Gordon Sutton, retiring club chairman

For the November meeting of Surrey Border Film & Video Makers, Gordon Sutton was the presenter in his capacity of outgoing chairman. His theme was archival reminiscences. All the films were relatively early and had been shot on film, although for the purposes of the projection, they had been transferred to electronic format. Such a transfer process is always tricky but Gordon explained his method, and the results were certainly impressive.

Members first heard how, as a schoolboy, Gordon was introduced to film-making by his father with a film of a train journey from Bournemouth to Southampton, shot from the train driver’s perspective and completing the journey in a couple of minutes! The Secret? Well his father worked on the railway as well as being a key member of a local film-making club and from a family not unused to the entertainment business!

The second film had particularly superb commentary by Gordon’s uncle, Douglas Horner, the voice behind the 1950’s Larry the Lamb children’s radio character. The film showed scenes from a traditional country market in the 1950s, with a town full of cows, calves, sheep, and pigs, and more. Many shots were close up and in sympathy with the cattle, so viewers could almost feel and smell the cattle as they were jostled about to come under the auctioneer’s hammer.

Gordon’s next film was of water skiing, followed by a flying saucer spectacular in which the saucer landed in Bagshot! Members then saw the saucer being given a police escort to arrive at a carnival where it raised money for a local charity – a nice interweaving of science fiction and fun for the local children.

To conclude his archival reminiscences Gordon showed another spoof with local hero ‘Sir Barnes Wallicus’ designing a chariot for what turned out to be a local pedal power race between home-made, human-powered contraptions of all shapes and sizes. The build-up to the finale was gripping, with pit stops and last minute frantic repairs to keep the contraptions in the race.

After the refreshment break, for which Gordon and his wife Pam provided a delicious spread of refreshments, Gordon showed a short version of the film of his daughter’s wedding for which various club members had helped with the shooting.