0:00:03 > 0:00:05The Travelling Picture Show is out on the road again,
0:00:05 > 0:00:09visiting towns and villages right across Northern Ireland
0:00:09 > 0:00:12and reliving our past through home movies.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19It's lovely to see the films again,
0:00:19 > 0:00:22because those are the days that you forget.
0:00:22 > 0:00:26It brings a lot back and you think how lucky you were
0:00:26 > 0:00:30and how happy and content we should have been in those days.
0:00:33 > 0:00:35Road racing is unique.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38You're racing the like of Cookstown
0:00:38 > 0:00:40down the centre of the main street,
0:00:40 > 0:00:42which is a huge, wide street,
0:00:42 > 0:00:44and then you move on to Mackney Bridge
0:00:44 > 0:00:48and you go over an iron bridge that's only maybe ten feet wide.
0:00:48 > 0:00:50It's very, very exciting.
0:00:50 > 0:00:53Today, we're going to meet the people who took the films
0:00:53 > 0:00:55and people with a story to tell.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58At that time, you had to get it developed, wait on it,
0:00:58 > 0:01:01get the projector out, set up your screen.
0:01:01 > 0:01:02That was the whole glory about it,
0:01:02 > 0:01:05you know, there was a wee bit of magic about it.
0:01:10 > 0:01:13Hello, and welcome to Lissan House in Cookstown,
0:01:13 > 0:01:16a very substantial and impressive country residence,
0:01:16 > 0:01:20and it's been the home of the Staples family for 400 years.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23It's beautifully set in 250 acres of woodland.
0:01:23 > 0:01:25Now, the last in the Staples family was Hazel,
0:01:25 > 0:01:27who died back in 2006,
0:01:27 > 0:01:30and it was Hazel's absolute passion
0:01:30 > 0:01:33that this house would be restored to its former glory,
0:01:33 > 0:01:36and that the past would be kept alive. If you think about it,
0:01:36 > 0:01:38that's exactly what we do on this programme,
0:01:38 > 0:01:41so welcome to the Travelling Picture Show.
0:02:09 > 0:02:11This time we're in County Tyrone,
0:02:11 > 0:02:15one of the most beautiful but least-known parts of the North.
0:02:16 > 0:02:19The landscape is impressive. No wonder, then,
0:02:19 > 0:02:22that people born and reared here feel the tug of the place.
0:02:22 > 0:02:26It's a lovely part of the country.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29You can travel the world, but really, there's nothing like home.
0:02:31 > 0:02:35And home to Fred is this farm, just outside Cookstown.
0:02:35 > 0:02:39This land has been farmed, lived in and lived off for generations.
0:02:41 > 0:02:45This goes back to around the mid-'50s
0:02:45 > 0:02:49and it was shot just across in the fields across the road here,
0:02:49 > 0:02:54by an old 8mm cine camera which we hadn't a clue how to use.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58It was my father, my two brothers,
0:02:58 > 0:03:01myself, and another chap, a schoolfriend.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04It shows making hay.
0:03:04 > 0:03:08Now, that was building the hay in the shape of a hayrick.
0:03:08 > 0:03:12This would have been a forerunner to baling the hay.
0:03:12 > 0:03:16You could move them up the field, around, whatever,
0:03:16 > 0:03:19or perhaps put them in a lovely row.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23I remember my father saying, you know, "We are on the road here."
0:03:23 > 0:03:26Now, this was way back in the '50s and there wasn't much traffic,
0:03:26 > 0:03:28but it's like, if you did something,
0:03:28 > 0:03:31you built a corn stack or you build a hayrick or whatever,
0:03:31 > 0:03:33what would the neighbours think if it wasn't right?
0:03:33 > 0:03:35It would have to look properly.
0:03:39 > 0:03:44I suppose they paid more attention to detail, as perhaps maybe not today,
0:03:44 > 0:03:47but in a way farming was totally different.
0:03:49 > 0:03:53I think it's great to see times past,
0:03:53 > 0:03:55the things that are in it, to look at those.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58That was Work spelt with a capital W.
0:03:58 > 0:04:02It was all we ever knew. That was farming, that was life.
0:04:06 > 0:04:08But it wasn't all work and no play.
0:04:11 > 0:04:12Cricket was a fascination.
0:04:16 > 0:04:18We came in for lunch.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21That was the time when it was black and white television
0:04:21 > 0:04:26and I suppose the test matches were on and we'd watch the test matches,
0:04:26 > 0:04:28then we'd come out, try our skills here.
0:04:31 > 0:04:35And I'm sitting on this wall. This was the boundary.
0:04:35 > 0:04:40The other little hedge on the other side was a boundary as well.
0:04:42 > 0:04:44The skills weren't great, now.
0:04:48 > 0:04:52The dog was an important part because the dog was a fielder.
0:04:52 > 0:04:55If the ball did stray over the fence or whatever,
0:04:55 > 0:04:57that dog fetched it back.
0:05:02 > 0:05:08A bit of recreation, I suppose, a bit of a break from work in those days.
0:05:10 > 0:05:14We only remember the good days, the sunny days, the bright days.
0:05:14 > 0:05:19It was just something that maybe sticks in one's memory.
0:05:21 > 0:05:23Good memories are a gift that keeps on giving,
0:05:23 > 0:05:26just like this footage of Cookstown
0:05:26 > 0:05:29getting ready for its annual road race.
0:05:29 > 0:05:35The Cookstown 100 was formed in... I think it was 1922,
0:05:35 > 0:05:40and it may have missed a year or two during the War
0:05:40 > 0:05:43but other than that it's gone on ever since.
0:05:43 > 0:05:45It's been held on different circuits,
0:05:45 > 0:05:48during that time there've been three or four circuits used.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51They need an awful lot of supporters
0:05:51 > 0:05:53to run the like of the Cookstown 100,
0:05:53 > 0:05:56marshals at every corner, at every junction,
0:05:56 > 0:05:57so you need a lot of help
0:05:57 > 0:06:00and if the help comes from a certain area,
0:06:00 > 0:06:02they want the race in that area,
0:06:02 > 0:06:05so that's how it's come to change over the years.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11Raymond was brought to watch the races as a young boy
0:06:11 > 0:06:15and this ignited his lifelong appetite for the sport.
0:06:15 > 0:06:21After I left school, I first of all brought a Norton
0:06:21 > 0:06:23and from there, then, in the early '60s,
0:06:23 > 0:06:29I bought bikes similar to what's behind me here, AGS and Norton,
0:06:29 > 0:06:33but only raced for maybe a couple of years
0:06:33 > 0:06:35and then I was out of it for a couple of years,
0:06:35 > 0:06:38and back, then I came back for a couple of years.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41Not a long time racing, but I enjoyed it.
0:06:48 > 0:06:50Road racing is unique.
0:06:50 > 0:06:54Most racing across in the UK are on short circuits,
0:06:54 > 0:06:56where there's a lot of safety control there,
0:06:56 > 0:07:00but in road races, where you're racing the like of Cookstown
0:07:00 > 0:07:05down the centre of the main street, which is a huge, wide street,
0:07:05 > 0:07:08and the next thing, you go down the Drum straight,
0:07:08 > 0:07:09maybe two mile of a straight,
0:07:09 > 0:07:13then you move on to Mackney Bridge and you go over an iron bridge
0:07:13 > 0:07:15that's only maybe no more than ten feet wide.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27It's all the different aspects of the course.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30You've got to be so alert all the time.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33In a short circuit, if you do make a mistake or come off,
0:07:33 > 0:07:37you usually have a run-out area or something like that there,
0:07:37 > 0:07:40but if you make a mistake in road racing, you're in against a hedge
0:07:40 > 0:07:43or a fence or a house or something like that there.
0:07:43 > 0:07:48And I think that's what draws people over here to race.
0:07:48 > 0:07:53They come here because of the excitement of racing on the roads.
0:07:58 > 0:08:00People would say it's very dangerous
0:08:00 > 0:08:05but it's only as dangerous as the person that's on the bike.
0:08:10 > 0:08:15Cookstown was very, very good because they catered for everyone.
0:08:15 > 0:08:19They catered for the cross-channel riders, they had a section,
0:08:19 > 0:08:21the local riders had sections
0:08:21 > 0:08:25where they could have won prizes as well, so it catered for everyone.
0:08:25 > 0:08:30At one time, you would have had maybe 70, 80 riders.
0:08:32 > 0:08:37It's got more professional now. In the '60s, the like of Len Ireland,
0:08:37 > 0:08:40who was a very, very good rider.
0:08:40 > 0:08:45He rode the bike to the Cookstown 100 and then raced it.
0:08:45 > 0:08:49Now they're in transporters at 30 and 40 thousand,
0:08:49 > 0:08:52but that's the way things have changed.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55I would say it's as strong now as ever,
0:08:55 > 0:08:57and they have plenty of support.
0:09:09 > 0:09:13And so from a landmark event to a landmark building.
0:09:13 > 0:09:15This is Lissan House.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18This BBC film was made over 20 years ago
0:09:18 > 0:09:21and it's a beautiful observation of Hazel Radcliffe Dolling,
0:09:21 > 0:09:24a glorious celebration of her life,
0:09:24 > 0:09:28a life she lived with both joy and regret, but above all,
0:09:28 > 0:09:31a passion to see Lissan House restored to its former glory.
0:09:35 > 0:09:39I was born here in the big bedroom at the front of the house.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50'I have neither sense of duty to the house nor commitment.
0:09:50 > 0:09:52'It's love, it's just love.'
0:09:52 > 0:09:54Come on.
0:09:54 > 0:09:57'It's a sense of love, it's a sense of belonging.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00'I lived alone for a long, long time'
0:10:00 > 0:10:03and I came home in every sense of the word when I came back here.
0:10:13 > 0:10:17The golden thread which ties us all to this place
0:10:17 > 0:10:20is unbroken throughout the centuries.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33I have to say, it's a fascinating house just to wander around
0:10:33 > 0:10:35and see all that social history.
0:10:35 > 0:10:37I've just been to have a look at Hazel's bedroom.
0:10:37 > 0:10:41It's pretty well exactly as she left it, apparently, in 2006,
0:10:41 > 0:10:44but what I find really interesting is that when Hazel died
0:10:44 > 0:10:48she decided to leave the house and the estate to the community,
0:10:48 > 0:10:53and so nowadays, a group of 16 people in a trust, they run it
0:10:53 > 0:10:54and they meet once a month
0:10:54 > 0:10:57to decide how exactly they're going to improve the house.
0:10:57 > 0:10:58Hazel would have loved that.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01They've already reroofed it, they've rendered the outside,
0:11:01 > 0:11:04which makes it beautiful as you drive up the drive,
0:11:04 > 0:11:07but already, of course, they have plans to have a tea room.
0:11:07 > 0:11:08Everyone wants a cup of tea
0:11:08 > 0:11:11when they come to wander around the grounds or the house,
0:11:11 > 0:11:14and only yesterday, they had their very first wedding,
0:11:14 > 0:11:17so I can see that is going to be a thing of the future,
0:11:17 > 0:11:20so many plans to make this house very accessible,
0:11:20 > 0:11:22everybody remembering, of course, Hazel.
0:11:35 > 0:11:37Raymond, when I was watching the film,
0:11:37 > 0:11:40it's quite interesting about the Cookstown 100
0:11:40 > 0:11:43because there aren't that many races like that left, are there?
0:11:43 > 0:11:47There's maybe about 12 altogether in North and South.
0:11:47 > 0:11:50- They used to have some in Portrush, didn't they? - They still have one there, yeah.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53And you ended up with one of the prettiest girls in Ireland,
0:11:53 > 0:11:55- didn't you?- I'm very lucky, yeah.
0:11:55 > 0:11:57I recognise Helen because we went to school together.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00We did, Gloria. We'll not tell them how long it was ago.
0:12:00 > 0:12:03- Isn't that good? At least we recognise each other.- Absolutely.
0:12:03 > 0:12:04You haven't changed today.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07So what did you think of the film when you saw it?
0:12:07 > 0:12:09I thought it was excellent, Gloria. Great for Cookstown as well.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12- Well done.- Lovely to see all that social history, isn't it?
0:12:12 > 0:12:15Absolutely, yes. It's nice that it's remembered.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19I've got an idea, actually, for Has Ulster Got Talent?
0:12:19 > 0:12:23Because I think that Darkie is just a gem. That dog.
0:12:23 > 0:12:25- How did you train Darkie? - Wait till I tell you,
0:12:25 > 0:12:29that little dog was brought home in the middle of the night
0:12:29 > 0:12:32from a next-door neighbour we were down visiting,
0:12:32 > 0:12:35and my younger brother bought this little pup home
0:12:35 > 0:12:38and my parents were all horrified,
0:12:38 > 0:12:41this little thing, a totally useless dog,
0:12:41 > 0:12:44but it turned out quite well, yes.
0:12:44 > 0:12:46I really loved watching the haymaking as well,
0:12:46 > 0:12:48because my grandmother had a farm.
0:12:48 > 0:12:50- Yes.- And we used to go on the hay shift,
0:12:50 > 0:12:53- but it was like the shift that picked up the haystack.- Yep.
0:12:53 > 0:12:55And we sat on the end of it, but I'd never seen
0:12:55 > 0:12:58- one of those sort of machines before.- Those are very rare, Gloria.
0:12:58 > 0:13:00Those are very rare. They were made about the '50s
0:13:00 > 0:13:02and there were only a few made in Northern Ireland,
0:13:02 > 0:13:05but they were brilliant. They were a great innovation, really.
0:13:05 > 0:13:06Because really, up until then,
0:13:06 > 0:13:09- people just stacked it manually, didn't they?- Yes,
0:13:09 > 0:13:11but then when those were turned upside down
0:13:11 > 0:13:13and the finished product was beautifully manicured,
0:13:13 > 0:13:16you had a row of ricks, so it looked very well.
0:13:16 > 0:13:19And how do you feel when you watch all that old footage?
0:13:19 > 0:13:21Oh, it brings back... The only thing is a pity
0:13:21 > 0:13:24my parents or somebody weren't there to watch it.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27But really fascinated by it, to see it again.
0:13:27 > 0:13:31It's got a kind of an innocence and fun about it, hasn't it?
0:13:31 > 0:13:34I think it brings back a lot of memories
0:13:34 > 0:13:36and people looking back can smile
0:13:36 > 0:13:40and reflect on what probably... what life was like years ago.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43I've a funny feeling you always smile, Fred.
0:13:43 > 0:13:45Well, I don't know!
0:13:45 > 0:13:48Anyway, thanks for turning up today. Great to see you all.
0:13:52 > 0:13:54From the splendour of Lissan
0:13:54 > 0:13:57to the mythical beauty of Beaghmore Stone Circles,
0:13:57 > 0:13:59and it seems that our picture show
0:13:59 > 0:14:03wasn't the first one to travel through the Glenelly Valley.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06Years ago, there used to be a man come around this valley here
0:14:06 > 0:14:08with a wee trailer on his car
0:14:08 > 0:14:10and inside it he had a portable cine outfit
0:14:10 > 0:14:13and he showed films in the parochial halls and places.
0:14:14 > 0:14:18I remember going to watch Laurel and Hardy a long time ago in Cranagh Hall
0:14:18 > 0:14:20and we paid our two shillings to get in to watch it,
0:14:20 > 0:14:22but I think that started me off.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24I bought a cine camera whenever I was a young fella
0:14:24 > 0:14:28and any weddings I went to or any activity was on around the place,
0:14:28 > 0:14:29I took a wee film of it,
0:14:29 > 0:14:32so I wasn't a professional, I was probably a novice at it,
0:14:32 > 0:14:35you know, so it was a great interest,
0:14:35 > 0:14:39and because of my work, I was working on the farm,
0:14:39 > 0:14:41I never took it up full-time.
0:14:41 > 0:14:43I'd have loved to have been a cameraman,
0:14:43 > 0:14:47but any of the weddings I went to, I took a film of them.
0:14:47 > 0:14:51See, once you took a cine camera out, everybody run away. That's a fact.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54Whenever you point the camera at them, they turned their head,
0:14:54 > 0:14:57so you couldn't get a face shot,
0:14:57 > 0:14:58so I went to two or three chapels,
0:14:58 > 0:15:00or two or three weddings up in Cranagh Chapel,
0:15:00 > 0:15:02and I got craftier for that,
0:15:02 > 0:15:06so I stood out at the gate and I started to film anonymously,
0:15:06 > 0:15:09you know, amongst them, as we say here.
0:15:09 > 0:15:14The last time I took a film I would say is over 25 years ago.
0:15:14 > 0:15:16In fact, it was very costly to do filming that time,
0:15:16 > 0:15:19because I think I bought a film from Alfred or Kodak
0:15:19 > 0:15:22and it would have cost a fiver, or maybe £5 or £6,
0:15:22 > 0:15:25and you posted the film then in a wee yellow package
0:15:25 > 0:15:28and you sent it over to Macclesfield and London,
0:15:28 > 0:15:30and you had to wait then for maybe two or three weeks
0:15:30 > 0:15:32for your film to come back.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35You'd open this yellow packet, you pulled out your wee black reel,
0:15:35 > 0:15:39and then you went that night, maybe that evening, didn't wait till night,
0:15:39 > 0:15:42get the projector out, get everything cleaned up in the kitchen
0:15:42 > 0:15:45and set up your screen.
0:15:45 > 0:15:47That was the whole glory about it,
0:15:47 > 0:15:49you know, there was a wee bit of magic about it.
0:15:51 > 0:15:54The films were Super 8mm, no sound,
0:15:54 > 0:15:59so you had to improvise your own imagination when you watched it.
0:15:59 > 0:16:01People were amazed at it, you know?
0:16:03 > 0:16:05I'm not in any of them films
0:16:05 > 0:16:08because I'm taking most of them or all of them.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11Oh, I forgot about that. My wife actually took one one time.
0:16:11 > 0:16:15I clipped a few sheep, or I clipped one sheep,
0:16:15 > 0:16:19so my wife, Philomena, she held the camera and I done the clipping,
0:16:19 > 0:16:22but I suppose I never thought about that, you know,
0:16:22 > 0:16:24because I didn't trust anybody maybe with the camera,
0:16:24 > 0:16:26that they'd be doing the right thing, you know?
0:16:29 > 0:16:33I think Philomena did a very good job because... I was the film star.
0:16:38 > 0:16:42As well as taking weddings and other things,
0:16:42 > 0:16:44I took the farm as well.
0:16:47 > 0:16:48My nephews were down,
0:16:48 > 0:16:50that was a great time, that time in the summertime,
0:16:50 > 0:16:52they would come down from Greencastle and stay,
0:16:52 > 0:16:54help me with the silage, the silage making,
0:16:54 > 0:16:56so as you can see in one of the films,
0:16:56 > 0:16:59where they're really enjoying themselves, you know.
0:17:10 > 0:17:12And then whenever they came down every weekend
0:17:12 > 0:17:15I'd get the projector out, stick the thing up on the wall
0:17:15 > 0:17:18and make sure that they could see themselves, you know,
0:17:18 > 0:17:20the film stars at them times.
0:17:31 > 0:17:37Another very keen filmmaker from the Glenelly Valley was John McFarland.
0:17:37 > 0:17:39My husband was the local doctor
0:17:39 > 0:17:43and this whole area was like home to him.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50Plumbridge was a very nice place to grow up.
0:17:50 > 0:17:51There wasn't really much for people to do,
0:17:51 > 0:17:54but you were very friendly with your neighbours
0:17:54 > 0:17:58and went to the local school. You had the children
0:17:58 > 0:18:01for parties and things like that.
0:18:03 > 0:18:05It was idyllic growing up here.
0:18:05 > 0:18:07I went to school locally here at primary school,
0:18:07 > 0:18:10and in those days the world was slower
0:18:10 > 0:18:13and the countryside always seemed to be more luscious than it is now,
0:18:13 > 0:18:15and generally an idyllic childhood.
0:18:20 > 0:18:22My father took the films.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25He got interested, I think, in the early '50s.
0:18:25 > 0:18:27The first record we have, I think, is from 1953.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36He was very keen on photography of all sorts.
0:18:36 > 0:18:39Sometimes it could be quite annoying when...
0:18:41 > 0:18:45..when you are doing something you didn't want to be seen again.
0:18:53 > 0:18:57One particular black and white is of my mother and my Aunt Olive
0:18:57 > 0:19:01and my Aunt Rita with their husbands climbing what's called The Moat,
0:19:01 > 0:19:03and The Moat is just over my right shoulder here
0:19:03 > 0:19:06and there's a little cairn on top of it
0:19:06 > 0:19:08and you can see the cairn in the film
0:19:08 > 0:19:11and they decided to do an expedition up to the top of The Moat,
0:19:11 > 0:19:12and you can see them again,
0:19:12 > 0:19:15fairly tired, I think, by the time they got to the top.
0:19:15 > 0:19:17There's lots of taking the sweaters off
0:19:17 > 0:19:19and flopping on the ground in the film.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25The family, when they arrived, they were always being filmed.
0:19:28 > 0:19:32Learning to walk, and that type of thing.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39What's interesting, of course, is that it's nearly always sunshine,
0:19:39 > 0:19:42and I suppose that's probably because he only took the camera out when it was sunny.
0:19:47 > 0:19:51We have photographs of us on the lawn here and around the house.
0:19:51 > 0:19:55At that time, a lot more time, I think, was spent on flowers,
0:19:55 > 0:19:57so the gardens were very colourful.
0:20:03 > 0:20:06He took film of the local sheep shows.
0:20:06 > 0:20:08He took film out and about.
0:20:12 > 0:20:14Anything new that came out,
0:20:14 > 0:20:19he always was the first to have it, to see what it was like,
0:20:19 > 0:20:21and I think he enjoyed taking them
0:20:21 > 0:20:26because he enjoyed socialising, you know, with the locals.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30The local Orange Hall is just behind us, beside the house here,
0:20:30 > 0:20:33and there's another one about a mile up the road,
0:20:33 > 0:20:37and originally, back in the '50s, the band at Eden, just up the road,
0:20:37 > 0:20:40would march all the way to Plumbridge, join the Plumbridge band
0:20:40 > 0:20:42and they would take the bus.
0:20:42 > 0:20:46They walked down mornings they were going somewhere,
0:20:46 > 0:20:49so he usually was down at the gate to take the photographs.
0:20:52 > 0:20:56I had an uncle who was a drummer in Eden band,
0:20:56 > 0:20:59and he had sort of lent me a little tiny drum
0:20:59 > 0:21:02and of course, like all children,
0:21:02 > 0:21:04every opportunity to bash a drum,
0:21:04 > 0:21:06and so there's the slightly embarrassing film
0:21:06 > 0:21:10of me drumming up at Eden Mills,
0:21:10 > 0:21:12which is up at my grandfather's home.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21You know, often the sweetest recollections are triggered
0:21:21 > 0:21:24by a scent or a sound
0:21:24 > 0:21:26or, in the case of The Travelling Picture Show,
0:21:26 > 0:21:27films of weddings.
0:21:29 > 0:21:34Very often, he filmed people who were local to Plumbridge here
0:21:34 > 0:21:38or where the wedding was taking place in one of the churches here,
0:21:38 > 0:21:41and for their sake he would have taken these.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54I remember John taking my picture,
0:21:54 > 0:21:56pictures of everybody at the wedding.
0:21:59 > 0:22:03He took one of me and the wind was so great
0:22:03 > 0:22:08that it took the veil and put it nearly off my head.
0:22:10 > 0:22:11He was always taking pictures
0:22:11 > 0:22:14of every time you were around the place, too,
0:22:14 > 0:22:17and lots of times you weren't just in the mood
0:22:17 > 0:22:20for having your picture taken,
0:22:20 > 0:22:22but nonetheless he carried on.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31I think it is probably more joyous as a time, the '50s and '60s,
0:22:31 > 0:22:35in that we didn't have the troubles that we have at the moment
0:22:35 > 0:22:40in terms of sort of money and all the other things that annoy families,
0:22:40 > 0:22:43and I think people just had a much closer-knit community
0:22:43 > 0:22:46and the result was that they were always joshing with each other.
0:22:53 > 0:22:55I've an Auntie Caroline.
0:22:55 > 0:22:59You'll see her right from 1953, I think, to the 1970s,
0:22:59 > 0:23:01and every single wedding, her favourite thing was
0:23:01 > 0:23:04to ambush somebody with an entire box of confetti
0:23:04 > 0:23:08and film after film, my father catches her, his sister,
0:23:08 > 0:23:11rushing around ambushing people, pouring confetti down their necks,
0:23:11 > 0:23:12so it's quite amusing.
0:23:14 > 0:23:16My father is normally taking the films,
0:23:16 > 0:23:19but there are several occasions where he appears in them.
0:23:19 > 0:23:21Originally, my mother would take these.
0:23:21 > 0:23:23In the latter years, I took some of them.
0:23:25 > 0:23:26He was always slightly self-effacing
0:23:26 > 0:23:28and didn't like to appear in front of the camera,
0:23:28 > 0:23:30but he's there in some of them
0:23:30 > 0:23:32and, again, an enormous sense of humour and very jolly
0:23:32 > 0:23:33and you can see him smiling,
0:23:33 > 0:23:36and there's one in particular, on the lawn here,
0:23:36 > 0:23:40where my aunt has loaded him up with my two sisters and myself,
0:23:40 > 0:23:41all on top of his back,
0:23:41 > 0:23:44and of course, he eventually buckled with the weight,
0:23:44 > 0:23:45so it's quite interesting to see him
0:23:45 > 0:23:48rolling around the garden here with the children.
0:23:53 > 0:23:57Over recent years, I've shown it to my aunts and my mother regularly
0:23:57 > 0:23:59because I think it's interesting for them
0:23:59 > 0:24:02to just rekindle memories of their childhood
0:24:02 > 0:24:05and when they were younger, and of course the weddings in particular
0:24:05 > 0:24:08are full of the most amazing fashions of the 1950s and '60s
0:24:08 > 0:24:10that you simply don't see any more,
0:24:10 > 0:24:13and they find it very funny looking back on that,
0:24:13 > 0:24:16saying, "I don't remember you having that dress," and this sort of thing,
0:24:16 > 0:24:18so they have lots of fun watching them.
0:24:24 > 0:24:28We find looking back at the pictures is very interesting,
0:24:28 > 0:24:32and sometimes most amusing to see what we looked like years ago.
0:24:32 > 0:24:34It's nice to have them.
0:24:34 > 0:24:38Just to look back at the years that are gone, sort of thing,
0:24:38 > 0:24:41and how you... It would be interesting, you know,
0:24:41 > 0:24:45looking forward to see what you wore and things like that.
0:24:57 > 0:25:01It's lovely to see my father and mother as they were years ago,
0:25:01 > 0:25:05but I can hardly recall them just so active as they were in the films.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08I think more of my mother when she was more of an invalid
0:25:08 > 0:25:11and to see her walking around is really good to see in the pictures.
0:25:16 > 0:25:18It's lovely to see the films again
0:25:18 > 0:25:21because those are the days which you forget.
0:25:21 > 0:25:23You have some memories of them,
0:25:23 > 0:25:27but when you actually see the pictures it brings a lot back
0:25:27 > 0:25:29and you think how lucky you were
0:25:29 > 0:25:35and how happy and content we should have been in those days,
0:25:35 > 0:25:38but probably, growing up, you're always looking ahead.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43Aren't we so lucky that Dr John McFarland did look ahead
0:25:43 > 0:25:46and filmed life here in Plumbridge and the Glenelly Valley,
0:25:46 > 0:25:48and rendered it in loving detail?
0:25:50 > 0:25:53I think my father would probably have been slightly embarrassed
0:25:53 > 0:25:56because he was a very sort of modest, self-effacing man.
0:25:59 > 0:26:02At one level he'd be thrilled, but I think he might be slightly worried
0:26:02 > 0:26:06about people being critical about his technique on the camera.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23Alan, I gather your father was the local doctor,
0:26:23 > 0:26:26but why was he so interested in taking cine film?
0:26:26 > 0:26:27He just got into it.
0:26:27 > 0:26:31I think his brother-in-law was interested in film.
0:26:31 > 0:26:33He got into it, and he went from black-and-white into colour
0:26:33 > 0:26:36and has left us a wonderful legacy.
0:26:36 > 0:26:37I know, I loved all the weddings.
0:26:37 > 0:26:43He really captured the flavour of fashion and weddings at that time.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46Yes, there's some wonderful footage of weddings, and the colour involved
0:26:46 > 0:26:48and fashions that don't exist any more, and it's funny,
0:26:48 > 0:26:53my children watch it and fall around the place laughing at their aunts
0:26:53 > 0:26:56and great-aunts and all these wonderful, wonderful costumes.
0:26:56 > 0:26:58How does it make you feel when you watch it?
0:26:58 > 0:26:59Well, it's rather strange.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02There's some footage of me as a very small child
0:27:02 > 0:27:03and, of course, you suddenly realise
0:27:03 > 0:27:05the passage of time has not been kind to any of us!
0:27:05 > 0:27:09- Are you the drummer boy?- I am, yes. - I thought that was so sweet!
0:27:09 > 0:27:12You looked like you were drumming away all by yourself
0:27:12 > 0:27:13and nobody else around.
0:27:13 > 0:27:15- And did you keep up drumming?- No!
0:27:15 > 0:27:17It was just something that happened at that stage.
0:27:17 > 0:27:19What do you think the value is
0:27:19 > 0:27:22of this kind of footage that's been well preserved?
0:27:22 > 0:27:24I think it records a particular period of time
0:27:24 > 0:27:27and indeed people and family who are long gone now,
0:27:27 > 0:27:30so it's quite interesting just to see how things were then,
0:27:30 > 0:27:33- a much simpler life. - You know what strikes me?
0:27:33 > 0:27:35When I look at the footage, everybody seems very happy.
0:27:35 > 0:27:38It seemed to be very carefree.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41Well, I think they were local communities,
0:27:41 > 0:27:45and families lived fairly close to each other,
0:27:45 > 0:27:47and weddings were a big, important occasion,
0:27:47 > 0:27:49where even people who'd moved away came back,
0:27:49 > 0:27:52and I think it was probably a much more joyous time
0:27:52 > 0:27:55with fewer cares than we have today.
0:27:55 > 0:27:58Well, at least the film has given your family, your children,
0:27:58 > 0:28:00a bit of a laugh with you being the drummer boy.
0:28:00 > 0:28:03Yes! They fall about laughing when they see that.
0:28:03 > 0:28:05Thanks very much.
0:28:09 > 0:28:12I'm afraid that's where we have to leave it from Lissan House.
0:28:12 > 0:28:14I've really enjoyed a rather gentle look back
0:28:14 > 0:28:16at life as it was in Mid-Ulster,
0:28:16 > 0:28:19those who made the cine films and of course, those who starred in them,
0:28:19 > 0:28:22particularly Darkie, the cricket-playing dog.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25I still think he would have been a great contender for Has Britain Got Talent?
0:28:25 > 0:28:28So from all of us here until next time, bye-bye.
0:28:55 > 0:28:59Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd