What a wonderful 2 hours me and the hubby spent last night, would'nt have missed it for the world, we sat among more than 300 like minded people watching our heritage come to life through the work of Sam Hanna, what a forward thinking man he was, he must have know when he did these films that future generations would want to see and recall moving images of old Burnley and it's customs. I was surprised to note that in the audience were people of all ages and walks of life, there were 3 Asian ladies sat in front of us and they seemed to be enjoying it as much as we did.
I was transported back to my childhood with street games we used to play, there before me were moving pictures of my old Burnley, places that had gone and were no more, the old market, shops, bus station, hospitals. There was one film of particular interest to me and that was Burnley School Of Nursing, it followed a young girl starting up her nursing career and we were taken to the hospitals that are no more, showing outside/inside the Victoria, I had actually worked on one of the wards that it showed, Hartley hospital, Marsden, Reedyford they were all there. Another film was made in 1957 by the East Lancs Chamber of Commerce & Industry, promoting new fields of industry for Burnley, there was the Prestige, Burco, Mullards, Smith & Nephews amongst others that are no more.
There was also some silent movies shown, which were not done by Sam, these were from 1900 and accompanied by the fine piano playing of Stephen Horne an internationally renowned silent film musician. There was goodnatured laughter at some of the films last night as people were remembering and reliving their own memories that were being shown in these sometimes poignant films. One sad piece of films showed Burnley V Manchester United 1957 playing in colour, the only colour film apparently in existance of the tragic Busby Babes the year before most of them died in that awful 1958 air crash.
I came out of the Mechanics last night with a smile on my face and a tear in my eye wishing I could have seen more, but we will be able to soon as there is going to be 10 hours of selected films by Sam Hanna which we will be able to view online. For anyone who wants to know more visit
http://www.nwfa.mmu.ac.ukI know I will be doing.
Stephanie.
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Thanks Stephanie for the description, I was going but the roof repair men worked late putting a 'new lid' on my abode 
Couldn't get there in time, BUT following your link, I believe there is a repeat on 8th June at Queen St??? Hope I have got that right.