Description

The second volume of an absorbing series of DVDs celebrating Bristol’s status as a major port, featuring three original colour promotional films from 1956 to 1973.

‘Bristol: Port Of Many Trades’, made in 1956-57, shows how extensive the Port of Bristol’s facilities were during the years immediately after the Second World War, and how efficiently and cheaply a wide variety of cargoes could be handled. Highlights include film of a young Queen Elizabeth II entering Bristol on a royal barge in April 1956, on her way to unveil the Council House on Council Green, almost four centuries after Elizabeth I had entered the city by the same route.

‘Bristol Tempo’, produced in 1969, reveals how much quantity of a wide range of products could be handled during the duration of this 20-minute film. It ends with the rallying call: ‘Ship your cargo through the Port of Bristol and have it handled at the right tempo!’

‘Avonmouth: The Motorway Port’, made in 1973, focuses on what had become the hub of the system, and shows Conservative Minister of Transport John Peyton cutting the first sod of the new West Dock in 1972. The film shows work proceeding on this 70-acre dock basin site during the following months, which eventually became known as the Royal Portbury Dock, when it opened in 1977, 100 years after Avonmouth’s first dock. It also proudly boasts how the new M5 Avonmouth Bridge, which was due to be opened in 1974, would speed up transportation of products to and from the port.

Also Available: Ship Shape and Bristol Fashion Volume 1
 

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