THE FOCUS of Monday’s night (February 18) ‘Travelling Picture Show’ on BBC One was Enniskillen, its people and its memories.
The Fermanagh town featured in the first programme of a new series hosted by Gloria Hunniford.
In the new series, host Gloria Hunniford takes to the road with a unique travelling cinema to share with the residents of four local towns their stories, characters, celebrations and events captured by local film makers over the past 80 years.
During Monday night’s programme the people from Enniskillen were invited to come into the Travelling Picture Show’s special screening tent, pitched in the town, to see their town, and its characters on the silver screen and witness events from the last 70 years.
Gloria meets the people who made the films, those who appear in them, and those with a story to tell.
Among the lives captured on film included those of William Blake and his family, who once owned what’s known as Blake’s of the Hollow public house in Enniskillen.
William Blake was a keen amateur film maker and with his trusty cine camera Mr Blake captured family trips to the seaside in Bundoran.
William Blake’s three sons Joe, Arthur and Pat speak to Gloria about their seaside holidays to Bundoran, how they played on the beach and how, back in those days, a common practice was people diving off Rogey.
They recall their father loved taking these home movies, but wasn’t so keen to appear on the other side of the lens.
Other local Enniskillen figures who feature in the archive footage include Isobel Topping, whose husband ran the popular local garage TP Topping.
In a wonderful, and rarely seen piece of footage William Blake captured the 1946 visit to Enniskillen of the then Princess Elizabeth (now Queen Elizabeth II) as she walked up the street in Enniskillen from the Imperial Hotel to the Townhall, where she appeared on the balcony directly opposite where William Blake was perched with his cine camera.
The film is in great condition and in colour, and years later William’s sons asked him how he had colour years before it was popular.
These film clips bring back great memories for many of the Enniskillen folk who gathered in the Travelling Picture Show tent to watch their town all those years ago.
From Enniskillen the focus moves to Clogher and to a young tractor mechanic called Harry Dunlop who recalls his early years of work.
The Travelling Picture Show is a wonderful snapshot into yesteryear and features several more stories of names, places and faces from a generation (or maybe two) ago.
The Travelling Picture Show continues next Monday night, and if you missed it you can catch up on the BBC iPlayer.