Stratford on Avon in the 1960s

A vintage home movie on standard 8 film of the river Avon at Stratford on Avon which I believe was taken sometime in the 1960s.

Unfortunately, this is not a good quality film. There is a severe colour cast on the opening sequence where the sky appears yellow, and although the middle sequence is better, the colour cast reappears at the end. It is also a bit poorly focused in some places and low on definition.

I tried to remove the colour cast during post processing of the digital clip, but couldn’t get anything which looked better than the original so I reverted the changes.

When I first watched the film I was looking for clues as to the location and to be honest wasn’t getting very far.

Then, on about the 3rd watching I suddenly realised that I actually recognise a scene in the film.

At about 2:18, there is a picture of a building hidden by trees with a boarding area for boats and I realised that I’d taken a picture myself which showed the very same scene – it is Stratford on Avon.

The building shown in the clip is the theatre and the spire in the distance is the church which can be seen in the picture I took. Obviously I’d taken my picture many years later, but the basic geography of the scene is pretty much the same.

Once I’d worked out the location I realised that I’d also seen the bridge and lock gates at Stratford, although I think the bridge shown in the film is an earlier one – I don’t remember the bridge when I was in Stratford on holiday a few years ago being exactly the same shape as the one shown in the film.

Anyway, here is the film for you to watch. If you know Stratford on Avon I’d appreciate a comment to confirm my belief.