Harkness – MacGillivray Stories

Memories, photos, and verbal descriptions can recreate the past. But none of these seem to surpass the ‘moving film’. Not only that, but so-called ‘home movies’ evoke visual memories in the mind in a different way to mere verbal descriptions, documents, photos, and so on. In other words, they can give inspiration to verbal descriptions of memories – so it is a kind of ‘two-way-traffic’ – one inspires the other. For our family, home movies and photos have allowed me to retell all our stories!

My father had a movie camera in the 1950s, but according to ‘family legend’, he committed the ‘foolish crime’ of selling it. Interestingly, Uncle Gavin seems to have gotten the same kind of camera. But if you’re going to ask me, I believe it is actually the same one; my father may have sold his to Uncle Gavin.

My Uncle Gavin is the ‘director’ of the movie. He is no ‘professional’ – however, this is perhaps some of the charm of the movie. 

Technical points

Uncle Gavin’s camera is probably a so-called ‘double 8’ film. This home movie format preceded the Super 8 mm film format released in 1965 by Eastman Kodak as an improvement over the older ‘Double’ or ‘Regular’ 8 mm home movie format. 

Double 8 or Regular 8 mm film was quite expensive. This was a blessing in disguise in relation to modern ‘free’ movie technology. Because the film-maker had to think beforehand whether it was worth taking a movie of a particular scene due to the cost. Each film (Super 8 film) from my own memory cost quite a lot. 

372 Mountnessing Road, Billericay, Essex, England

Uncle Gavin’s film lasts about 7 or 8 minutes. But it is constructed by splicing together various films of shorter duration – exactly how many I’m not quite sure. But It seems Uncle Gavin has ignored the idea of chronological fidelity, as the movie starts off showing my brother Gavin and our cousin Gavin (Uncle Gavin’s son). This seems to be at 372 Mountnessing Road in Billericay, perhaps around 1968. 

Wild Animal Park

The second scene shows a wild animal park in England – perhaps Longleat (showing a poor captive leopard). It’s incredible that people were still ‘torturing’ animals for entertainment at this time!

The next shot shows my Auntie Violet wearing a green dress. I’m not sure who the child is – perhaps her son.

Blackpool beach

A later scene shows super skinny me in too-tight swim trunks with my little brother Gavin. Gavin seems to be about 3 or 4 years old. I must be about 12 or 13 years old. So this is probably in the seaside resort of Blackpool when we were living at 26 Hob Hey Lane, Culcheth, England around 1961-1962. We often had weekend excursions to Blackpool which was about 50 miles distance, and represented quite a trip in those days. If I remember correctly we used to drive along the East-Lancs three-lane carriageway.

This was a ‘crazy’ road in that the ‘third lane’ was an ‘overtaking’ lane for traffic in both directions. But it was a high-speed road – thus, the ‘fun’ element before the advent of safety belts introduced by the non-fun-loving Swedes. The Swedes took away the fun of the danger of imminent mutilation and death! If the Swedish government had their way, they would probably banish all human ‘death-sports’, such as boxing and car racing. In fact, the Norwegian government forbade professional boxing due to the injuries caused. However, the power of capital is stronger than the efforts of socialist governments. 

The next scene at the beach is quite comical (in retrospect). It shows my mother Rhoda, and her sister, my Auntie Violet, at the Blackpool beach. It was unthinkable in the 1960s and earlier that British women immersed themselves in the ocean. Thus, they would hitch up their skirts and venture out into the shallow waters daring to let the rippling waves cover their ankles! There is also a scene showing donkeys on the beach. This was one of the many attractions – riding a donkey on the beach!

More scenes with the family

I ‘criticised’ my Uncle Gavin here saying he was not a ‘professional’ film maker – but he was ‘professional’ in the sense that he seemed to capture important aspects of life in those days. 

Another scene shows a game of football. But the film is unclear – but it seems to involve my eldest brother Sandy (Alexander). 

Another scene shows the family and my Auntie Violet on holiday in Wales in what seems to be the early 1960s. In the 1950s and early 1960s, we often had summer holidays in so-called national trust cottages in Scotland. These were happy times. When my brothers were older this was no longer possible, as teenagers got ‘bored’ holidaying with their parents. So, the idyllic period with children is perhaps in the first ten or fifteen years of a child’s life. In other words, the beautiful caterpillars ‘die’ and are transformed into beautiful butterflies. So, this short movie clip is perhaps the last evidence of a family ‘idyll’.

Britain, Motorways, and the War

All that talk about lanes, belt, and overtaking got me thinking about war and the industrial revolution. Britain’s first ‘motorway’, the M1, was opened in 1959. So when we were speeding down the East Lancs highway, we were also participating in history without knowing it. The great irony in this context is that Hitler’s autoban construction began in September 1933 between Frankfurt and Darmstadt, which opened on May 19, 1935. That is, almost 30 years before such development in Britain.

This infrastructure was important for the design and construction of automobiles. Thus, the majority of British cars were inferior to German and American cars. The simple explanation is that German and American cars were designed to enable high-speed transport along modern highways. The US also built ‘highways’ sometime around the 1940s – that is 20 years before Britain. In other words, with the advent of the Second Industrial Revolution in the late nineteenth century, Britain began to fall behind other nations, despite ‘winning’ the First and Second World Wars. ‘Winning’ the Second World War is perhaps one of the greatest historical myths.

After the Second World War, Britain was more or less bankrupt (which is evident from the ten-year post-war rationing, the loss of Empire, and a 20-year deficit regarding industrial progress). However, in the late 1950s and 1960s, Britain had a cultural resurgence, but this is another topic we will not examine here, as I am perhaps wandering too far from the description of my uncle’s home movie.

Camping Coach in Wales – Carrog Station 

The movie clip is also interesting in other aspects because it shows perhaps one of the last steam engines in operation in Britain. Steam engines were phased out in the 1960s. 

To exaggerate a point, it might be said that the ‘English’ domination of global culture rested on the invention of the Scot James Watt of the steam engine in 1769, which presaged British global dominance for another 150 years. So it might be said that the phasing out of steam engines represented a watershed. Of course, this was hardly something one was aware of as a thirteen-year-old boy as the steam engine entered the station.

Another scene, shows my skinny eldest brother Sandy lying on the grass bearing his chest.

Another scene shows our ‘new’ Humber Hawk Mk VI, registration number, GHS 558. 

Our old Wolseley 12 was never really big enough for a family of six (and later seven after my younger brother Gavin was born in 1958). But the Humber was bigger and has a bench seat. It was styled on American cars and eventually taken over by Chrysler. In other words, it was one of the largest saloons in Britain at the time. However, although it had ample power, it was no Jaguar. The Humber had a 70-hp engine, whereas the Mk.VII Jaguar had three times the power at 220 hp, but of course was more expensive.

Scenes around Billericay, Essex

Another scene shows my younger brother Gavin sitting next to my Auntie Violet. He must be about 4 or 5 years old. In other words, this must be around 1962-1963, when we had moved south to Billericay in Essex. This scene also shows me and my brothers. I must be about 13 years old. My God, I was quite handsome ha ha! It also shows my brother Stuart (wearing a white shirt, with a suit jacket, broad shoulders, and a shock of black shiny hair and a charming smile).

When I was a teenager in the 1960s, I worked in a cosmetics factory in Billericay, Essex. 95% of the factory employees were women. It was a small factory and had perhaps 50 employees. My brother Stuart had worked there before me. There was perhaps not a single one of the 50 female employees that hadn’t fallen in love with Stuart! Stuart was very much an attractive young ‘man’. Whereas, at the time, I was just a pretty ‘boy’, so the girls and women were not that ‘interested’ in me. But this movie clip shows perhaps why Stuart had such an attraction. Of course, it wasn’t just his ‘looks’, but he also had a charismatic personality.

Towards the end of the film extract, the steam engine approaches Carrog station. 

My aunt and uncle’s bungalow in Glasgow

The next scene shows the bungalow at 18 Muirton Drive, Bishop Briggs, Glasgow where my Auntie Violet still lives. But this extract only lasts some seconds. 

After this, there is a return to 372 Mountnessing Road, Billericay, Essex, England. This is an interesting clip because it illustrates my family’s obsession with cars. Of course, this was typical of the age. Boys and men were ‘obsessed’ with cars. The clip shows my brother Alistair working on his Mk VII Jaguar. In those days, such cars could be bought for two weeks’ wages. Today, these cars are valued at a year’s salary. I have to admit that my brothers and father were more skilled at the mechanical aspects of these cars. 

Another scene (on the lawn) shows who must be my cousins, Gavin and Alan (the sons of my Uncle Gavin and Auntie Violet). This scene also shows my mother doing some gardening with my father in the background. It also shows a caravan. So my auntie and uncle must have slept in the caravan as there was not enough room in the house. 

The next scene shows my blonde sister-in-law Carol (my eldest brother Sandy’s wife). ‘Blonde’ women were considered to be ‘special’ in the post-war period. Thus, both my two eldest brothers Sandy and Stuart had ‘captured’ blonde girls. This impressed me when I was a naïve teenager. In retrospect, this movie clip must have been from the late 1960s, just before my eldest brother married. 

At the end of the movie, it shows my father and my mother holding a baby – obviously, my younger brother Gavin! In other words, the movie contradicts a chronological perspective, because this must be in 1958, when we were living at 26 Hob Hey Lane, in Culcheth, Lancashire, England.