BANK HOLIDAY (1937)

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WATCH PART ONE ON YOUTUBE

(recommended)

Here's a direct Youtube link to part one of 'Bank Holiday', made by the Mid-Cheshire Amateur Cinematography Society in the late thirties around Middlewich, Bostock and Beeston Castle. The film was written by Bill Oakes and features, among others, Arthur Roberts, Evelyn Ridgway, Bill Oakes and Winifred Oakes.
Part one is justly famous because it features a few fleeting seconds of Middlewich Railway Station in all its 1937 glory.
Beeston Castle & Tarporley Station also features in the film, as do many local beauty spots (and pubs) in the area. The large house at the beginning of the film is not in Middlewich but in Wheelock, and still looks pretty much the same today.
The original film is now in the safe keeping of the North-West Film Archive in Manchester. This is the official, authorised Salt Town Productions version.
We are working on a new, continuous version of this film with music featuring the appropriate I'm Happy When I'm Hiking, performed by Albert Whelan.
The film is dedicated to the memory of my Dad, Arthur, who plays the drunk with the bike and the fishing tackle. That's him in the opening scene, throwing stones at someone's bedroom window.

Click on the arrow for Part Two

or

WATCH PART TWO ON YOUTUBE

(recommended)

Watch out in Part two for the scene in which our weary revellers are picked up and given a lift by a gentleman with a horse and cart. This was completely unscripted and happened when the horse and cart chanced to be travelling along the country lane where filming was taking place. The scene where those same revellers stop to take their boots off and rest their sore feet was filmed at Bostock. That old-fashioned mile-post is still there, exactly as it was over three quarters of a century ago.
Dave Roberts

First published 17th March 2012
Re-published 6th May 2016