Life in Sudbury, 1970s - Film 9615

Sudbury in Suffolk 1970's

Opening sequences - panning shot down Market Hill located in the centre of Sudbury. Shop fronts including Freeman Hardy and Willis, Boots the Chemist. Market Hill with a wide range of produce including fruit and vegetables, clothes. People mill about the stall. A woman puts carrots into a plastic bag. Women look through clothes on display. An older woman (40's) wears a bright red mackintosh coat and looks through a rail of clothes. More soberly dressed farmers wearing checked jackets and "bunnets" (cloth caps). A man in a rather unflattering vest top serves a young girl, giving her a bag of sweets. Pigs walk down a raised platform and enter a pen. The livestock market where cattle, also in pens, are brought for sale. Close up shots of cows. Auction of animals. Panning shot of pig pens with farmers bidding for pigs. Voice-over states 'In the past this livestock market was very important but today it plays only a very small part in the life of the town.' A man prods a pig with his stick. Furniture auction. General bric-a-brac on sale is laid out on a large table. An elderly woman bids. The auctioneer concludes a sale by slamming his pen on a table. Long shot and panning shot of 400 year old building. Traditional half timber houses. Various shots of narrow streets in town centre, including Weavers Lane, formerly Curds Lane. Borough of Sudbury. Shoppers car park. The business and commercial car park is off Station Road. Car park full of very 1970's cars and vans, including Minis, Cortinas and, in the distance, a Volkswagen van. Fine Fare supermarket, F W Woolworth and Co., Eastern Electricity showroom. Two women, one wearing an Afghan coat, pass Freeman Hardy and Willis shoe shop with display of shoes on street pavement. Brief shot of Sudbury Church located in city centre. Close up of Borehamgate shopping precinct. Panning shot of mini shopping precinct, with 1970's layout. Houses are located above the precinct. Bus stop with good juxtaposition of an old 1950's bus and a newer 1970's bus registration number BCF814L. Illustrated map showing the location of Sudbury in relation to the other five towns within 25 miles of Sudbury. People living in Sudbury service the inhabitants of the remaining 30 small villages who gain access to Sudbury through the main roads to the town. Aerial shots of town with River Stour surrounded by green meadows. Panning shot of river 1 kilometre from busy market with cattle paddling. Panning shot of water meadows with people sunbathing on the banks. Road bridge at narrowest point of river, reputedly 700 years old. Diagram of river and bridge used to show the position of the bridge, the water meadows on each side of the river. The junction of the main roads became the place where markets were held and from here the town grew up. There has been a large increase in the population of Sudbury since 1960. Shown in the illustrated map. Aerial view of factories and warehouses built on the edge of Sudbury. Aerial views of farmland which has been turned into housing estates, built to re-house people from London, 100 kilometres away. Silk Mill factory with brightly coloured rolls of silk being wound on large rectangular bobbins. Machines weave the strands into cloth, most of which is exported abroad to be made into neckties. Other factory machines where cloth is knitted from manmade fibres. Sudbury's wealth in the middle ages was built on the weaving of wool and cloth. Engine parts are removed from a large kiln. Panning shot of female factory workers at machines. Typically 1970's computer control room with large imposed panels with banks of light placed in front of a man at a desk. He talks on the phone and punches in details on a panel in front of him. Medium shot of workers leaving an unidentified factory. Very distinctive 1970's clothes in evidence. Exterior of Corn Exchange exterior. Interior of Corn Exchange, now a library. A water mill close to the river, which has been converted into The Mill Hotel. A red sandstone warehouse which used to receive goods from passing water barges. Exterior of Sudbury Maltings where Barley is turned into malt for brewing. Barns and warehouses in side streets. Deserted buildings. Montage of brief shots including pigs in pens, main street, aerial view of Sudbury.