A new life for films of momentous Burnley events (From Lancashire Telegraph)

A new life for films of momentous Burnley events

4:42pm Monday 15th March 2010 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(0)

ARCHIVE footage of some of the most momentous events in Burnley’s history is being given a showcase for the 21st century.

Amateur film-maker Sam Hanna – dubbed the ‘Lowry of film-making’ – compiled nearly 600 reels of clips, ranging from a Clarets vs Luton Town game of 1935 to preparations for the visit of King George VI a decade later.

Now five years after securing Hanna’s collection from his family, the North West Film Archive, based at Manchester Metropolitan University, is giving East Lancashire history lovers a glimpse of some fascinating landmarks and developments from the 1930s to his death in 1996, at the age of 93.

He is best known as a pioneer in the world of educational films.

A handicrafts teacher at Abel Street School, he catalogued dying traditional arts such as brush-making, coopering, clog-making and charcoal-burning, alongside street games such as conkers, leapfrog, marbles and hopscotch.

Work is ongoing to digitise the reams of celluloid and a grand showing is pencilled in for Towneley Hall on May 26.

Before then displays will be touring the Burnley area, from libraries to the St Peter’s Centre and Queen Street Mill, through March, April and May, to illustrate the breadth of his work.

Trading out of his home in Prestwich Street, he also patented a number of photographic devices, including his own film titler, which will form part of the Hanna exhibition, ‘Better Than Chalk and Talk’.

Will McTaggart, cataloguing assistant for the Hanna Collection at the film archive, said: “There are films like the last tram to run in Burnley, the role of the Home Guard during the Second World War, and the VE Day Celebrations.”

The collection also features footage of football’s Busby Babes, from 1957, the Queen’s May 1968 tour of the town and a host of civic events.

Archivists hope to put Hanna’s footage online using a £40,000 grant from the UK Film Council.