I've seen what South Shields looked like on a busy 1950s Saturday afternoon: On film
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
There’s no need to wonder any more. We have this fascinating cine footage to share from a packed Saturday afternoon in the town centre in 1952.


Film brilliance from 1952
It comes to us courtesy of the North East Film Archive and is a one minute section of a brilliant 10 minute film, filled with memories.
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Hide AdIt was originally shot by Harry Winship, a Traffic Inspector for South Shields Borough Police, to highlight the dangers caused by people walking in between moving traffic to cross roads.
Shoppers risking their safety in Shields town centre
Harry took the footage while driving around town in an Austin Somerset unmarked police car on a busy Saturday afternoon.


He visited the Market Place, Ocean Road and King Street and here is that footage, seen for the first time in 70 years.
70,000 original pieces of film
But that’s only one small nugget of film gold from the North East Film Archive library which has a vast collection.
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Hide AdIts team has painstakingly taken on the task of preserving, cataloguing, and digitising these vital collections of reminders of our past.


New rental platform
NEFA has a huge catalogue of over 70,000 items of original film, video tape, and born-digital material. Its team painstakingly preserves, catalogues, and digitises these vital collections of reminders of our past.
NEFA operates the The Yorkshire Film Archive in York, and the North East Film Archive, in Middlesbrough.
It also has a new rental platform at https://yfanefa.vhx.tv/
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