1960s-1970s Scotland's Home Movies

For over 100 years, the people of Scotland have been filming ...

themselves.

-It takes you right back.

-It does, actually, it's lovely.

-Crumbs.

-A lot of good memories.

-Oh, yeah.

-Goodness.

-Wonderful.

It's a little bit of magic.

Across generations, home movies have recorded the ordinary,

as well as the great moments of life.

From our first steps...

..to our furthest travels.

Today, we take for granted the ability to record our lives

on tiny digital cameras and mobile phones.

But in this series we look back to the golden age of home movies,

shot on cine film by our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents.

-Wow.

-Wow.

I don't remember ever seeing this before.

Unearthed from attics and cupboards across the country,

home movies from the 1920s to the 1980s

tell an alternative history of Scotland.

MUSIC: Calcutta by Lawrence Welk

In this episode, we look back to the 1960s and '70s.

After all the post-war hardships,

there was a sense that anything was possible in the '60s.

It's one small step for man,

one giant leap for mankind.

It was a truly dynamic period in British history.

Revolutions in youth culture, music and fashion

transformed the look and feel of the country.

By this time, home movie-making was a cultural phenomenon,

with people from all walks of life taking up the hobby.

Recently, Dave Broderick found his father's old cine films

and had them transferred so he could watch them again.

Not 100% sure what we're going to see, actually,

to tell you the truth.

Dave and his cousin Alison

haven't seen these films for over 40 years.

-Ah, that's my mum.

-Your mum.

-That's my mum and dad.

-And there's your mum and dad.

-THEY LAUGH

-Brilliant.

-Both with a cigarette in their hand.

-Smoking, yeah.

-Yeah.

Dad was always into his cine-filming when we were growing up.

Unfortunately, I don't think we're going to see an awful lot of him

in these films, cos it's him that's usually behind the camera, isn't it?

That was probably his plan.

Yeah, that was probably his plan. Yeah, that's right. Yeah.

Now we're in Dundee.

-On the Fife.

-That's the boat, yeah.

-That's on the Fife,

the ferry that used to go across from Newport to Dundee.

To Dundee, yeah.

-Before the bridge was built.

-Mm-hm.

What is he like?

# Sunny days chase the night... #

-Another fag in his mouth.

-The smoking is crazy, yeah.

Look at them singing. That's them singing.

They're singing My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean.

THEY LAUGH

Can remember them doing that when we...when we were there. Look.

What are they like?

# A new day is born... #

Dundee was a boom town in the early 1960s,

and employment was high.

The arrival of new multinational companies

was a boost to the city's more traditional industries.

Dave's mum worked at Keiller's, the marmalade factory.

God.

Mum as a bride-to-be.

Looks like she was getting paraded through the streets of Dundee.

Yeah, that's what used to happen.

You got dressed up and took home, that was the fake wedding.

Ah, right.

THEY LAUGH

Ah, look at that. My mum in her wedding dress.

-She looks dead young there.

-Yeah, doesn't she?

I don't remember ever seeing this before.

I wonder who was in charge of the camera that day?

Aye, I don't know, I hope it wasnae Dad.

I wouldn't have put it past him, right enough.

THEY LAUGH

-Look at those dresses, wow.

-Wow.

(That's me.)

-Is that you?!

-That's me.

-Is that you?

-Yeah!

-With my wee blue suit on.

-Bless.

There's Dad.

Bet she's saying, "Come on, let's get a drink."

ALISON LAUGHS

Mum died of a, er, complication of lung cancer.

I was only, er...15.

I remember her as being very full of life -

she was the one who wanted to party all the time,

for the want of a better phrase.

Dad brought us up, gave up a lot of his life for us, I suppose.

I'm sure he would have liked to live his life out with his wife

and retire as anybody else did and, you know, grow old.

But that wasn't to be.

Dave's early childhood

was spent in the soot-covered tenements of west Dundee.

New opportunities in education, technology and housing

were being designed to break up the formal and rigid social structures.

According to Prime Minister Harold Wilson,

this was the dawn of a classless society.

That'll be me, then, with lots of gingerness going on there, I notice.

ALISON LAUGHS

Not so much... Not so much now!

Yeah, bright red cheeks and gingerness.

Very happy childhood.

Lots of laughing.

The confidence of the era filtered down to its children.

All over Scotland, free-range kids were given space and time

to explore the world at their own pace.

There's me and Mum.

A very proud mother.

In the early 1960s,

Ewan Jeen filmed the arrival of his daughter, Sandy.

"First flirtation"?

Look who it is. Angus Sprott.

-Sandy Jeen!

-Oh, no, how old was I?

-Just months, months.

-Not old enough, my dear.

Eurgh, yuck! Eurgh!

THEY LAUGH

A few years later, Sandy was joined by her sister, Debbie.

Their father continued filming

throughout their idyllic childhood in Bearsden.

It's quite funny, looking back at us, cos we're actually quite cute.

I... I just can't really believe it's you and I, as little girls.

-Just a few years down the road.

-Just a few years.

-Not too many.

Oh, there's the dog.

They were great dogs.

-We were left on beaches alone with those dogs.

-That's right.

Whilst Mum and Dad were away on the water somewhere.

That's right.

The 1960s were a great time to be a kid.

-There's Mum in her wee car.

-The car.

-Wee Mini Clubman.

-Jam-packed to the gunnels.

-That's right.

-Everything was in it.

Parenting was becoming looser,

and lifestyles were beginning to evolve around leisure.

I do remember that, I remember the times,

just feeling quite happy, quite relaxed.

Quite safe.

A much more relaxed way of life compared to now.

Yes, totally different.

Yes, watching this, I just feel like I'm actually there.

Yes, totally.

I'm just waiting for Mum or Dad to turn round.

-I know. I wish they were here.

-Totally.

-Puppets!

-Wee legs are just dangling away.

THEY LAUGH

When we look back at that, it's just magic fun and I just get...

such a tickle out of it all the time.

-I love it, I could watch it every day.

-Uh-huh.

It's marvellous.

And it's a little bit of magic.

# Have yourself a merry little Christmas... #

Wonderful.

# Let your hearts be light... #

-Oh, Sandy, do you remember the elephant?

-Oh, the elephant.

-Look at that. The first powered toy.

-That's right.

I don't think these toys would go down very well now, would they?

THEY LAUGH

-Here's the crocodile.

-These are just all wind-up toys, you know.

# Have yourself a merry little Christmas

# Make the Yuletide gay... #

Children had never had it so good, especially when it came to toys.

The 1960s brought Easy-Bake Ovens, Barbie dolls,

Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots, Etch A Sketch, and Scalextric.

# Once again, as in olden days

# Happy golden days... #

Christmas morning became one of the most featured events

in Scotland's home movies.

# Faithful friends who are dear to us

# Will be near to us once more

# Someday soon... #

THEY LAUGH

Barrie Wolgemuth and her family

found a special use for their Christmas home movies.

My sister has lived in Canada for many years,

and they weren't able to come backwards and forwards

because it cost so much.

So any family celebration my dad filmed.

In an early form of Skyping, the home movies were sent to Canada,

so family over there could share in the festivities.

That must have meant such a lot to her -

you know, being away - and it was a way of her seeing them.

-That's what all the waving is about.

-Mm-hm. Mm-hm.

What I remember is being part of a family.

It's good to be able to look back on this to see not just a photograph,

-you can actually see the expressions.

-That's right.

-Is this your 21st?

-Mm-hm.

THEY LAUGH

-There's you, Mum, with Uncle John.

-Yeah.

-I cannot remember much about it.

-Look, conga!

-Yeah.

-And that's you.

-SHE LAUGHS

# Look at 'em sway with it

# Gettin' so gay with it

# Shoutin' "Ole!" with it - wow! #

They had a sit-down meal.

-We had a sit-down meal followed by a conga.

-By a conga.

THEY LAUGH

You just didn't think of renting a venue for these things.

# Mambo, Papa

# Mama loves mambo

# Mambo, Mama

# Don't let her rumba and don't let her samba

# Cos Papa loves the mambo tonight! #

Oh, phew! Glad that's over. Knackered now.

'60s parties may have a reputation for sex, drugs and rock and roll,

but for the average Scottish family

they were a much more traditional affair.

# I'm yearning for my Hebridean island... #

All the songs.

-We knew all the words, we still know all the words.

-Yes.

People don't do that now, it's such a shame that they don't do that.

Any minute now, we'll be having Tobermory Bay and Westering Home.

Bonnie Mary Of Argyle.

Oh, yes, that's it, them all.

# I long for Mull and Tobermory Bay... #

MUSIC: Melodie d'Amour by Lawrence Welk

With the arrival of smaller and easier-to-load cameras,

you could now make movies anywhere you chose to go.

Even though travelling abroad was becoming more accessible,

for most people, holidays at home were still the norm.

-These were the big family holidays, weren't they?

-Mm-hm.

-Butlins.

See, I remember being there.

I remember that, I remember that - being on those chutes.

-I remember those pools in Butlins. Freezing cold.

-Freezing.

-An outdoor pool in Ayr.

-Yeah, why wouldn't you, eh?

-Yeah.

Granny and Aunt Jessie would always be ready,

just standing at the edge of the beach, ready with great big towels.

All wrapped up, scarves round their head,

and they've got their coats and their collars up.

-Tightly gathered round.

-Wrapped up like it's winter.

And we're in our bathing costumes. Honestly!

-We got about, didn't we?

-We did.

-Scotland was good to be in on holiday.

-Certainly was.

-The views are stunning.

-Yeah.

-Oh, no!

-THEY LAUGH

Jammed your rollers in!

As a Christmas present for her mum,

Danielle Brunton had her father's old cine films transferred onto DVD.

Mum Maureen remembers how her husband loved filming.

About '70, '71, Dave started making these films.

He just loved gadgets and he loved cameras.

MUSIC: Summer Breeze by The Isley Brothers

One of the first things Dave filmed

was a camping holiday in the north of Scotland.

They were joined by Maureen's sister and her family.

That's Rab and me.

That's Dave.

-Nice short shorts.

-Yes.

That's me. I'm waving.

# Summer breeze

# Makes me feel fine... #

-Oh, look how high they climbed.

-Mm.

You can see us down there.

In the lay-by.

Oh, see - we had a silver teapot, we were posh!

THEY LAUGH

# Makes me feel fine... #

That was '75?

-Oh, it was '76.

-'76. That was a really hot summer.

-What...?

-THEY LAUGH

CHANTING

If the '60s seemed to be all about optimism,

the '70s were blighted by turmoil.

-CHANTING:

-Out, out, out, out, out, out, out...

Strikes, inflation, power cuts and the conflict in Northern Ireland

brought shocking daily headlines.

But '70s home movies tell a different story,

and memories of this much-maligned decade

are often surprisingly affectionate.

-The '70s for us was just...

-It's bringing up your family.

Bringing up the family. It was a really nice time.

I just think it was quite a carefree time then.

I think the children had so much more freedom than they do now.

-They didn't have gadgets.

-No, that's right.

Didn't have televisions in their bedrooms or...

Weren't sitting with iPads or phones.

-And we played a lot of music in the house.

-That's right.

My boys played football every night of the week, seven nights a week.

What are my trousers like?!

-That was the style - purple and green.

-Goodness me.

I remember my house, I had a cream suite and a purple carpet

and a purple-and-brown wall.

That was the colours then, wasn't it?

-Bright, psychedelic oranges and suchlike.

-That was the '70s.

That's me. What do I look like?

You look lovely.

# Bye-bye, baby Baby, goodbye

# Bye, baby Baby, bye-bye... #

And what was my mum's waistcoat like?!

THEY LAUGH

Oh, that's me here.

And that's old Auntie Jan.

That's old Auntie Jan, yeah. The New Year was three days of partying.

That's what happened at our parties. We were all singing and dancing.

# Girl, I'd marry you now

# If I were free... #

My dad. My dad's singing, yeah. Oh, dear.

# I could love you but why begin it?

# Cos there ain't any future in it

# She's got me... #

What is Lydia drinking?!

Goodness knows.

Yeah, a pint of stout.

You can tell it's a good party. Everyone just looks...

They're all having a great time.

-Merry?

-..merry. I was trying to think of the right word.

THEY LAUGH

-Very merry.

-We've had a few glasses of something.

Look at old Auntie Ann.

Oh, it's a Scottish New Year in Fife.

# Wish I knew you before I met her... #

Somebody's got a sore head.

THEY LAUGH

We used to have lots of get-togethers.

-It's all about being in the house, having a good laugh.

-That's right.

That's what I mean - you didn't need to go to fancy places.

You'd just have it in your own home.

It's just nice to look back at that.

Seeing all these people who are no longer here, eh?

But elsewhere there was hardship.

Some were paying the price for radical changes

made in the '50s and '60s.

Housing schemes had been hastily built

without the amenities required to make them thrive.

Communities did what they could to stay together.

Craigmillar in Edinburgh had something special.

The Craigmillar Festival -

a week of good fun, good laughs and good-going entertainment.

A week in which the people of this South Edinburgh housing scheme

can daub their own splashes of colour across the grey surroundings

that their city has given them to live in.

By the mid-1970s, Craigmillar was putting on

one of the largest community festivals in the world.

Thousands of local people came together

to produce their own theatre, art and music.

They also made movies.

# Hey, Wullie What you doing?

# Ooh, Wullie... #

There's them running through the streets of Greendykes

and that's the high flats in the background.

You can tell it's the '70s. Oh, my God, the fashions!

We didnae care back then, we just wore anything,

and you can tell it in this movie.

Johnni Stanton was a youth worker for the festival throughout

the '70s.

A few years ago, he found this film rusting away in a cellar.

Loosely based on the popular Oor Wullie comic strip,

it was made by the children of the Craigmillar Playschemes.

This is Lismore School they're playing at, I think.

Playing with guiders.

Guiders is what other people call carties.

You go up to the local dump,

it's all scrap, you pinch what you can. You got these pram wheels,

you made the crossbars and then a piece to sit on,

with a rope.

No brakes, cos your feet did that.

Somebody always pushed the back and it was great when you could get up

to the Castlebrae cos it was a hill.

We had thousands of kids in the area at that time. Thousands.

What were they to do? Where were they to go?

Craigmillar was an area of low expectation,

of a depressed economy,

big families.

The drugs took hold in the '70s and then it got worse,

harder drugs coming into the area in the '80s.

A lot of the kids I knew back then in the '70s are dead now.

Basically wasted a whole generation of kids in the '80s.

It was a tragic, tragic thing.

But for Johnni and many other young people from the area,

the festival was inspirational.

I couldn't get a job,

but what I did have was a community that I cared about

and kids seemed to care about me. It was my saving grace.

What does the festival mean to you?

Well, it means a lot to me, after all, it has played a big part

-in my life and it's influenced my morals more than anything else.

-How?

I look at things from a different view and I see how things are being

done the right way. I do them myself that way now.

The '70s was, oh... just a magical time. I was happy.

Maybe that's what...all you really need in the long run, you know?

To be happy, to have those moments you can look back on.

Home movies are all about preserving happy memories.

It takes you right back.

-It does, actually, it's lovely. A lot of good memories.

-Yeah.

I must've had a vodka and orange there or two.

Yeah, that's obviously Dave taking cine.

LAUGHTER

That was it.

It's nice to look back and see how, once upon a time, we were young.

-That's right.

-And the kids can see that, because I think sometimes

they look at you and think this is how you were born.

LAUGHTER

-Oh, dear!

-I wonder what you were singing there?

Could've been Country Road.

No, it's not a Country Road song,

cos you usually swing about when you're singing that.

LAUGHTER

It's a slow one. It must be a love song. What would it be?

You know that one, Dreaming?

Oh, I... # Drea-e-e-em. #

-That one.

-That's it.

# Dream, dream, dream Drea-e-e-em

# Dream, dream, dream... #

Maureen met her husband Dave when she was 20.

He moved into the house next-door.

Dave and I just... Well, it was just magical.

-Stars in your eyes.

-Definitely, love at first sight.

I can still remember my first kiss, and that sounds ridiculous

at my age, but I can still remember my first kiss.

-That shows how special it was.

-And it was special.

And then we got engaged, and 18 months later we got married.

It's nice to see him when he's young like that.

It gives me a lot of pleasure, it makes me sad sometimes,

but I just like seeing him, especially with the kids,

how happy we all were.

15 years ago, Dave fell seriously ill with lung cancer.

I said to him one day, I said,

"Why you? You know, you're such a good person."

He said, "Why not?"

Made his peace with his maker, that was him, he was ready.

Unfortunately I wasn't. Never went back to the church after it.

Not for a year, and a bit.

-Still gets me after all that time.

-Mm. Yeah.

-You know what? It's... It's... Yeah.

-It was horrible.

-Yeah.

There's nobody else can take Dave's place and...

you've just got to get on with it.

Being able to look at these,

it brings back all the memories, all the happy times,

so I can look at it and I can cry and I can laugh at the same time.

Dad's so young and vibrant.

-It's great, isn't it?

-It gives you a lift.

It certainly gives you a lift.

It's just lovely to see us, as...as a young couple.

Great films and great memories, so it's just... It's nice.

# I remember golden days... #

Like the Bruntons, Dave Broderick found his father's old cine films

and had them digitised as a way of reconnecting with his past

and remembering lost loved ones.

-Is that my dad?

-It looks like him.

-It is!

-That's him in Speedos. My God!

-THEY LAUGH

Oh, Dad with the budgie smugglers, then. Really?

It's difficult to remember sometimes, when you just know

somebody as being older, that they actually had a life before you.

-Oh, there's the trampoline.

-Aye, it's the trampoline.

-Oh, there's...Gran in the background.

-Mm-hm.

I think as you get older you realise that there's stuff

you've missed from your childhood

and you get to that age where you just...don't necessarily want

it back, but you certainly want to be able to see and acknowledge it.

That is in this house, or that's out the back garden of this house.

That's the front path, right here, as well.

-You don't see kids out like that playing any more.

-No, you don't.

-It doesn't happen.

Definitely don't. It's really good to see them.

I think, cos I'm the oldest one now, there's nobody older than me

to remember these things with,

cos I do live in the past quite a bit, I have to say.

I firmly believe that, it was 40 years ago,

people didn't have as many problems as they have now.

Life was simpler then and I think I would've liked to live then.

Like, be my mum's generation, you know what I mean?

They also had rickets and TB.

-I suppose.

-THEY LAUGH

In the 40 or so years since these films were made, the world

has certainly moved on.

Just as governments, fashions and other social trends have come

and gone, so too have the methods in which we record ourselves.

In the 1980s,

the introduction of video heralded a revolution in home movies.

Tape was cheap compared to film and the new camcorders could

record an hour or two of video on one single cassette.

Today, we take for granted the ability to film,

edit and broadcast to the world all from a phone.

But what we film, the things we want to remember,

have largely stayed the same.

# Home, let me come home

# Home is wherever I'm with you

# Oh, home Let me come home

# Home is wherever I'm with you... #

Next time on Scotland's Home Movies -

for some people, making these films became more than a hobby.

Don't forget, I was doing a full-time job as well

and bringing up a family, trying to struggle to make these epics.

In the final episode of the series,

we discover another kind of home movie-making, an imaginative,

often ingenious culture that deserves to be celebrated.