0:00:02 > 0:00:06The Travelling Picture Show is giving four Northern Irish towns
0:00:06 > 0:00:11the chance to celebrate their past, their stories and their characters,
0:00:11 > 0:00:15as captured by local amateur filmmakers and television crews.
0:00:15 > 0:00:19Some of the films have lain hidden in attics and archives for decades.
0:00:19 > 0:00:23But now we're bringing them back to the heart of the community they came from.
0:00:23 > 0:00:27We're going to meet some of the people who made the films, those who appear in them,
0:00:27 > 0:00:29and those with a story to tell.
0:00:31 > 0:00:35We've invited them to come and see the past flicker into life on the silver screen
0:00:35 > 0:00:39and get a rare glimpse of their town and its people in days gone by.
0:00:39 > 0:00:44Today we're pitching our Travelling Picture Show tent in Ballymoney.
0:00:44 > 0:00:49We'll see films that reveal the town's love affair with all things cinematic,
0:00:49 > 0:00:52the legacy of amateur filmmaker Charlie McAfee...
0:00:52 > 0:00:54Jump in and I'll take you around some of the suburbs.
0:00:54 > 0:00:57..The good old days of CB radio...
0:00:57 > 0:00:59and Ireland's only camera factory.
0:01:16 > 0:01:18I'm here at the Riverside Park in Ballymoney,
0:01:18 > 0:01:22a town very affectionately known as Cow Town,
0:01:22 > 0:01:24a town absolutely steeped in history.
0:01:24 > 0:01:27At one point it had the largest cattle market in Ireland,
0:01:27 > 0:01:30it has the oldest drama festival
0:01:30 > 0:01:33and it's got the highest life expectancy in Ulster.
0:01:33 > 0:01:35That's a very good reason for living here!
0:01:35 > 0:01:40# ..Ballymoney, I'm longing for you... #
0:01:40 > 0:01:44During my years in Ballymoney I have seen some things,
0:01:44 > 0:01:48some for the good and some for the worse.
0:01:48 > 0:01:54I find Ballymoney people, the nicest people in the whole of Northern Ireland.
0:01:54 > 0:01:58They are very agreeable. That's the reason why I have never left to go home.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02I would certainly recommend anyone who's thinking of moving out of a city
0:02:02 > 0:02:06to come and live in North Antrim somewhere within range of Ballymoney.
0:02:06 > 0:02:11Everything taken into account, Ballymoney is not a bad place to live in.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14# ..Ballymoney, I'm longing for you... #
0:02:16 > 0:02:20In 1961, the Government made a film promoting Northern Ireland
0:02:20 > 0:02:23as a place to live and do business in.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26And they filmed it just outside Ballymoney.
0:02:27 > 0:02:33The Ulster countryside owes much of its famed lush green colouring to a generous annual rainfall.
0:02:34 > 0:02:40This rarely seen film captures Northern Irish life at a crossroads between the old and new.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44Doreen, the only daughter in the family, works away from the farm.
0:02:44 > 0:02:49She has an important job as secretary to the manager of one of the new American factories.
0:02:50 > 0:02:53New plants manufacturing in Ulster are increasing rapidly.
0:02:55 > 0:02:59My uncle, William McKubre, was the postman.
0:02:59 > 0:03:03And it gave you a great insight into farming activities
0:03:03 > 0:03:08and also, of course, in the background, if you look behind the people who were in the shots,
0:03:08 > 0:03:11you could get a world of information out of the film
0:03:11 > 0:03:15as opposed to just listening to what the main thrust of the film was about.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19It's a rose-tinted view of Ulster life,
0:03:19 > 0:03:23but promotional films like this one did have an impact on the Northern Irish economy,
0:03:23 > 0:03:27and one new industry that set up in Ballymoney was the Corfield Camera Factory.
0:03:30 > 0:03:32Originally a Wolverhampton-based company,
0:03:32 > 0:03:37the Corfields took advantage of brand-new factory premises and Government grants
0:03:37 > 0:03:40when it relocated to Ballymoney in 1959.
0:03:40 > 0:03:45There wasn't a lot of work in Ballymoney and what work there was was poorly paid.
0:03:45 > 0:03:49So when Corfields came, their wages were better
0:03:49 > 0:03:55and people, obviously, wanted to find work that was better paid
0:03:55 > 0:03:59and there were quite a few people looking for work, both men and women.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03Sheena McCartney was secretary to John Corfield.
0:04:05 > 0:04:07When this corporate film was made,
0:04:07 > 0:04:12Corfields was the UK's leading manufacturer of 35mm cameras,
0:04:12 > 0:04:14thanks mainly to the Ballymoney workforce.
0:04:14 > 0:04:19They had skills where they were used to machines
0:04:19 > 0:04:25and I think that they had a dexterity that helped them to work on the cameras.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30My first reaction would be, well, I was so young.
0:04:30 > 0:04:36School-leaver Bertie McAffattray got his first rung on the career ladder at Corfields.
0:04:36 > 0:04:40The shot of me in that film there would actually be
0:04:40 > 0:04:47a shot of the shutter speed of the camera being set or adjusted.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52There were different people at each stage and they done their bit,
0:04:52 > 0:04:57passed it on to the next stage and someone else done their part.
0:04:58 > 0:05:04Here and there along the line there would be quality checks to see that the thing was going OK.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08The Corfield Company closed in 1971,
0:05:08 > 0:05:11but many of the people featured in this film still live in Ballymoney
0:05:11 > 0:05:14and have very, very fond memories of their time there.
0:05:14 > 0:05:16Very often in the canteen after lunch
0:05:16 > 0:05:21the chairs were pushed back and there was dancing and all sorts of things went on.
0:05:21 > 0:05:26There was a young workforce and quite a few weddings emerged from it as well, including my own.
0:05:26 > 0:05:28You could say it wasn't all work!
0:05:30 > 0:05:37It was a happy place to work and the Corfields were great to work for, and I loved it.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43So, Margaret, how did you feel when you watched all the old films today?
0:05:43 > 0:05:45It was brilliant!
0:05:45 > 0:05:49I really did... I didn't realise I was in that film, Gloria.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51- So it's a real sense of history in a way, isn't it?- Oh, it is, yes.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54Do you remember what your actual job was working at the factory?
0:05:54 > 0:05:57Well, I was one of the girls who was on the assembly line.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00We did 40 shutters a day.
0:06:00 > 0:06:01Why do you think it was so much fun?
0:06:01 > 0:06:06We used to bring in the record player at dinner time and have a wee dance.
0:06:06 > 0:06:08I think it was the twist was the new dance then.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11- So what did you do, push the tables back?- No, it was the ladies' toilets, actually.
0:06:11 > 0:06:14Well, we used to dance at school in our lunch break,
0:06:14 > 0:06:17but I've never heard of women dancing in the toilets!
0:06:17 > 0:06:22Oh, you have to admit it, the girls from Corfields knew exactly how to enjoy themselves!
0:06:27 > 0:06:31The Antrim coast was always a favourite destination on a sunny weekend.
0:06:35 > 0:06:41Amateur filmmaker William Campbell captured the crowds at the Giant's Causeway in the early '60s.
0:06:43 > 0:06:49My first interest in photography came from going to the local cinema and seeing the movies.
0:06:49 > 0:06:54And I decided there and then that it would be nice if I maybe got a camera
0:06:54 > 0:06:56and was able to do something like that.
0:06:58 > 0:07:02So I bought a camera and everywhere I went I took the camera with me.
0:07:09 > 0:07:13With Ballycastle just up the road and a glamorous girlfriend,
0:07:13 > 0:07:18William had the ideal setting and subject for practising his filming technique.
0:07:22 > 0:07:27There was only one thing missing from these films in William's opinion
0:07:27 > 0:07:29and that was sound.
0:07:29 > 0:07:33The fact that the cameras of the day didn't have sound recorders didn't deter him one bit.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37I decided I would have to build a recorder,
0:07:37 > 0:07:44and the building of this recorder must be powered so that it can power the camera as well,
0:07:44 > 0:07:46and that would keep the two locked in sync.
0:07:46 > 0:07:53It meant that for every frame I took on movie, I had a frame matching it in sound.
0:07:53 > 0:07:58And when I edited the two side by side, the two went through together.
0:07:58 > 0:08:03Now, the 8mm recorder took me two years at least to build,
0:08:03 > 0:08:07because I was experimenting all the way through it.
0:08:07 > 0:08:11The whole thing just tied up beautiful!
0:08:13 > 0:08:19Keen to try out his brand-new sound recorder, William enlisted the help of his friend Charlie McAfee.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23The stallholders have been up all night
0:08:23 > 0:08:27and today the town is absolutely packed to capacity.
0:08:27 > 0:08:32But why listen to me? Come with our cameras and see for yourselves
0:08:32 > 0:08:35some of the highlights of this, the Ould Lammas Fair.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38# ..At the Ould Lammas Fair, boys, were you ever there...? #
0:08:38 > 0:08:42I was talking to Charlie, you see, and I asked Charlie
0:08:42 > 0:08:49would he consider doing interviews, you know, for me. Would he interview the people?
0:08:49 > 0:08:54And Charlie says. "Oh, yes..." He says, "I'd be scared, mind you, to do it,
0:08:54 > 0:08:56"but I'm willing to take a chance."
0:08:56 > 0:08:58Do you come to this fair every year?
0:08:58 > 0:09:04The microphone lead between the microphone and the camera
0:09:04 > 0:09:07was always a problem. I mean, going to the Lammas Fair was hell!
0:09:07 > 0:09:10People tripping over the microphone lead.
0:09:10 > 0:09:14The went to the Lammas Fair and interviewed different people
0:09:14 > 0:09:15at the Lammas Fair.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19Unfortunately, Charlie had a stock of about three or four questions
0:09:19 > 0:09:22which he asked to each person that came up,
0:09:22 > 0:09:28and, you know, maybe just weren't totally truthful with the people that they interviewed,
0:09:28 > 0:09:32because, obviously, it was easier to pick people that you knew that you could ask,
0:09:32 > 0:09:36"Would you mind appearing in front of the camera and answering a few questions about the Lammas Fair?"
0:09:36 > 0:09:39This gentleman with me now is all the way from Canada.
0:09:39 > 0:09:42- What part of Canada are you from, sir?- Montreal, sir.
0:09:42 > 0:09:48Charlie interviewed this person who certainly was portrayed as a visitor to Northern Ireland
0:09:48 > 0:09:50from a far-flung part of the world,
0:09:50 > 0:09:55and was asked questions about why he was at the Lammas Fair, etc, etc,
0:09:55 > 0:09:57but locals afterwards were able to work out
0:09:57 > 0:10:01that Charlie was in actual fact interviewing his brother who was home on holiday.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04Might I ask you, sir, have you brought your wife with you?
0:10:04 > 0:10:08That I haven't got, but I've seen a lot of pretty girls in Ballycastle. I might take one back with me.
0:10:08 > 0:10:13Well, just be careful, sir, because with all these girls around you never know what might happen!
0:10:14 > 0:10:16William, I know you shot a lot of that footage.
0:10:16 > 0:10:18I can't tell you how much I enjoyed it, it was wonderful.
0:10:18 > 0:10:23But take me back, as a real enthusiast, to the day when you got your first camera.
0:10:23 > 0:10:30Well, the day when I got the first camera, I had to think about it for a day, you know,
0:10:30 > 0:10:36but I decided the best thing to do was take Margo and her sister out to the Agivey Bridge
0:10:36 > 0:10:39where nobody would interfere with us,
0:10:39 > 0:10:42and I could photograph them walking across the bridge,
0:10:42 > 0:10:46and I wouldn't be asked questions and I wouldn't have to answer any, etc, etc.
0:10:46 > 0:10:48What do you remember of that early filming?
0:10:50 > 0:10:53- It probably was a nuisance for her. - Yeah, well...
0:10:53 > 0:10:56Every time she wanted to go somewhere, I had some other idea about going somewhere to film!
0:10:56 > 0:11:00- So it became a pain from that point of view?- Well, not really...
0:11:00 > 0:11:03We just to be prepared for the unexpected.
0:11:04 > 0:11:10William's front man at the Ould Lammas Fair became a prolific filmmaker in his own right.
0:11:15 > 0:11:18He and his brother were well-known businessmen in Ballymoney.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21Their shop was a local landmark.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28We sold everything from Dinky toys to batteries
0:11:28 > 0:11:31to Timex watches, beekeeping equipment,
0:11:31 > 0:11:33sets of china...
0:11:33 > 0:11:37it was just an Aladdin's Cave, really, it just sold everything.
0:11:38 > 0:11:42Charlie often roped the staff and customers into his films.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46You know, quite often you'd be standing serving a customer and you'd look round
0:11:46 > 0:11:50and Charlie would have the camera in his hand, and you just accepted that was just Charlie,
0:11:50 > 0:11:53he always had the camera out and at the ready.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02We got quite a crowd gathered round us,
0:12:02 > 0:12:06and the bank opposite, we had all the boys from the bank hanging out the windows and wolf-whistling,
0:12:06 > 0:12:11and so it was rather embarrassing for a young 16-year-old!
0:12:12 > 0:12:14But good fun at the same time, you know.
0:12:14 > 0:12:16And you could never say no to Charlie.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19If Charlie said, "Would you do this?" you couldn't say no to him, you just said OK.
0:12:19 > 0:12:26It's lovely to have that part of your youth captured in such a nice way,
0:12:26 > 0:12:31and it's lovely because my memories of working for Charlie and James are incredibly happy memories.
0:12:31 > 0:12:33# ..Rock and roll that hula hoop
0:12:33 > 0:12:37# If you love me and I love you... #
0:12:41 > 0:12:44This is Ballymoney Town Hall and Museum.
0:12:44 > 0:12:48Now, I've been many times to Ballymoney as a journalist,
0:12:48 > 0:12:53but the very, very first time I ever came was when I was nine as a child singer.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56Now, I don't quite remember whether it was the town hall where we did the concert...
0:12:56 > 0:13:01I do remember the money, though, it was seven shillings and sixpence! Old money, obviously.
0:13:02 > 0:13:07In fact, the town hall is where Charlie indulged in his other big passion, magic.
0:13:07 > 0:13:11Now, he may not have been paid much more than me for his act,
0:13:11 > 0:13:14but then he was able to conjure money right out of thin air!
0:13:14 > 0:13:18All you need to do is to straighten up the piece of tissue paper,
0:13:18 > 0:13:20fold it over like that, and blow on it.
0:13:20 > 0:13:25And you'll find if you're using the right kind of toothpaste, you'll have the ring of confidence
0:13:25 > 0:13:30and you'll finish up with a handful of nice brand-new one-pound notes.
0:13:30 > 0:13:35It was the one with the ball that caught my eye.
0:13:35 > 0:13:37I was so engrossed with it
0:13:37 > 0:13:41and this piece of cloth, and the ball used to go up and around it,
0:13:41 > 0:13:44and he used to take it away from it, and it was marvellous to see it.
0:13:46 > 0:13:51Before long, Rosemary Dunn went from being an audience member at Charlie's shows
0:13:51 > 0:13:53to being part of the act.
0:13:53 > 0:13:57Charlie would have come into the newsagent's shop where I worked
0:13:57 > 0:14:02and he would have put his hand up and said, "Can I borrow you tonight, Rosemary?"
0:14:02 > 0:14:03So I knew what it was for.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06Two chairs put back to back,
0:14:06 > 0:14:10a young lady out over the top of the chairs,
0:14:10 > 0:14:14and then the magic piece was, everybody was holding their breath,
0:14:14 > 0:14:20he pulled the two chairs out and there she was suspended in midair.
0:14:20 > 0:14:24And, of course, I'm not going to tell you how he done that,
0:14:24 > 0:14:28but I happened to be one of the young ladies that was suspended on the chair.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31I was nervous, but he was nervous too.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34It was marvellous whenever you were there.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39One...two...three.
0:14:46 > 0:14:52This was the scene at Ballymoney Diamond when the popular Day By Day radio programme featuring Walter Love
0:14:52 > 0:14:55visited Ballymoney during Festival Week 1983.
0:14:57 > 0:14:59Throughout the 1970s and '80s,
0:14:59 > 0:15:04Charlie and his camera were a regular feature at any event in the town.
0:15:04 > 0:15:06Charlie was there in all his glory.
0:15:06 > 0:15:10He was directing proceedings much more than Walter was!
0:15:10 > 0:15:14You had to stand for Charlie in the right direction and so on and so forth...
0:15:14 > 0:15:16and Walter Love really took second fiddle
0:15:16 > 0:15:20because Walter was just interviewing us for a radio programme,
0:15:20 > 0:15:23so he didn't care what way we stood or where we were.
0:15:23 > 0:15:28Willie John McBride, we look upon you more as a Ballymoney man than a Ballymena man!
0:15:28 > 0:15:32It really was an all-pervading hobby which took over his life.
0:15:32 > 0:15:37His brother James said the shop wasn't important. If there was something on, Charlie was away,
0:15:37 > 0:15:39and James was left to look after the shop.
0:15:43 > 0:15:47People didn't always understand what Charlie was doing at the time,
0:15:47 > 0:15:51but he was laying down on film the most comprehensive archive of how Ballymoney was changing
0:15:51 > 0:15:53in his lifetime.
0:15:55 > 0:16:00Some of the films Charlie made too were about characters in the town.
0:16:00 > 0:16:04The price of progress is not cheap, at least not for Rosie Higgins.
0:16:04 > 0:16:10Charlie took time to go and film a pub which was well known,
0:16:10 > 0:16:13had many well-known customers and characters just as it was closing down,
0:16:13 > 0:16:18as the last customer was about to be put out... and the key turned in the door.
0:16:18 > 0:16:23When all this is levelled out and rebuilt with new roads and modern houses,
0:16:23 > 0:16:26the old will be only a memory to people like Rosie
0:16:26 > 0:16:28and just history to others.
0:16:28 > 0:16:33Like so many Ulster towns, Ballymoney lost family-run businesses
0:16:33 > 0:16:35as the new chain stores arrived.
0:16:35 > 0:16:39McKirdy-Hamiltons, established for over 100 years
0:16:39 > 0:16:41and known as the fashion store of North Antrim.
0:16:41 > 0:16:45When renovated it will resemble little of the past store,
0:16:45 > 0:16:48but progress must take its course, regardless of sentiment.
0:16:55 > 0:16:59Even McAfee's wasn't able to keep pace with changing times.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06These pictures capture the last days of the shop
0:17:06 > 0:17:10which had been a much-loved fixture in the town centre since 1898.
0:17:11 > 0:17:17It's sad when those sort of family-owned firms that are really part and parcel of the community,
0:17:17 > 0:17:18when they finally go...
0:17:20 > 0:17:25If I close my eyes I can still walk through upstairs and know exactly where you'd going to get everything,
0:17:25 > 0:17:29You know the dogs that sit either side of the fire with the cross eyes,
0:17:29 > 0:17:31I remember the room that you went in to get those...
0:17:31 > 0:17:34I never liked those dogs!
0:17:34 > 0:17:38But I can still remember which room you went into upstairs to get those.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41A dentist and his patient had a sudden escape from serious injury
0:17:41 > 0:17:46when the gable wall of his surgery collapsed during demolition operations
0:17:46 > 0:17:48at the proposed new car park next door.
0:17:48 > 0:17:50Fortunately no-one was injured
0:17:50 > 0:17:54and although the dentist and his patient had to make a quick exit
0:17:54 > 0:17:59you could say that, in the end, it was a painless extraction.
0:18:02 > 0:18:05As well as recording the passing of the old,
0:18:05 > 0:18:08Charlie also used his camera to celebrate the new.
0:18:13 > 0:18:15But progress could be a mixed blessing.
0:18:21 > 0:18:26If the motoring public would obey the lines and the signs in the street,
0:18:26 > 0:18:28they've nothing to fear from the traffic wardens.
0:18:28 > 0:18:34We are here to ensure that the traffic is flowing freely and help in any way we can.
0:18:39 > 0:18:41Well, there you are, ladies and gentlemen!
0:18:41 > 0:18:44Maybe that'll teach me to park in the proper place in future!
0:18:54 > 0:18:59During the Troubles, Charlie was often the first cameraman on the scene
0:18:59 > 0:19:02to film those events that were making the news headlines.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06Nine buses were destroyed and several others damaged
0:19:06 > 0:19:09in an incendiary attack on the Ulster Bus Depot in Ballymoney
0:19:09 > 0:19:11in the early hours of Saturday morning.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20I can remember going into the shop of a Saturday morning
0:19:20 > 0:19:23and having to go round and make sure there were no incendiary devices.
0:19:23 > 0:19:27You'd check for incendiary devices and then you went and washed the windows and swept the floor.
0:19:30 > 0:19:34I remember the time when the security barriers were taken away
0:19:34 > 0:19:38and they showed the men coming round to dismantle the barrels which were full of cement
0:19:38 > 0:19:40and the poles that joined these together,
0:19:40 > 0:19:44and, you know, you thought to yourself, you know, "Why, Charlie, did you waste 3-and-a-half minutes
0:19:44 > 0:19:48"of 8mm film on something like that?"
0:19:48 > 0:19:52But really and truthfully he was probably far ahead of his time,
0:19:52 > 0:19:57that he saw that this was something which in 50 years' time,
0:19:57 > 0:20:01people would be saying, "Oh! Did things like that there happen?"
0:20:01 > 0:20:05That was really very significant and clever of Charlie to think
0:20:05 > 0:20:08that was significant enough to film,
0:20:08 > 0:20:12because those barrels being taken away was a very positive thing,
0:20:12 > 0:20:18because that was meaning that the towns were being opened up again, and that a lot of the fear was going,
0:20:18 > 0:20:23and that you could maybe start and have more normality
0:20:23 > 0:20:26than we had lived with for very many years.
0:20:28 > 0:20:33There was a time when almost every small town in Northern Ireland had a cinema.
0:20:33 > 0:20:38In the days before television, it provided the means of escape into a Hollywood world
0:20:38 > 0:20:42of high glamour, horror and, of course, the Wild West!
0:20:42 > 0:20:46Picture houses today are lying derelict and forgotten,
0:20:46 > 0:20:48like this one in Ballymoney,
0:20:48 > 0:20:52once a lovely cinema but now the equipment is rotting and rusting away
0:20:52 > 0:20:54and is only of scrap value.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58Well, it's very sad when you look at the state of the building
0:20:58 > 0:21:01but this is all that remains of the Palladium Cinema.
0:21:01 > 0:21:05Now, I'm told that in its heyday people would have queued all along the footpath
0:21:05 > 0:21:08and around the corner to see the latest John Wayne movies.
0:21:08 > 0:21:11Apparently, cowboy films did very well in Ballymoney.
0:21:17 > 0:21:21Ballymoney had the nickname of Cow Town
0:21:21 > 0:21:24because of the number of westerns that were shown in Ballymoney.
0:21:24 > 0:21:30Any other form of film didn't really work in Ballymoney too well, but the western did.
0:21:30 > 0:21:37And you had the John Waynes and you had all those types of films which the audience loved actually.
0:21:38 > 0:21:42At one showing the sight of the wily Indians sneaking up behind the cowboys
0:21:42 > 0:21:45was just too much for one audience member.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48Somebody in the stalls gets up and shouts,
0:21:48 > 0:21:51"Watch out! They're behind you!"
0:21:51 > 0:21:52you know...
0:21:54 > 0:21:57That's just how real the film actually was to those particular people.
0:21:57 > 0:22:02It was special to me in lots of ways because it's where I got my first job
0:22:02 > 0:22:05and where I first saw the projectors.
0:22:06 > 0:22:12The Palladium Cinema in Ballymoney, the gents' toilets were down off the left of the screen,
0:22:12 > 0:22:18so if you went there and on the way back up, if you walked up the aisle fairly slow,
0:22:18 > 0:22:25you could take a look up to the projection ports and you could see what was actually going on.
0:22:26 > 0:22:28I was in Ballymoney one morning
0:22:28 > 0:22:30and I came up past the cinema
0:22:30 > 0:22:36and I plucked up my courage and asked if I could see the projectors,
0:22:36 > 0:22:39I said I was particularly interested in projectors...
0:22:39 > 0:22:43..and, to my amazement, they actually took me upstairs
0:22:43 > 0:22:49and took me into the projection room and they let me see the two large projectors.
0:22:49 > 0:22:51That started my career in the cinema.
0:22:51 > 0:22:56The curtain finally came down on the Palladium in 1969.
0:22:56 > 0:23:01I think that led me to decide to put up my own cinema.
0:23:01 > 0:23:03I started with a small shed in the garden.
0:23:04 > 0:23:10Frank's repertoire of films was as up-to-date as anything you'd see in the mainstream cinemas.
0:23:10 > 0:23:15The Super 8 versions he showed may have been considerably shorter than the originals,
0:23:15 > 0:23:18but there again you might argue that 20 minutes of Ben-Hur was just about long enough!
0:23:22 > 0:23:26You would have the organ music as everybody arrived.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29You would have the dimming lights, you had the curtains...
0:23:32 > 0:23:34So it was friends, family...
0:23:34 > 0:23:37it was far from being a commercial operation!
0:23:39 > 0:23:41But it seemed to work OK.
0:23:46 > 0:23:49In the late '70s on a summer's afternoon
0:23:49 > 0:23:53this street was absolutely thronged with demonstrators.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56They had a message for the politicians, but it wasn't political,
0:23:56 > 0:23:59and it certainly had nothing whatsoever to do with the Troubles.
0:24:01 > 0:24:03# Yeah, that's a big 10-4 there, Big Ben
0:24:03 > 0:24:06# Yeah, we definitely got the front door, good buddy
0:24:06 > 0:24:09# Mercy sakes alive, looks like we got us a convoy
0:24:13 > 0:24:16# It was the dark of the moon on the 6th of June... #
0:24:16 > 0:24:21About 1977, I think, was probably when it all started...
0:24:21 > 0:24:24and within, I would say,
0:24:24 > 0:24:26a year,
0:24:26 > 0:24:28most people had a CB radio, either in the car
0:24:28 > 0:24:30or in the house.
0:24:30 > 0:24:34And that was a wonderful time. People were chatting to each other and the whole thing was harmless,
0:24:34 > 0:24:35and it was great fun.
0:24:35 > 0:24:39# ..We got a little old convoy Ain't she a beautiful sight...? #
0:24:39 > 0:24:41That little black box under the dash can give you the power
0:24:41 > 0:24:43to communicate with thousands of people.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47It can take away the boredom of driving your car,
0:24:47 > 0:24:50give you security while out late at night
0:24:50 > 0:24:54and, if you have to call for assistance, there will be many good buddies there to help.
0:25:00 > 0:25:06People who had seen the Dukes Of Hazzard, Smokey And The Bandit and Convoy
0:25:06 > 0:25:09became interested in the old CB,
0:25:09 > 0:25:11and that gave CB more publicity than anything.
0:25:12 > 0:25:16It was illegal, of course, there were no licences to be got for it,
0:25:16 > 0:25:20and the sets that were coming in, they came in below the counter,
0:25:20 > 0:25:22because there could be no income tax, I suppose, paid on them,
0:25:22 > 0:25:26and from that point of view everybody needed a handle.
0:25:26 > 0:25:28My handle on the local scene was the Lonesome Cowboy.
0:25:28 > 0:25:34It wouldn't have taken, I suppose, the head man in Scotland Yard to find out who we were.
0:25:34 > 0:25:37# ..Across the USA, convoy
0:25:37 > 0:25:40# Give me a 10-9 on that, Big Ben
0:25:40 > 0:25:43# Negatory, Big Ben, you're still... #
0:25:43 > 0:25:46We were very privileged of course in Ballymoney, in Cow Town,
0:25:46 > 0:25:51that the first citizen, the mayor, Molly Holmes was actually on the CB.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54Her handle was the Fur Collar, I think it was,
0:25:54 > 0:25:59and Molly came to club meetings as well which gave the whole thing a bit of respectability.
0:25:59 > 0:26:06A very memorable day for CB radio was a big rally that was staged at Stormont.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09We were illegal and we were looking for licences.
0:26:09 > 0:26:14I think there were maybe three if not four buses travelled away that day from Ballymoney.
0:26:14 > 0:26:18I'd never been to Stormont before and it was a lovely place, I thought,
0:26:18 > 0:26:22and I could remember when we arrived there before the rally started,
0:26:22 > 0:26:24there were big trees just in off the road there,
0:26:24 > 0:26:29and we lay in the trees and we chatted and we got to know people from other places.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32# ..You wanna put that micro-bus in behind that suicide jockey?
0:26:32 > 0:26:35# Yeah, he's hauling dynamite and he needs all the help he can get... #
0:26:37 > 0:26:42There were speakers and of course CB-ers weren't all that good listeners,
0:26:42 > 0:26:44and I'm not so sure whether they were all listening to what was going on,
0:26:44 > 0:26:48but we enjoyed ourselves and whatever they were saying we were backing it anyway,
0:26:48 > 0:26:50regardless of whether we knew what they were talking about or not!
0:26:50 > 0:26:53# So we crashed the gate doing 98 I says, "Let them truckers roll!" #
0:26:53 > 0:26:57For Masie McMullen who came along to The Travelling Picture Show today,
0:26:57 > 0:27:01William's CB radio film brings back happy memories.
0:27:01 > 0:27:04I remember it was a really, really warm day,
0:27:04 > 0:27:06and the crowds were terrible, and it was so warm,
0:27:06 > 0:27:11I had to take my shoes off and walk the whole way up the hill
0:27:11 > 0:27:14and walk down again when it was all over.
0:27:14 > 0:27:19But we had many, many good chats on this CB.
0:27:21 > 0:27:26Like all good CB radio enthusiasts, Masie had her own unique handle.
0:27:26 > 0:27:31I was the Wee Woodpecker because my husband had the timber yard, you see.
0:27:31 > 0:27:33# ..I say, "Big Ben, this here's the Rubber Duck.
0:27:33 > 0:27:35# "We just ain't a-gonna pay no toll"
0:27:35 > 0:27:39# So we crashed the gate doing 98 I says, "Let them truckers roll!" #
0:27:41 > 0:27:46Just for the record, my handle was Honeybun! What else could it be?
0:27:46 > 0:27:50Well, I'm sorry to say that the good buddies of Ballymoney never did get what they wanted,
0:27:50 > 0:27:56but just like all the films, William's record of that particular day brought back so many memories,
0:27:56 > 0:27:59I think, memories that our audience had long forgotten.
0:27:59 > 0:28:03Well, at this point, it's time for The Travelling Picture Show to say over and out
0:28:03 > 0:28:06as we pack up our tent and leave Ballymoney.
0:28:06 > 0:28:10Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd