0:00:04 > 0:00:07Just over a century ago, the motion camera was invented
0:00:07 > 0:00:11and changed for ever the way we recall our history.
0:00:11 > 0:00:16For the first time, we could see life through the eyes of ordinary people.
0:00:18 > 0:00:20Across this series
0:00:20 > 0:00:24we'll bring these rare archive films back to life
0:00:24 > 0:00:26with the help of our vintage mobile cinema.
0:00:29 > 0:00:33We'll be inviting people with a story to tell to step on board
0:00:33 > 0:00:37and relive moments they thought were gone for ever.
0:00:39 > 0:00:43They'll see their relatives on screen for the first time,
0:00:43 > 0:00:46come face to face with their younger selves
0:00:46 > 0:00:49and celebrate our amazing 20th Century past.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54'This is the people's story.' Our story.
0:01:19 > 0:01:24Our vintage mobile cinema was originally commissioned in 1967
0:01:24 > 0:01:26to show training films to workers.
0:01:26 > 0:01:29Today it's been lovingly restored
0:01:29 > 0:01:34and loaded up with remarkable film footage, preserved for us by the British Film Institute
0:01:34 > 0:01:37and other national and regional film archives.
0:01:38 > 0:01:43In this series we'll be travelling to towns and cities across the country
0:01:43 > 0:01:45and showing films from the 20th Century
0:01:45 > 0:01:48that give us the Reel History of Britain.
0:01:52 > 0:01:56Today we're pulling up in the 1920s
0:01:56 > 0:01:59to hear about the heyday of Britain's fishing industry
0:01:59 > 0:02:04before overfishing and market forces changed it for ever.
0:02:15 > 0:02:17We're in Great Yarmouth on the east coast
0:02:17 > 0:02:21where, in the 1920s, ports like these had massive fishing industries.
0:02:21 > 0:02:25We'll be showing films of that time and bringing in people
0:02:25 > 0:02:29who were involved in that and asking for their memories of it.
0:02:32 > 0:02:38Coming up, we salute the resilience of Britain's fishermen.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41They were wooden ships and iron men. That was colossal.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44I'll be learning about the heyday of herrings
0:02:44 > 0:02:45before the fish finger got us hooked.
0:02:45 > 0:02:50The herring industry, in parts of the country, employed a quarter of the population.
0:02:50 > 0:02:54And there's an unexpected musical treat from a fishing lass' descendant.
0:02:54 > 0:02:59# Aye, the place to see the heron is the quay at Yarmouth town. #
0:03:08 > 0:03:12We've come to Great Yarmouth because it was once home to the world's biggest herring fleet.
0:03:12 > 0:03:16Around a thousand boats jostled for space in this harbour in the 1920s
0:03:16 > 0:03:21and more than half of the local population depended on fishing in one way or another.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25There used to be so many fishing boats in the area
0:03:25 > 0:03:31that locals boasted you could walk across the harbour from deck to deck without getting your feet wet.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43In the 1920s, before dwindling fish stocks and rising imports
0:03:43 > 0:03:45depleted our fishing industry,
0:03:45 > 0:03:48ports were thriving around the coast of Britain.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53Aberdeen, Plymouth and Grimsby were bustling places,
0:03:53 > 0:03:57thick with workers gutting, salting, packing
0:03:57 > 0:03:59and selling a variety of fish and seafood.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04North Sea trawlers fished for cod and haddock
0:04:04 > 0:04:08while ports of the Thames Estuary supplied oysters to London and beyond.
0:04:09 > 0:04:15But it was herring that made the east coast ports among the biggest in the world.
0:04:15 > 0:04:21So what better place to learn about the fishing industry in the 1920s than here?
0:04:23 > 0:04:26Joining me are fishermen and their families from all over the country
0:04:26 > 0:04:30to tell me their stories about life on the high seas.
0:04:30 > 0:04:32Many of them will be seeing our films for the first time,
0:04:32 > 0:04:35showing us photos of their younger selves
0:04:35 > 0:04:40and telling us what it was like to be part of a fishing family at that time.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48Fred Normandale has come here today from Scarborough.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51His family have been fishing since the early 1700s,
0:04:51 > 0:04:54and Fred's been a fisherman all his life.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57He's looking forward to seeing our films of the steam drifters
0:04:57 > 0:05:00his forefathers worked on.
0:05:00 > 0:05:02How are you? Nice to see you.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05When did you get involved yourself in fishing, then?
0:05:05 > 0:05:09I used to go out with my dad and uncles. I had lots of uncles.
0:05:09 > 0:05:13I used to go out when I was nine, ten, eleven-years-old.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16Mostly hauling crab pots, long-line fishing
0:05:16 > 0:05:20and I took my son when he was six.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23I took for a two-day trip.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27- Is he out fishing now?- As we speak, he's fishing off Norway.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30He landed into Lerwick two days ago, in Shetland.
0:05:30 > 0:05:32That's all he's ever wanted to do.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35He's nearly 40 now and all he ever wanted to do was go fishing,
0:05:35 > 0:05:38as I did too.
0:05:40 > 0:05:45We're going to show Fred some compelling films from the National Archive.
0:05:46 > 0:05:50But will they take him back to the days when his father went to sea?
0:06:00 > 0:06:03It was the 'old salts' like these men
0:06:03 > 0:06:06who taught Fred everything he knows about fishing.
0:06:09 > 0:06:14The old boys would teach you how to splice, how mend nets,
0:06:14 > 0:06:18how to bait lines, and none of us realised that they were teaching you
0:06:18 > 0:06:20so you could help them.
0:06:20 > 0:06:22You never got paid, or if you did, you didn't get much.
0:06:22 > 0:06:24But you were learning a trade. We all were.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31Despite growing up with the stories, actually seeing this rare film
0:06:31 > 0:06:36of the extreme working conditions his father faced comes as a surprise.
0:06:37 > 0:06:42It's phenomenal footage and I know a lot about it because it's my heritage.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47What is very, very noticeable is that everything was physical.
0:06:47 > 0:06:51There's no winches to help anybody do anything.
0:06:51 > 0:06:53Nobody was overweight, was they?
0:06:55 > 0:06:59These 1920's fishermen are working on steam powered herring drifters,
0:06:59 > 0:07:02so named because they literally drifted
0:07:02 > 0:07:05and waited for the fish to swim into huge curtain-like nets.
0:07:05 > 0:07:07They would start in Scotland
0:07:07 > 0:07:11and then follow the migrating shoals of herring down the East coast.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16Unlike today, every task was manual.
0:07:19 > 0:07:21In those days, it was just so physical,
0:07:21 > 0:07:26even the young boy in the rope locker in the stem, coiling that thick rope round him.
0:07:26 > 0:07:30There'd be two miles of rope there for that young boy to coil.
0:07:32 > 0:07:34In Scarborough, Fred's home,
0:07:34 > 0:07:37as well as herring drifters, they'd fish for cod in trawlers.
0:07:38 > 0:07:43This silent film from 1925 is called Heroes of the North Sea.
0:07:43 > 0:07:47It shows trawlermen winching on-board a catch of cod and haddock.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51The trawler, you take your net to the fish.
0:07:51 > 0:07:56You'll tow a bag along the seabed or even mid-water and scoop your fish up.
0:07:57 > 0:08:01And they fished overnight and the next morning,
0:08:01 > 0:08:08they went to the carrier and they rode their catch they'd caught for the night over to the carrier.
0:08:08 > 0:08:12Now, the North Sea is a cruel place to be sometimes.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17God, they were wooden ships and iron men.
0:08:17 > 0:08:18It was colossal.
0:08:19 > 0:08:21Given his family background,
0:08:21 > 0:08:25Fred knows just how dedicated a fisherman has to be.
0:08:25 > 0:08:27Fishing is not a job, it's a way of life.
0:08:27 > 0:08:31When my dad was going to sea at three and four in the morning,
0:08:31 > 0:08:33with his long lines in winter,
0:08:33 > 0:08:37he would get home and before he went to bed at six or seven at night,
0:08:37 > 0:08:39he'd make a crab pot ready for the summer fishing.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42And he never got day off.
0:08:45 > 0:08:50Fred's father survived what's considered to be one of Britain's most treacherous occupations.
0:08:50 > 0:08:51Loss of fingers was commonplace
0:08:51 > 0:08:54and the vast majority of deaths came from drowning.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00All fishing is dangerous because you're at sea in weather
0:09:00 > 0:09:04that's always unpredictable. It's an extreme occupation.
0:09:09 > 0:09:11It's so sad because it will never come back,
0:09:11 > 0:09:13the way of life has gone.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16It's gone forever.
0:09:26 > 0:09:29Fantastic, wonderful footage.
0:09:29 > 0:09:31Really historic. Wonderful stuff to see.
0:09:31 > 0:09:35It was a little bit before my time, but I do remember the herring drifter's
0:09:35 > 0:09:38but they were diesel drifters by the time I remember them, not steam.
0:09:40 > 0:09:44In its 1920's steam-powered heyday,
0:09:44 > 0:09:48the industry employed millions of people across the UK in all manner of support jobs.
0:09:48 > 0:09:52Fishing involved a lot more than netting fish.
0:09:52 > 0:09:56I'm meeting Maureen and John Fryers from Lowestoft, who've come to our cinema
0:09:56 > 0:10:00to share their memories of their fishing fathers.
0:10:00 > 0:10:02What was your experience of it, Maureen?
0:10:02 > 0:10:06- My father wasn't a fisherman, he was a lumper.- Which means?
0:10:06 > 0:10:09He unloaded the boats when they came in.
0:10:11 > 0:10:14When one boat came in, and they finished early,
0:10:14 > 0:10:18he went on the market and asked if he could do filleting.
0:10:18 > 0:10:22- And it was hard on your hands, wasn't it?- It was on his.
0:10:23 > 0:10:27I had the job of pulling the fish bones out of his fingers
0:10:27 > 0:10:32with tweezers, and it was horrible.
0:10:33 > 0:10:37We're going to give Maureen and John a glimpse of the tough working lives
0:10:37 > 0:10:41their fathers would have endured in the 1920s.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49John's father, Jack, was only 15 when he first went to sea.
0:10:49 > 0:10:53He became an engineer, working in hot, dirty conditions
0:10:53 > 0:10:56in the engine room of a steam-powered herring drifter.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59Just like this one John's watching today.
0:11:00 > 0:11:04They had to load the boilers with coal
0:11:04 > 0:11:08and keep the steam up - no steam, no boat, simple as that.
0:11:13 > 0:11:17Your living accommodation was a bit grim, actually,
0:11:17 > 0:11:20it were like living in a cupboard.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23Because the object of the boat was to store fish,
0:11:23 > 0:11:25not have pleasantries for the crew.
0:11:25 > 0:11:27The toilet was a bucket,
0:11:27 > 0:11:29beds were a bunk,
0:11:29 > 0:11:3418 inches wide if they were lucky.
0:11:34 > 0:11:35That's how it was.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40Watching this film is a bitter sweet experience for John.
0:11:40 > 0:11:44His father, Jack, died 32 years ago and today John has seen
0:11:44 > 0:11:48the harsh reality of his father's working life.
0:11:48 > 0:11:52If they weren't born to it they soon learnt to live
0:11:52 > 0:11:56the life of a fisherman, which was a hard, rough, tough life.
0:11:56 > 0:12:00And I am proud of my father.
0:12:17 > 0:12:21Here in Great Yarmouth, in its heyday,
0:12:21 > 0:12:24up to 1,000 steam drifters sailed in and out of port
0:12:24 > 0:12:27with up to 10,000 men like John's father on board.
0:12:30 > 0:12:32Today, there's only one boat left.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40I'm on the Lydia Eva, which is the last relic
0:12:40 > 0:12:44of the great herring industry in Yarmouth.
0:12:44 > 0:12:48It's also the last remaining steam drifter in the world.
0:12:51 > 0:12:55The Lydia Eva cost today's equivalent of £200,000
0:12:55 > 0:13:00and carried up to 50 tonnes of coal to fuel her engines.
0:13:02 > 0:13:07'In charge of the Lydia Eva's engine room today is Fireman Robert Burman.'
0:13:07 > 0:13:09It's an amazing piece of work.
0:13:09 > 0:13:10It certainly is.
0:13:10 > 0:13:15Yes, indeed, the original engine, built in Great Yarmouth, 1930.
0:13:15 > 0:13:20We burn coal. We heat her gently cos she's an old lady.
0:13:21 > 0:13:26We carry somewhere about 1,000 gallons of water in the boiler alone.
0:13:26 > 0:13:31The boat itself was made as a herring drifter, also a white fish trawler.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34In other words, they would have a big engine because at one time
0:13:34 > 0:13:37she would have pulled a net as well as just drifted.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41You can't help but feel sad that a beautiful fishing boat
0:13:41 > 0:13:45like the Lydia Eva is the only old girl left in the world.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53Talking of girls, it wasn't just men who worked in fishing.
0:13:53 > 0:13:57I'm staying on board to find out the important role that women,
0:13:57 > 0:13:59most of them Scottish, played in that industry.
0:14:01 > 0:14:05The herring lassies, otherwise known as the "Gutting Quines",
0:14:05 > 0:14:09followed the migrating herring all round the UK.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12They travelled from port to port in special trains staying in huts
0:14:12 > 0:14:15or, if they were lucky, guest houses.
0:14:15 > 0:14:18- Hello there.- How are you? Very nice to see you.
0:14:18 > 0:14:19'Irene Watt from Aberdeen'
0:14:19 > 0:14:22has strong family connections to fishing.
0:14:22 > 0:14:26Her father and her grandfather were herring drifter skippers
0:14:26 > 0:14:29and her mother and aunties were all herring lassies.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34What were the stories you heard about the herring women?
0:14:34 > 0:14:37I heard lots about the huts that they lived in,
0:14:37 > 0:14:40and, you know, great fun that they had.
0:14:40 > 0:14:43There was a lot of camaraderie, I think.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46They all found it really sort of exciting. Hard work but exciting.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49But their huts were really sparsely furnished
0:14:49 > 0:14:52with their sort of bunk beds and sometimes the girls had to
0:14:52 > 0:14:55double up, you know, they would have to sleep top and tail
0:14:55 > 0:14:58cos they were really, sort of, packed in there.
0:14:58 > 0:14:59Like sardines.
0:14:59 > 0:15:03Yes, it looked a lot like sardines but they enjoyed it, you know?
0:15:03 > 0:15:05So they told us about all those things,
0:15:05 > 0:15:08and about the cry in the morning that the cooper would
0:15:08 > 0:15:13cry them out of bed and say, "Come on now, quines, tie up your fingers."
0:15:13 > 0:15:16And that meant that they wound strips of cloth
0:15:16 > 0:15:22round the tips of their fingers to protect them from the razor-sharp knives that they filleted with.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25That was five in the morning, and then they would go
0:15:25 > 0:15:28down to the gutting yards and then they would be gutting all day.
0:15:31 > 0:15:33You wouldn't want to mess with these girls!
0:15:33 > 0:15:38It was back-breaking work but they were skilled at what they did.
0:15:41 > 0:15:45Their fingers were a blur as they gutted up to 60 herrings a minute,
0:15:45 > 0:15:47hour after hour,
0:15:47 > 0:15:52often singing songs to help pass the time.
0:15:55 > 0:15:59Now, I was told that while they were doing their work, the women would sing.
0:15:59 > 0:16:04That wasn't unknown in working class work places for women at that time.
0:16:04 > 0:16:08You have evidence that they did sing songs while they worked.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11Oh, yes, they sang. They sang all sorts, but there are a lot of songs
0:16:11 > 0:16:16that have been written about their life and they're the ones that actually I tend to sing,
0:16:16 > 0:16:18because those songs reflect their,
0:16:18 > 0:16:22er, their lives, their work, their travels.
0:16:22 > 0:16:28And Ewan MacColl, particularly, wrote one called Come A'Ye Fisher Lassies.
0:16:28 > 0:16:30I will try and sing it for you.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34# Come aa ye fisher lassies noo an come awa wi me
0:16:34 > 0:16:39# Fae Cairnbulg an Gaimrie an fae Inverallochy
0:16:39 > 0:16:42# Fae Buckie an fae Aiberdeen an aa the country roon
0:16:42 > 0:16:46# We're awa tae gut the herrin we're awa tae Yarmouth toon
0:16:47 > 0:16:51# I've gutted fish in Lerwick an in Stornoway an Sheilds
0:16:51 > 0:16:55# I've worked alang the Humber 'mongst the barrels and the creels
0:16:55 > 0:16:58# Whitby, Grimsby, I've traivelled up an doon
0:16:58 > 0:17:03# But the place tae see the herrin is the quay at Yarmouth toon
0:17:03 > 0:17:07# Aye the place tae see the herrin is the quay at Yarmouth toon. #
0:17:11 > 0:17:16- And here we are. Yarmouth toon. - I know.- That was lovely.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29Today On Reel History we're remembering the heyday of the British fishing industry.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32Thousands of communities right round the coast of Britain
0:17:32 > 0:17:34depended on fishing.
0:17:34 > 0:17:38Especially places like Cornwall, with its many miles of coastline.
0:17:40 > 0:17:42Someone who has come along to tell us
0:17:42 > 0:17:46about his family's Cornish fishing heritage is Geoff Provis.
0:17:46 > 0:17:51Geoff's grandfather was a fisherman at Port Isaac,
0:17:51 > 0:17:53as was his great grandfather.
0:17:54 > 0:17:57And this is Geoff, out on his grandfather's boat.
0:17:59 > 0:18:03How important was the herring industry in Cornwall, at its height?
0:18:03 > 0:18:07Absolutely vital. It was certainly vital at Port Isaac,
0:18:07 > 0:18:10for my family, who were fishing for generations.
0:18:10 > 0:18:14My family bought the Boy Fletch in 1920.
0:18:14 > 0:18:21My grandfather Anthony, his brother, Jack, and their father, John, worked it.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25The thing to stress is how important herrings were
0:18:25 > 0:18:28because the local people, the local ladies,
0:18:28 > 0:18:31would have goods on tick in the shops.
0:18:31 > 0:18:34They'd buy coal and groceries
0:18:34 > 0:18:39and the favourite saying was, "We'll pay when the herrings come."
0:18:39 > 0:18:41Pay when the herrings come.
0:18:41 > 0:18:45We're going to show Geoff a rarely seen film made in St Ives,
0:18:45 > 0:18:49just down the coast from Port Isaac, in 1938.
0:18:57 > 0:18:59The film's called The Cornish Nets
0:18:59 > 0:19:02and Geoff has never seen it before, and it will remind him of
0:19:02 > 0:19:04the life his forefathers lived,
0:19:04 > 0:19:07eking a living as small-scale fishermen.
0:19:11 > 0:19:16The herring industry was essential to the local community at Port Isaac.
0:19:16 > 0:19:18They relied on the herring
0:19:18 > 0:19:21in the autumn from mid-October to the end of December
0:19:21 > 0:19:25for income and for the food.
0:19:27 > 0:19:30This film reminds Geoff of the stories his grandfather
0:19:30 > 0:19:33told him about local hardship.
0:19:33 > 0:19:36If there was no herring, the villagers went hungry
0:19:36 > 0:19:40but they would all group together and help each other out
0:19:40 > 0:19:44and there was people there much worse off than my grandfather.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47Some families were very poor indeed
0:19:47 > 0:19:51and food would be left outside their door by the wealthier ones at night.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04I mean, I am now 64 and watching the film, seeing the herrings coming in,
0:20:04 > 0:20:07did take me back to my youth,
0:20:07 > 0:20:10down at the harbour talking to the old men.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13There was a special bond in the village
0:20:13 > 0:20:16and the herring meant so much.
0:20:16 > 0:20:21So, given the opportunity of talking about it is fantastic for me.
0:20:26 > 0:20:29INAUDIBLE DISCUSSION
0:20:33 > 0:20:37We're winding the clock back over 70 years now for one more
0:20:37 > 0:20:41special guest, 87-year-old Ronnie King.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47Ronnie first went to sea in a Great Yarmouth drifter
0:20:47 > 0:20:48as a young deck hand.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55He's one of the few remaining men with first-hand memories
0:20:55 > 0:20:58of life on board a steam drifter.
0:20:58 > 0:21:02We're showing him an extraordinary silent film that will take him back
0:21:02 > 0:21:05to a time in his life he thought he'd never see again.
0:21:15 > 0:21:19Made in 1929 by the pioneering filmmaker John Grierson,
0:21:19 > 0:21:22Drifters follows the voyage of the North Sea herring fleet
0:21:22 > 0:21:25between Great Yarmouth and Scotland.
0:21:26 > 0:21:28Grierson, in his own words,
0:21:28 > 0:21:31believed this film celebrated
0:21:31 > 0:21:33"the ardour and bravery of common labour".
0:21:33 > 0:21:37It's claimed that Grierson coined the word "documentary"
0:21:37 > 0:21:40and Drifters has served as the prototype
0:21:40 > 0:21:42for many films that followed.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51Ronnie was a boy of 14 when he first went to sea
0:21:51 > 0:21:53and this film brings those days back to life.
0:21:56 > 0:22:00When you're a boy of 14, it's a great experience.
0:22:00 > 0:22:02There used to be two young fellas,
0:22:02 > 0:22:05the lower deck boys, we were known as youngers.
0:22:07 > 0:22:11They were the two last members of the crew and our job was to take
0:22:11 > 0:22:14the seasons off the main rope
0:22:14 > 0:22:17as they were hauling the nets and that.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19And let them go to the people
0:22:19 > 0:22:22who were hauling the nets down the fish hold.
0:22:22 > 0:22:26A herring drifter would cast up to two miles of nets
0:22:26 > 0:22:29which had to be pulled in in all kinds of weather.
0:22:30 > 0:22:35You were hauling all night long, sometimes eight, sometimes ten hours
0:22:35 > 0:22:37through the night in hauling the nets,
0:22:37 > 0:22:40then the day time, you'd to pull the nets up and clean them
0:22:40 > 0:22:43and then stow the fish away.
0:22:43 > 0:22:45Then you used to have a little sleep,
0:22:45 > 0:22:49you got about four hours sleep a day, something like that.
0:22:52 > 0:22:56This film, Drifters, reminds Ronnie of the ancient methods
0:22:56 > 0:23:01that he and other fishermen used to detect the migrating shoals.
0:23:01 > 0:23:04A good sign was to see whales.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07If you saw whales you knew that fish were about
0:23:07 > 0:23:10and if you saw the gannets dive, that was a sure sign that there were
0:23:10 > 0:23:16shoals of herring, plus the colouration of the water too.
0:23:17 > 0:23:19A good skipper could read the waters,
0:23:19 > 0:23:20well, so could some of the crew.
0:23:22 > 0:23:25You used to shoot your nets and hang for about six hours,
0:23:25 > 0:23:28and if your nets were full of herring
0:23:28 > 0:23:30you used to start hauling then, you see.
0:23:36 > 0:23:40I have hauled in several gales of wind
0:23:40 > 0:23:43but you knew what was happening and you all knew your work and you
0:23:43 > 0:23:49carried on till the weather fired away again, you got used to it.
0:23:54 > 0:23:56But they were days gone by.
0:23:56 > 0:24:02I was young then, and you didn't care and you had more nerve then.
0:24:02 > 0:24:08Now you realise how dangerous it was, what could have happened and that.
0:24:08 > 0:24:09Yes, yes.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14But has Ronnie enjoyed going back to his early days
0:24:14 > 0:24:17as a deck hand on board a herring drifter, over 70 years ago?
0:24:19 > 0:24:23It's been a great day for me, a marvellous day.
0:24:23 > 0:24:28Brought back memories, that did, yes, yes, those steam drifters.
0:24:28 > 0:24:30I was back with them and that.
0:24:30 > 0:24:33I was there myself hauling them nets again.
0:24:37 > 0:24:41I've not been a great man but I've always enjoyed life and that
0:24:41 > 0:24:45and loved the fishings and things like that, yes.
0:24:47 > 0:24:51It's been a very happy life. Yes, yes.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58'Ronnie's loved sharing his memories with us,
0:24:58 > 0:25:02'memories we've now preserved for the future.'
0:25:02 > 0:25:04Was there anything to do except work?
0:25:04 > 0:25:06You worked, you ate, you slept, you worked. Was that it?
0:25:06 > 0:25:10Yes, a routine all the time, routine all the time.
0:25:10 > 0:25:15You had good meals. You lived well.
0:25:15 > 0:25:17You ate plenty of fish and that!
0:25:17 > 0:25:18Did you just eat fish?
0:25:18 > 0:25:20No, no, no.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23On Sundays in port,
0:25:23 > 0:25:26you had a lovely breakfast of eggs and bacon.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29- But it was fish the other six days of the week?- Oh, yes, it was.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32Do you think that's why you're such a healthy chap?
0:25:36 > 0:25:38It's been great hearing Ronnie's stories
0:25:38 > 0:25:41about life as a Great Yarmouth fisherman
0:25:41 > 0:25:43when there was still plenty of fish in the sea.
0:25:43 > 0:25:45But times have changed.
0:25:46 > 0:25:50'I'm meeting the maritime historian and writer Mike Smylie,
0:25:50 > 0:25:52'who goes by the name of Kipperman,
0:25:52 > 0:25:56'to find out what impact the decline of the industry had on this town.'
0:25:58 > 0:26:01I think it's very sad, obviously, walking around the town,
0:26:01 > 0:26:05it's not what it used to be during the heyday of the fisheries
0:26:05 > 0:26:08you know, when there were thousands of people here.
0:26:08 > 0:26:13You know, 500 boats here and 500 in Lowestoft, or whatever,
0:26:13 > 0:26:17and all the goings on. You've got all the people working on the shore,
0:26:17 > 0:26:20you just haven't got the crew, you've got the boat builders,
0:26:20 > 0:26:23the sail makers, the riggers, the engineers,
0:26:23 > 0:26:25the coal men - it's a huge industry.
0:26:25 > 0:26:29The herring industry, they say that in parts of the country it employed
0:26:29 > 0:26:32a quarter of the population, and that is a lot of people.
0:26:38 > 0:26:40By the end of the 1930s, the fishing industry,
0:26:40 > 0:26:43not just in Great Yarmouth, but right around the coast,
0:26:43 > 0:26:46was declining for a whole raft of reasons.
0:26:48 > 0:26:52Artificial refrigeration and freezing technology gathered pace
0:26:52 > 0:26:56in the 1930s and meant that fish could be stored for longer periods of time
0:26:56 > 0:26:59without the need for pickling, smoking or salting.
0:26:59 > 0:27:03And by the 1940s, machinery had started to replace men.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07Over fishing had severely depleted the herring stocks.
0:27:08 > 0:27:11And consumer tastes started to change.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14The popularity of the fish finger in the 1950s helped to create
0:27:14 > 0:27:17a demand for cod and other white fish.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22And the herring industry was doomed.
0:27:25 > 0:27:29There were only 20 fishing boats left in Great Yarmouth by the 1980s.
0:27:29 > 0:27:32Today there are none.
0:27:38 > 0:27:43Despite its decline, our fishing heritage is quite extraordinary.
0:27:45 > 0:27:46One of the things, I think,
0:27:46 > 0:27:50for these so-called ordinary men and women who were doing this,
0:27:50 > 0:27:52is how heroic they were.
0:27:52 > 0:27:56The work was so hard, pulling those two miles of nets,
0:27:56 > 0:27:59gutting thousands and thousands of herrings, doing it day after day
0:27:59 > 0:28:01and just getting on with it.
0:28:01 > 0:28:05I'm glad that Reel History has been able to record and remember them.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11Next time on Reel History.
0:28:11 > 0:28:15We're at Bristol Airport, to marvel at the rise of the package holiday,
0:28:15 > 0:28:17in the '70s.
0:28:17 > 0:28:22You would go to the supermarket, buy a bottle of lemon and olive oil.
0:28:22 > 0:28:24So you smelt like a chip cooking!
0:28:24 > 0:28:27I mean, guys had never worn shorts in their life!
0:28:27 > 0:28:29SQUEALS OF LAUGHTER
0:28:48 > 0:28:51Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:51 > 0:28:52E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk
0:28:55 > 0:28:58Reel History Of Britain is on tour.
0:28:58 > 0:29:00This week we're going to Grimsby,
0:29:00 > 0:29:04so come along, watch the archive, and get hands on with your history.
0:29:04 > 0:29:06Full details are on the BBC website.