Travelling Picture Show pitches up in Ballymoney

Combining rarely seen BBC film archive and wonderful home movies The Travelling Picture Show lifts the lid on some of Ballymoney’s best loved landmarks, events, celebrations and characters including film makers such as Charlie McAfee, Hugh Collins and William Campbell.

There will be a special screening of some of the gems uncovered; films that give a tantalising glimpse of Ballymoney as it used to be, its history, characters and colour.

An unique cinema tent will be pitched at Riverside Park, Ballymoney with film showings between 1pm and 4pm. No ticket is required.

Keith Beattie of Ballymoney Museum explained: “The museum’s been helping the BBC producers from Belfast to source old cinefilm and find people linked to the film to interview them. Ballymoney was specially selected to feature in the series due to the rich heritage of entertaining old home movies which are associated with film makers such as, among others, Charlie McAfee, Hugh Collins and William Campbell.”

Appealing for more footage Series Producer Jane Magowan added: “We’re looking for home movie footage to help us tell the story of Ballymoney and its people; how the town has changed over the decades – films from the 1940s to the 1990s that cover local events and celebrations, sporting achievements, holidays, family life, farming and local industry.

“But we’re also looking for the stories and characters behind the footage. You may have a two minute cine film of the day your team brought home the winning cup, or even a family outing to the seaside. It’s your story of that event that we’re really interested in hearing.

“It’s really exciting for us is to be able to bring these films back to where they came from so local people can see their town, their friends and neighbours up there on screen. It’s guaranteed to bring back loads of memories and get people talking and sharing stories.”

And if celebrating and documenting Ballymoeny’s local history is your thing, the BBC Bus will also be in town that day.

They will be open from 12noon to show you how to digitally preserve your old photographs and memories of Ballymoney and add them to an online archive. So please be sure to bring along snaps that paint a picture of the area’s rich past.

Visitors can also experience the on-board radio studio where BBC staff can help record the stories behind the pictures.

They will be showing the Digital Film archive which has over a hundred years of moving image from Northern Ireland. Find out what’s hiding in the archive from the Ballymomey area and further afield.

So, if you have any old home movie footage you would like them to consider for inclusion in the Ballymoney programme then please contact The Travelling Picture Show team. Call Jane or Darryl on 028 90338059/02890338118.