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AUDIO-VISUAL PRSENTATIONS BY JOHN FLEWIN TRAIN ROBBERS : EMIGRANTS : CAMPAIGNERS Their stories told in film, photos and graphics
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THE STORY OF THE ROYAL BUCKS HOSPITAL Featuring a unique film of a hospital at work in the 1930s Before the birth of the NHS, in the late 1930s officials from the Royal Bucks Hospital in Aylesbury toured towns and villages in North Buckinghamshire and South Bedfordshire enlisting families to join the hospital’s Contributory Scheme, a scheme that ensured free healthcare at the hospital. They had commissioned a half-hour film of the hospital at work, a film produced on what was in those days professional filming equipment, Unseen since the end of the 30s, that film features prominently in the presentation that tells the story of the the hospital from its birth in the 1860s in line with plans drawn up by Florence Nightingale. Duration: 50 minutes |
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THE GREAT
TRAIN ROBBERY I was
there sixty years ago On the
8th of August 1963 I was eight months into a career in journalism, a trainee
on the local newspaper at Leighton Buzzard. The story is told from my own
experiences and those of three others who became colleagues during my career
— one, a photographer who was the first journalist on the scene, the
others television news reporters who covered the happenings for ITN, and
whose coverage comes out of the archive. The presentation touches on vintage
movies of train robberies, moving through time to the beaches of Rio where
train robber Ronnie Biggs spent his best years. Was the whole affair worth it
for the robbers? They answer that question. Duration: 45 minutes |
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AN
EMIGRATION STORY Probably
the longest emigration voyage in history This
tale is told nowhere else and is my most requested offering. It emanates from
family history research and relates the story (and stories) of the first families
to settle on Vancouver Island off the west coast of Canada. Using entries
from the log book of the sailing ship that took them there and through the
writings of some on board, it tracks their 1852 journey from home via a
five-month sailing ship voyage around Cape Horne, through heat and cold,
through snow and winds, through storm and tempest. The presentation then
follows the families happenings in their first five years in what was then a new
colony, and tells of the legacy they left behind in what is now a tourist
destination, the islands capital Victoria. Duration: up to one hour |
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OVER OUR DEAD BODIES The Third London Airport Campaign 1969-71 More than fifty
years after plans for a new London airport threatened to destroy the way of
life in the whole of North Buckinghamshire this presentation tells the story
of the campaign to save its villages. The audio-visual work takes a journey
from a little room upstairs at the Swan public house in the village of
Stewkley and the drawing room of a country house in the market town of
Winslow to the cabinet table in Downing Street. The route was via the
biggest and most expensive planning exercise ever undertaken in Britain, and
an affair that became known as the
first battle for the environment. Some 12,000 folk turned up at the
biggest protest rally in a campaign involving folk in 200 towns and villages
in middle England. It was the Prime Minister who chaired the meeting that
finally saved North Bucks. The presentation includes a mass of television and
amateur footage from the time. Duration: Approx
one hour |
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ABOUT JOHN
FLEWIN Started a
long career in journalism as a reporter on the Leighton Buzzard Observer, was
press officer for the Wing Airport Resistance Association at the time of the Third
London Airport campaign 50 years ago, followed by news editing roles for for
BBC radio. Joined Independent Television News in 1971 as News Editor of News
at Ten, staying with ITN in various senior journalistic and management roles
for nearly 30 years. Later was a consultant in the commercialisation of film
and television archives. Career
highlights included: News Editor for ITVs ground-breaking coverage of the wedding of Prince Charles
and Lady Diana Spencer; was field News Editor for ITN for the visit of Pope
John Paul to the UK in 1982; was Field Producer for ITNs coverage of the
raising of the Mary Rose; as Head of Electronic Newsgathering introduced the
first single-man news cameramen in the UK; as Head of the ITN Archive took
annual income from film licensing above one million pounds for the first
time. |
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RECENT PRESENTATIONS TO: Wing (Bucks) Womens Institute (2),
Cheddington (Bucks) History Society (2), Heath & Reach (Beds) Womens
Institute, Stewkley (Bucks) Local History Group (5), Stewkley Village Hall (village
meeting), Leighton Buzzard (Beds) Friday Club (2), Wingrave-with-Rowshaw (Bucks)
Heritage Association (4), Leighton Buzzard (Beds) Family History Group, Buckinghamshire Family
History Society (Northern Group); Dunton (Bucks) Parish Church; Stow-on-the-Wold (Gloucestershire) Civic Society (via Zoom), Leighton Buzzard (Beds) U3A (via Zoom), Kent Family History Society (via Zoom), Winslow Rotary Club (2). |
Contact: john@flewin.com