WELLINGBOROUGH 1968. 8mm SILENT FILM.

[@williamwoolhouse3702]

A wonderfully nostalgic look at dear Old Wellingborough.Now a shadow of it's former self.A desecration of a charming Market town.Now it is a sad and depressing place.

[@lillylilac3831]

I was brought up in King's Street during the 50s and 60s, I remember the Zoo, Croyland Gardens, the Swans Pool, used to catch sticklebacks in the Nene, used to go scrumping at the back of Outlaw Lane, near the bandfield, my first job was at Whitworths, they were wonderful times, I moved away, went back for a trip down memory lane last year, it was truly heartbreaking to see what has happened to what was once a wonderful market town, I will never return again, I'll hang on to my treasured memories.!!

[@HomeMoviePerson]

Wonderful bit of history this is, very interesting to see how Wellingborough has changed and what it was like. I used to go in the library and look through books with old photographs of places in the local area and I was aware there was once a zoo in Wellingborough for instance. Find local history fascinating. Excellent to see moving images, much better than still photographs. Your efforts in putting this up on youtube are much appreciated by me.

[@SMILEVIDEOTRAINS]

Thanks Hayden.

[@andrewbirch5738]

I was born in Wellingborough in 1968, at Isesbrook Hospital, interesting to see what the town looked like then.

[@ianjudge9117]

A great bit of history there great fil

[@smilevideobritain499]

Thank you

[@oldbill874]

Can’t believe this how much it’s changed

[@smilevideobritain499]

Afraid so. Bin doing it since Roman times. No stopping it either. lol

[@juliabebington1734]

Absolutely lovely, I was eleven and lived in Northampton Road. My dad was at the foundry so good to see the tower too - thank you so much - I moved away many years ago and this is how I remember Wellingborough in my dreams - well done - Julia Ford

[@smilevideobritain499]

Thankyou very much. I have lived next door to what was the Co-op shop near the town end of the road.If you are on facebook I could send you some pictures and you can see how it is now. I am 83 years and have lived here over 50 tears. F.B..Keith Bellamy. just message me and quote You tube.

[@buttonbloomz1328]

Fab video.....lovely to see how wonderful our town once was😊

[@smilevideobritain499]

Button Bloomz Thank you

[@eaglevp]

Great watching this old cine Keith as you say how technology as come on over the years wonder what the next 50 years will bring.

[@SMILEVIDEOTRAINS]

I remember when they brought out Stereo Sound. Thats it. where next....No where and nothing can beat this.....Mmmm. Quadrophonic.....Surround Sound....All down to making money and we ''the public'' fall for it every time..I rest my case

[@jonnojohnson5059]

Awesome! I was 13 when this was made! Thank you so much for the memories of my home!

[@SMILEVIDEOTRAINS]

You are most welcome. I love looking at the old stuff too.

[@nickpayne7964]

I almost forgot Wellingborough was described as a Market Town. When I was a child in the seventies it was packed with stalls and people. Last time I went there was one fruit and vegetables stall and two or three others selling second hand books. Very sad😒

[@smilevideobritain499]

yes i'm afraid many market towns have gone downhill due to out of town shopping at big superstores.

[@Woodworker1947]

Nice to see that Wellingborough was a real town with a thriving town centre in those days - I wandered down Cambridge street a couple of years ago and could not believe how many take-aways there were - you wouldn’t starve there.. I remember it when there was Austin’s toy shop, Goodes the fishmongers, Les Ball’s cycle and electrical shop down there.. Happy days then but so shallow and lifeless now but at least I have my memories

[@smilevideobritain499]

and Iresons record shop. Certainly 'the good old days'

[@Woodworker1947]

@@smilevideobritain499 And Herbert Jordan as in Jordan's Music Shop at the bottom of Victoria Road - next to Stebbing's the butchers...god, I had hair then!

[@NinjaTeaDrinker]

Wow! This is amazing ❤

[@twangy8pearl]

What a beautiful town we had. 😘

[@smilevideobritain499]

Yes it was!

[@bobf3598]

That blooming siren on top of the college use to make me jump when waiting for the bus....... think it was like the pager at the time for the fire brigade.

[@DonnyOutdoors]

I really enjoyed this video, mate! I never knew Wellingborough had a zoo. Wow. I recognised some features and areas. Things have changed a bit. Filming has indeed changed too, and I actually just found this video of yours whilst watching some other Super 8 videos. When I spotted it was a video of yours, and also local, I knew I was going to enjoy it. Because I enjoy making videos, I have recently bought myself an old Super 8 camera, purely to experience using one and seeing what I can achieve with it! It's an expensive game nowadays! With it being a bit rare. The cameras are cheap enough, but film, processing and converting to high quality digital format costs a bit. I hope I do it justice...in my first 3 minute film, soon... (I can't afford more than one cartridge haha!). Thanks for sharing your video. Enjoyed it on a number of levels. Donny.

[@guyteigh3375]

Excellent, thank you so much for sharing this on here :)

[@smilevideobritain499]

Thank you.

[@JPinFuerteventura]

Wellingborough was actually rather nice back then

[@smilevideobritain499]

I still like it but it is being a little neglected due to government spending cuts. Thank you

[@JPinFuerteventura]

I policed it for 11 years from 1998 to 2009 which does, unfortunately, tend to cloud your vision of a place.

[@smilevideobritain499]

Thank you very much

[@spikey3986]

classic well done !!!!!

[@smilevideobritain499]

Thank you

[@BossySwan]

Before it became Well’Rough

[@bobbobless522]

Thanks!,This brings back memories. Especially the zoo. Just a pity the reptile house was left out. That was my favorite part of the zoo. Between the Golden Lion pub and the Vets at the bottom of Sheep Street, there us to be a path to the back of what use to be Hillards Supermarket, now where i think the Castle Museum is. Use to be Kingfishers down there feeding out of the brook.

[@smilevideobritain499]

Really nice to have lovely memories. Nothing seems as good as it used to be.

[@waltertownsend3821]

Incredible video! Glad the zoo was shut down from what I see here and from other sources it was wholly inadequate even by welfare standards of the late 60’s. Personally I would have loved to see the zoo park extended to occupy all of modern day Croyland Park and make Wellingborough Zoo one to be proud of and make the town as synonymous with a zoo as say Twycross or Whipsnade. Otherwise in many respects the town still looks nice today. Yes clearly a few more shops wouldn’t go a miss but we can’t blame the council entirely for that; we are all responsible for the demise of traditional town centres by preferring the convenience and relative cheapness of Amazon or EBay or local out of town supermarkets

[@smilevideobritain499]

thank you.

[@TonySmithsKettering]

Interesting film, but in need of serious editing and the addition of music! Rare footage of the zoo, which reminded me of how small those cages were for the big cats!

[@smilevideobritain499]

Tony Smith As I made this film in the 1960's I prefer to see it as it was over 50 years ago. We had no editing facilities in those days.

[@TheJMascis666]

Absolutely class video. Do you know of any similar footage in existence of Rushden?

[@smilevideobritain499]

Put in a search on the internet and on my smilevideotrains and smilevideobritain . Thanks for commenting

[@TheJMascis666]

SMILEVIDEOBRITAIN thank you

[@aylestone9]

Very Good Keith,where was Zoo Park?

[@SMILEVIDEOTRAINS]

Bottom of Sheep Street Where Council offices now stand. Thanks for looking.

[@Captally]

If I had known in 1971 when I moved up here with a job that I was contributing to the commercial destruction of a beautiful quiet market town I would have stayed in London. Sorry Wellingborough, I remember well what you were, M'duck!

[@smilevideobritain499]

yes I agree but looking way back regarding changes we could still be living in Roman times.

[@martinchapman5263]

is that david in the film

[@smilevideobritain499]

YES sure is

[@hellencarter8627]

I use to love walking from Harriot Lane towards the market. you could hear the sound of hustle and bustle from the market square.The sound of the church bells ringing especially on a Saturday if there was a wedding taking place at the entrance of the church which faced a sea of people, would be busy chatting and shopping. Over the years the council killed the town, too many houses and flats were built on any spare piece of land. This town that is mention in the Doomsday book has been turned into a shadow of itself. If you have the wrong people running a town who are greedy and don't invest money back into it then the result would be what happened to Wellingborough, also there are hardly any busses running, more people less everything. Big Shame.

[@smilevideobritain499]

yes, the same all over i'm afraid

[@xtopia9758]

The only thing that looks mildly similar is the embankment. It’s flooded now though......

[@smilevideobritain499]

thanks for viewing

[@WellingboroughNT]

Hello Keith, thank you for sharing this footage with the group, I've posted direct links to your Wellingborough videos via the links document in the group, these can be found at: facebook.com/notes/wellingborough-now-then/links/10151764323411042 Kind regards, Andrew

[@SMILEVIDEOTRAINS]

OK and Thank you

[@wwechamp5660]

Wow they had a Mandrill at the zoo