Super 8 Stories: The Big Freeze

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Details

Location

Ballycastle, Bangor, Belfast, Castlewellan, Enniskillen

Year

1963

Date

Length

04min 21sec

Audio

sound

Format

8mm

colour

Source

BBC NI

Courtesy

BBC NI, Doubleband Films, Dr. George Anderson, Gordon McKnight, Joan Petticrew, Robert Graham

Rights Holder

Doubleband Films, Dr. George Anderson, Gordon McKnight, Joan Petticrew, Robert Graham

It is illegal to download, copy, print or otherwise utilise in any other form this material, without written consent from the copyright holder.

Description

In the winter of 1963 Northern Ireland was brought to a standstill under blizzard conditions with the snow playing havoc with daily life for weeks to come. Such was the severity of the conditions that this period would always be henceforth referred to as 'The Big Freeze'. Combining amateur film from a wealth of different sources across the country and interviews with the people who shot it we are able to see how this this event affected the people of Northern Ireland. From the seriousness of the situation in Castlewellen where the whole town was cut off and needed supplies delivered by helicopter to the fun side of things with people driving a Mini across the frozen waters of Lough Erne, as well as hearing the thoughts of Dennis Tuohy who was a television weatherman of the time. This clip appeared in Series 3, Programme 4 of 'Super 8 Stories'.

Shot List

Shots of trees in blizzard conditions. View of main street in Castlewellen covered in snow. Children playing in the snow. Shots of newspaper headlines relating to the snowy conditions. Children walking among giant snow drifts. Men walking on top of snowdrift and people trying to dig paths through the snow with shovels. Man driving mini over frozen Lough Erne. Children throwing snowballs and sliding down drift of snow. Snowball fight in street. Man getting lift on back of tractor through snow in town. Back of milk van with milk being served to people in street. Army helicopter taking off from middle of Castlewellen town square. Helicopter landing and pilot being greeted by townspeople. Row of men digging their way through the snow with shovels. Digging machine shovelling snow. Various shots of townspeople clearing snow and throwing snowballs. Scenes of melting snow and longshot of Mourne Mountains covered in snow.

Credits

Narrator: Maire Jones; Programme Accountant: Anne Hegarty; Production Assistant: Gillian Halliday; Camera: Michael Quinn; Sound: Paul Maynes; Music Consultants: Jim Meredith, Ralph McLean; Graphics: Alan Perry; Dubbing: One Zero Zero; Online Editor: Jonathan Fetherston; Researcher: Ben Price; Archivist: Evan Marshall; Assistant Producer: Jenny Waugh; Editor: Paul Devlin; Executive Producers: Alex Johnston, Michael Hewitt; Producer: Diarmuid Lavery; Director: Brian Henry Martin

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