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Title: PEDDLERS' PROGRESS

Reference number: 8740

Date: 1949

Production company: E.J.G.S. Film Productions

Sound: silent

Original format: 16mm

Colour: col

Fiction: Non-Fiction

Running time: 23.51 mins

Description: Amateur footage of a youth hostel and cycling trip around Scotland, visiting Ben Nevis, Loch Lomond, Glencoe, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Queensferry and Auchmithie.

This fun amateur film was donated to the National Library of Scotland Moving Image Archive in 2008, but little is known about the young people depicted, the only clue being the credit 'E.J.G.S. Film Productions' shown at the beginning. Could this refer to the group of friends it follows? The film may have been shown just to family and friends, or the film makers may have belonged to a cine club, with regular screenings of members' work. Many films donated to the National Library of Scotland Moving Image Archive remain mysteries; the people featured may be unknown, but their stories offer heartwarming and tantalising insights into the lives of the people who made them.

Shotlist: (0.00) blank (0.06) E.J.G.S. FILM PRODUCTIONS Present - title - Record of a Cycling Holiday in Scotland in 1949 - Sunday, July 31st - On the road to Kingussie - shot of bikes and young cyclist outside Mackay's Hotel and Restaurant - c/u sign 'Teas - Bed and Breakfast' at roadside cottage - c/u Scottish Youth Hostel Association sign - shots of driveway and young men outside Kingussie youth hostel - shots of group of young men and women singing in hostel doorway (2.54) From Kingussie to Fort William - gvs river and weir - gvs Loch Laggan and Laggan Dam - c/u stone inscription at dam - gvs of youth hostel at Glen Nevis - shot of slope to Ben Nevis over river - c/u sign 'Historic Monuments on this Site' - gvs Craigs burial ground and Ewen MacLachlan obelisk (5.53) gvs of Fort William street, St. Andrew's Church - int shots of stained glass windows (6.29) Across Ballachulish Ferry to Glencoe - shots of ferry approaching shore - shot from ferry leaving slipway and approaching slipway and hotel at Ballachulish - shots of mountain and youth hostel (7.40) Through the Grandeur of Glencoe to Dalmally - c/u sign marking Massacre of Glencoe - gvs glen, mountains, waterfall - gvs of youth hostel, young man taking photograph of group of young women outside - Over 'Rest and be Thankful' to Inverbeg - Loch Lomondside' - gv Loch Lomond, cyclist looking at view - shots of group of cyclists on street - shots of cyclists cooking meal on gas burner - gvs Loch Lomond, l/s buses going up road - view from Rest and be Thankful, group of people at Royal Scottish Automobile Club control post - c/u shot Rest and be Thankful inscription - gvs mountains and loch - shot of paddle steamer on loch, possibly Prince Edward (11.51) Then on to Glasgow - gvs traffic at Anniesland Cross, Glasgow - views west and east along St. Vincent Street (12.37) Edinburgh - and a visit to the Zoological Gardens - shot of young man at bus stop - shots of Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh Castle, floral clock, flowers - high shots of Princes Street and Scott Monument, Salisbury Crags, castle esplanade - shots of animals at Edinburgh Zoo, including sea lions, heron, polar bear, penguins - underexposed shots of monkeys, owl - shots of lions, leopard in cage, kangaroo, hyenas, Bateleur eagle, flamingoes, bears, stork (17.17) From Edinburgh to Dunblane via Queensferry - shots of group of cyclists on pavement - shots of Forth ferry under rail bridge, passengers on slipway - shots from ferry leaving South Queensferry - gvs rail bridge from below - shots of passengers on deck and disembarking (18.54) On to Perth - and a flying visit to Scone - to call on Iris - town street scene - shot of river overflowing banks - shots of cyclists outside Perth youth hostel - shots of young men and woman outside cottage and in gardens, on country road and at sunset (20.34) Then up the East Coast to Auchmithie - shots of cyclists leaving cottage, young woman waving - shot of Tay railway bridge at Dundee - shots of cyclist outside cottage with two older women - gv St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Arbroath - shots of Auchmithie youth hostel, beach - shot of cyclist looking out to sea - gvs cliff and seabird, c/u of bird, coast at Auchmithie (22.30) Storm clouds chased us as we pushed northwards to Feughside - shot of country road and dark skies, rainbow - Homeward Bound, we called at Rose Villa, Alford - shot of older woman walking along road, hiding her face from camera - And so on the evening of Friday August 12th we arrived home - Our journey completed - THE END - An E.J.G.S. Presentation in Color (23.45) blank (23.51)