[Amberley: A Working Museum Part Two]

  • ID no. 7226
  • Accession no. SE 070321
Date [1997?]
Production B. C. Suter
Genre/Type
Themes Working Life; Transport
Summary Part Two [?] of a longer documentary produced by amateur filmmaker B. C. Suter provides a tour of Amberley Museum circa. 1994. Workers at the museum provide demonstrations for the camera. Sound recorded on site, music and narration by the amateur filmmaker play over the footage, featuring wood turning, besom broom making, the displays of the Tools and Trades History Society, De Witt Kiln and pottery shop, Amberley narrow gauge railway line, industrial railway collection, Seaboard electricity hall, brickyard shed, nun's laundry, wheelwrights, Southdown bus, domestic museum and paviours museum.
Description A sign reads 'Wood Turners' and 'Cafe and Toilets'. 'Arthur Haffenden, the besom broom maker, is very popular with young and old,' says B. C. Suter, the film's maker and narrator. Haffenden's workshop advertises large, medium and small brooms, where he demonstrates how he makes besom brooms. 'The bench that I'm sitting on is called a horse. All it is, is a foot operated vice,' he explains, as he rolls wire round a bundle of branches on his lap. 'I'm now going to put the handle into the head,' he continues, as he drives a pointed sweet chestnut handle into the bunch of besom. 'Right, there you are!' he says, with the finished broom.

Next, the Arundel Gin Building is shown, re-erected at Amberly in 1990 and now housing a water pump and stained glass maker. The displays of the Tools and Trades History Society are housed near the timber yard, containing tools for wood, metal, leather and stone. A rack of old moulding planes are on display. Mr. Moore explains the use and history of the tools, which cover the walls, to visitors. The woodturner's building and steam crane from Charlton Saw Mills, Chichester, are shown. Old sleepers are found on the path through the trees towards the De Witt Kiln and Pottery Shop at the start of the grey pit. The kilns are seen from the path, built in 1905. An old photograph of a railway line passing by the kiln, where lime would be passed directly onto goods wagons, is shown. The overgrown platforms are also seen. 'The adjacent building tells us all we want to know about concrete,' explains Suter. Photographs, models and artifacts, including bows and boats, are on display inside. Onwards to Brockham's partially constructed engine house and old station platform. The view from Brockham Station shows the industrial lines going round the grey pit area. A tunnel leading to another pit is shown, where, according to the narrator, a scene for a James Bond film was shot.

The railway gang, wearing blue overalls, replace sleepers on the track after much 'huffing and puffing'. The main workshop is shown, where narrow gauge railway artifacts are on display. A carriage waits under blue tarpaulin for its opening ceremony in two or three days time. 'A quick look around the Industrial Railway Collection' follows. A Post Office Mail Train, which ran underground and driverless from Paddington to Whitechapel at 40 miles an hour, and a wagon used in World War 1 to take rations to the front and bring the wounded back, are shown inside. Views of the Industrial Engine Shed next door, with its collection of over thirty small locomotives, follow. Railway workers take their lunch outside. The invalid coach stands on the track at Brockham after its opening ceremony. The yellow Polar Bear engine pulls the carriages, loaded with visitors, along the track after the driver gets the off. Footage taken from a carriage pulled by the engine as it passes along the track through the trees, passing the industrial line, to Amberley Station, follows. The curved and glass fronted Seaboard Electricity Hall is seen. Inside, a high speed electricity generating set confronts the visitor, which is seen in detailed close views. Other items include a battery powered Sinclair Trike, 'which failed to catch on', and battery electric car model and full sized prototype.

Watercolour paintings, produced by a worker giving copperplate printing demonstrations at the museum, are shown, displayed in frames. The brick yard drying shed from the Nightingale Brickworks in Petersfield is shown. Inside, objects are laid out, now exhibiting bricks, chimney pots and tools used in the trade. The art of pottery is explained thoroughly at the Pottery Shop, 'a very popular place, especially with the ladies.' Antique equipment and new wares are on display. Chris sits at the wheel, where he starts to throw a bowl. Kitty paints a pot in another part of the pottery. A 1914 Tilling Stevens DS3 Petrol Electric Bus passes the Municipal Engine House on its way to the bus stop at Brockham. Inside, a 1929 Arobe oil engine, operated by a worker at the museum. On to the Brewery Exhibition and the Nun's Laundry. Brewing equipment on display at the Brewery is shown. Equipment from a local nunnery laundry is displayed next door. The Wheelwrights and Sign Writers Shop, a few steps on, is from Horsham, explains Suter. A railway carriage is being built inside, where Peter Gardener measures timber and recently made wagon wheels and shafts are on display. A draw knife, used by wheelwrights for shaping spokes, is demonstrated for the camera by one of the workers at the museum. Peter Gardener begins to shave strips of wood from a block with the knife. Another uses a chisel on a wheel shaft. Examples of the work produced in the sign writer's shop is on display.

The DSM bus approaches on its way to the stop outside the Southdown Garage. The office advertises trips on blackboards outside. Buses are on display beside the Cycle Shop and Village Garage and Petrol Station. Steamroller caravans are displayed outside. A signpost marks the junction between Peppers Road and Osbourne Lane. Visitors are seen at the Cafe. The Domestic Museum, housing a selection of household requisites, is found nestling among the trees. Inside, vacuum cleaners, stoves, lamps, a Pathescope 9.5 mm movie projector and other objects are displayed in cabinets. A typical 1930s worker's home is is also on display. The Paviours Museum, housing a temporary exhibition as part of the Road Transport Museum, stands by the White Pit. Chairs are laid out, from which visitors can watch videos on road making. Signs, equipment and machinery are on display, together with photographs of films made at Amberley.

Titles for the film are assumed to be found in other footage held at SASE.
Keywords Labour; Workers; Railways; Steam Locomotives; Trains; Local History; Buildings; Education; Handicrafts; Outings; Rural Areas; Cultural Heritage; Trades
Location
Local Amberley
Regional West Sussex
National
Credits
Camera B. C. Suter
Narrator B. C. Suter
Format
Duration 28 mins 12 secs
Viewing copy
location		 Screen Archive South East, University of Brighton
This material is protected by copyright. Contact Screen Archive South East for access details.