18:19- The one on the left's Jessie. - HE LAUGHS

0:18:19 > 0:18:20Very funny(!)

0:18:22 > 0:18:25Here's Jessie on the elephant.

0:18:25 > 0:18:27It was all jaggy.

0:18:27 > 0:18:30I had a dress on and my legs were sore

0:18:30 > 0:18:34and I wanted down and Robert said, "You asked to get up!"

0:18:36 > 0:18:39And that's Robert pretending he's going to shoot something.

0:18:42 > 0:18:44Well, I had to carry a gun up there

0:18:44 > 0:18:47because this was really deep in the jungle,

0:18:47 > 0:18:52so we had to have a shotgun with us, just in case.

0:18:52 > 0:18:56There was quite a few leopard in that part of the world.

0:18:58 > 0:19:00Robert and Jessie stayed in India for seven years.

0:19:00 > 0:19:04Their adventures, including the arrival of two children,

0:19:04 > 0:19:07are all captured in their home movies.

0:19:10 > 0:19:14It's difficult for people to imagine what it was like,

0:19:14 > 0:19:19and that was one of the reasons why Robert got a camera,

0:19:19 > 0:19:25so when he came home, he could show people here what it was like.

0:19:26 > 0:19:30These films bring back a lot of memories.

0:19:30 > 0:19:32We reminisce.

0:19:47 > 0:19:50Home movie making exploded in the 1950s,

0:19:50 > 0:19:53alongside a rapidly growing British economy.

0:19:53 > 0:19:55With more money to spend,

0:19:55 > 0:19:58a surplus of aeroplanes left over from the war, and the relaxation

0:19:58 > 0:20:02of border controls, travelling the world had never been so easy.

0:20:05 > 0:20:08In an effort to rebuild their own economies,

0:20:08 > 0:20:10Spain and the countries of southern Europe

0:20:10 > 0:20:14began to consider the potential for tourism, so they put up hotels,

0:20:14 > 0:20:17and the package holiday was born.

0:20:19 > 0:20:23Naturally, people wanted to record these new cultural experiences,

0:20:23 > 0:20:26so the travelogue became a home movie favourite.

0:20:32 > 0:20:35There's a lovely scene taken in Switzerland

0:20:35 > 0:20:38where my grandpa and I are having breakfast on a balcony.

0:20:38 > 0:20:40A continental breakfast

0:20:40 > 0:20:42with hot chocolate and croissants and stuff like that,

0:20:42 > 0:20:46and it's a really lovely memory to have.

0:20:46 > 0:20:48Nice wee gem from the past, if you like.

0:20:52 > 0:20:55In the early 1950s, Jack Loudon's father took up film-making

0:20:55 > 0:21:00to record family life, and their travels.

0:21:00 > 0:21:03They were always part of my childhood, everywhere we went.

0:21:04 > 0:21:07Photographs don't capture that little bit of life.

0:21:07 > 0:21:12You just get the extra movement and you see all the little gestures,

0:21:12 > 0:21:15little mannerisms, things you'd forgotten about.

0:21:15 > 0:21:17It enables you to form a better picture

0:21:17 > 0:21:19of what life was like in those days.

0:21:28 > 0:21:30- OLD VIDEO:- There is an old song which says,

0:21:30 > 0:21:33"If I knew you were coming, I'd have baked a cake."

0:21:33 > 0:21:36But since you are here, this is how we make a cream sponge.

0:21:38 > 0:21:43So that's our kitchen at Larchmont in Kilmacolm.

0:21:43 > 0:21:47By the late 1950s, television was beginning to have a major impact

0:21:47 > 0:21:49on leisure time.

0:21:49 > 0:21:51It even started to affect how people filmed each other

0:21:51 > 0:21:52in their home movies.

0:21:56 > 0:21:58Mum was always very stylish, wasn't she?

0:21:58 > 0:22:00She was, actually, yes.

0:22:00 > 0:22:02Well, she died when she was 91,

0:22:02 > 0:22:05- and she looked about 75.- Yeah.

0:22:05 > 0:22:09And...er, the shiny shoes on, the make-up on, the nails done,

0:22:09 > 0:22:11all the jewellery on, absolutely immaculate.

0:22:11 > 0:22:14Just looked as though she was sitting having a sleep.

0:22:14 > 0:22:16She did that in style as well, didn't she?

0:22:16 > 0:22:20- Yeah, did everything in style. - She did everything in style.

0:22:20 > 0:22:23It's nice just seeing her doing everyday things

0:22:23 > 0:22:24the way you remember her.

0:22:24 > 0:22:27That cheeky chappie was you, wasn't it?

0:22:27 > 0:22:29That was me just appearing round the door there, yes.

0:22:29 > 0:22:34I seem to have been told to get it in my face just as quickly as I can.

0:22:34 > 0:22:35- VIDEO:- We think our cake is lighter

0:22:35 > 0:22:38by the addition of two tablespoonfuls

0:22:38 > 0:22:39of nearly boiling water,

0:22:39 > 0:22:42although this is not absolutely necessary.

0:22:42 > 0:22:46He used to write all the scripts himself, and usually my mum

0:22:46 > 0:22:50narrated them, but she'd a very BBC voice. It was of its time,

0:22:50 > 0:22:53you know, like the newscasters used to have and I don't think

0:22:53 > 0:22:57she was putting it on or anything, it was just, er...it seemed natural

0:22:57 > 0:23:00That's just how everybody spoke in those days.

0:23:00 > 0:23:03- VIDEO:- While our sponge is cooking, the clearing

0:23:03 > 0:23:04and washing up can be started.

0:23:07 > 0:23:10Nice the cines have survived.

0:23:10 > 0:23:12I said, as soon as I retire,

0:23:12 > 0:23:15one of the things I'd like to do is get them onto DVD.

0:23:15 > 0:23:17To preserve them.

0:23:17 > 0:23:22To preserve them and pass them on down to the next generation,

0:23:22 > 0:23:25for them to see their granny,

0:23:25 > 0:23:28and in some cases their great-granny, making a cake.

0:23:28 > 0:23:31- Yes.- I mean, you can't put a price on that.- That's extraordinary.

0:23:31 > 0:23:32You can't put a price on that.

0:23:48 > 0:23:50There's young love.

0:23:52 > 0:23:54# Earth angel... #

0:23:54 > 0:23:58In 1957, Prime Minister Harold Macmillan

0:23:58 > 0:24:01told the nation that they'd never had it so good.

0:24:01 > 0:24:04The post-war creation of the National Health Service

0:24:04 > 0:24:07and welfare state gave a whole generation

0:24:07 > 0:24:10a sense of security and prosperity.

0:24:10 > 0:24:15The result was a sharp rise in births - a baby boom.

0:24:15 > 0:24:17We had three boys and a girl.

0:24:19 > 0:24:21There's the eldest son, cowboy Joe.

0:24:23 > 0:24:26If ever there was something people wanted to film,

0:24:26 > 0:24:28it was their children.

0:24:30 > 0:24:32That's Jennifer arriving on the scene now.

0:24:32 > 0:24:35That was a great day, when she was born.

0:24:35 > 0:24:38When your third boy comes along, "Oh, it's another boy."

0:24:39 > 0:24:42Then all of a sudden a girl appears

0:24:42 > 0:24:44and, "Oh, that's nice, you've got a girl.

0:24:44 > 0:24:45"Oh, that's nice."

0:24:49 > 0:24:53As a hobby, Norman Speirs has been helping people to rediscover

0:24:53 > 0:24:56their memories by transferring their old cine films to DVD.

0:24:58 > 0:25:04Probably one films happy times more than sad times.

0:25:04 > 0:25:06And perhaps that's a good thing in a way

0:25:06 > 0:25:09because you then remember the best times.

0:25:11 > 0:25:15One doesn't really want to start filming funerals.

0:25:17 > 0:25:19After losing their first baby,

0:25:19 > 0:25:22Norman and his wife Dorothy eventually had a daughter.

0:25:24 > 0:25:25Wendy.

0:25:25 > 0:25:29All the film of the family, of my daughter,

0:25:29 > 0:25:31from the day she was born,

0:25:31 > 0:25:35we copied all that onto DVDs,

0:25:35 > 0:25:40and it took 26 DVDs to cover it all.

0:25:40 > 0:25:43# Come softly, darling

0:25:43 > 0:25:47# Come softly, darling

0:25:47 > 0:25:51# Come softly, darling

0:25:51 > 0:25:55# Come softly, darling

0:25:55 > 0:25:59# Come softly, darling

0:25:59 > 0:26:03# Come to me, stay

0:26:03 > 0:26:10# You're my obsession forever and a day... #

0:26:12 > 0:26:17When you're doing the copying onto DVD,

0:26:17 > 0:26:21this was a condensed period.

0:26:21 > 0:26:23We did a whole thing in two or three months

0:26:23 > 0:26:25and we were able to view it,

0:26:25 > 0:26:30and what was fascinating was seeing them growing up, in the space

0:26:30 > 0:26:33of literally a few months,

0:26:33 > 0:26:38and I feel I've got some gems amongst it.

0:26:38 > 0:26:42# Always, always

0:26:42 > 0:26:46# I've waited so long

0:26:46 > 0:26:49# For your kisses and your love... #

0:26:50 > 0:26:57I just couldn't see me existing without having...film or video,

0:26:57 > 0:26:59as Dorothy would say, to play with.

0:27:01 > 0:27:03They mean an awful lot to me.

0:27:08 > 0:27:12It's been a fascinating progress...through life.

0:27:17 > 0:27:21When I'm gone - and it won't be all that far off now cos Dorothy and I

0:27:21 > 0:27:25both celebrated our 90th birthdays this year -

0:27:25 > 0:27:29Dorothy's version of what's going to happen is a large skip

0:27:29 > 0:27:33will be delivered to the house and it'll all go in the skip.

0:27:35 > 0:27:39I'll be horrified, but who else is going to be interested?

0:27:41 > 0:27:44Who's going to be interested in seeing it all?

0:27:50 > 0:27:54Next time on Scotland's Home Movies, it's the mythical 1960s...

0:27:55 > 0:27:57Wow.

0:27:57 > 0:28:00I don't remember ever seeing this before.

0:28:01 > 0:28:03..and the lurid 1970s.

0:28:04 > 0:28:10This is where fashion really doesn't do us any justice whatsoever!

0:28:10 > 0:28:13MUSIC: Don't Let It Die by Hurricane Smith