26/5/2010 - Summer events offer sneak preview of a century of Cumbria on film : Cumbria County Council

History enthusiasts will be able to take a dip into Cumbria's past next month thanks to screenings of films plucked from an archive which will be showcased at Carlisle's new state-of-the-art £8.2m archive centre when it opens at the beginning of next year.

The free Cumbria on Film events, being held in Carlisle and Kendal by Cumbria County Council's archive service and Manchester Metropolitan University's North West Film Archive (NWFA), will show Cumbrian people, events and landscapes captured on film from over a century. The events will also include a presentation on the new archive centre at Petteril Bank House and advice from the NWFA on how to look after old films.

The first event takes place at Carlisle at the Lecture Theatre at Tullie House on June 5th from 11am to 1pm.

The second will be held at Kendal's Brewery Arts Centre on June 12th from 11am to 1pm.

They are designed as an introduction to the film archive gateway which will feature in the new Cumbria Archives Centre (Carlisle) at Petteril Bank when it opens in January 2011.

Interactive touch-screen technology will allow visitors to access over a century of historic film footage of Cumbria. Over three hours of footage will be available at any one time on five interactive screens in a dedicated film viewing room. The footage will be changed and updated over time so that visitors can dip into different aspects of the rich archive of Cumbria's past held by the NWFA. Films and visual information on a great range of topics including work and local industry, leisure, holiday-making, sport and entertainment, local traditions and community activities, transport, housing and wartime experiences will also be screened in the main foyer.

The project has been supported by Vision+Media's Digital Film Archive Fund as part of the overall drive to incorporate new services and encourage people who have never set foot in a record office to visit the Cumbria Archives Centre (Carlisle).

The new archive centre has a specially designed storage vault specifically designed to conserve and preserve old films and photographs. The electronically controlled vault regulates both the humidity and temperature of the room, keeping it a chilly 5 degrees Centigrade.

Cumbria County Council's Cabinet member responsible for culture, Cllr Gary Strong, said:

"Demand for our archive service has already grown considerably in recent years as more people are interested in tracing their roots. I'm sure that new initiatives such as the film gateway project will broaden the service's popularity even further. These screenings are a great opportunity to get an early look at the past before it becomes a permanent fixture in the future."

North West Film Archive's Service Manager Marion Hewitt said:

"We are delighted to be able to present this Cumbria on Film screening as part of the Moving lives project in Cumbria and enable local people to see material from their area and learn more about the moving images archives from the region held on their behalf."