Film of all our yesterdays now on show at
Lisburn library
by NEIL GREENLEES
Julie Reid of Lisburn Library at the new
Digital Film Archive in the Lisburn Library. US3108-106A0
SOME of the earliest footage filmed around
Lisburn can now be viewed in the city's library. The library in
Linenhall Street has become the latest public building to
provide access to Northern Ireland's Digital Film Archive which
has moving images spanning more than a century.
Several films relating to Lisburn will be of
particular interest to local people.
Some of these date from 1897 and were shot by
the French Lumiere Brothers during a journey between Belfast and
the ferry port of Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire) just outside
Dublin.
One of these short films was taken at
Dunmurry and another in Lisburn itself. The two brothers' work
also features footage of Castle Place and Queens Bridge in
Belfast as well as the Sandymount area of Dublin.
The archive includes seven minutes of footage
from Lisburn Shopping Week in 1930 and the well known film 'Our
Town' which shows local life during the 1950's.
Naturally, Belfast features prominently in
the archive with a great number of street scenes spanning many
decades.
A 1959 report on Smithfield Market by well
known local TV reporter James Boyce should bring memories
flooding back as should scenes from the city's harbour shot in
1954.
There's also 18 'Ulster Mirror' programmes
made between 1954 and 1956 covering various aspects of life in
Northern Ireland.
Ireland's volatile political situation during
the early years of the 20th century is covered extensively in
the archive as is the turmoil experienced in the North following
partition at the start of the 1920s.
The period from the late 1960's known as The
Troubles' has provided the Archive with a large amount of
material including newsreel and documentaries. However, other
aspects of life during this period are also featured including
the DeLorean saga and documentaries such as The Hobby Horse Man'
(1973) about Mickey Marley's Roundabout and 'Betjeman's Belfast'
(1976), a programme about the city's architecture. The Manager
of Lisburn Library Julie Reid said the archive was searchable
and easy to use.
"It's available to anyone using the library
and staff are happy to help," she added.
neil.greenlees@jpress.co.uk
Ulster Star
25/07/2008
|