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Title: THOMAS WHITE & SONS PAISLEY

Reference number: 3223

Date: 1948 - 1968

Sound: silent

Original format: 16mm

Colour: bw

Fiction: non-fiction

Running time: 13.52 mins

Description: Men working machines on the factory floor of Thomas White & Sons Ltd. of Paisley, woodworking machinery manufacturers, and a staff excursion on a steamer to Dunoon.

Screened in London at the Home Movie presentation 1994. Documentary, shot over a period between 1948 and 1968. Factory closed 1975. See additional info. file held at National Library of Scotland Moving Image Archive for background information. Background information also held on accompanying audio cassette. Drawings and other archive material with Paisley Museum: for details see NRA (Scot)/0721.

See also refs. 3222 and 4072

See also extract offering a little context and history about about Thomas White & Sons from the book 'Scottish Industry' by C.A. Oakley (1953) pp. 120. http://main-cat.nls.uk/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=1737201 [last accessed 12/02/2021]

Shotlist: title (0.08) exts. shop (0.13) [intertitles overlaid on stills of departments] Drawing Office; Heavy Machine Shop; (0.28) ints. shop floor with men working metal working machinery; man watching an automatic drilling machine, lubricating the drill at each new point; c/u control panel "Airmec Autoset N410", showing an unwinding control (?) tape reel; c/u drill operating automatically (2.29) still of shop floor (2.38) c/u metal cylinder turning on a lathe under a lubricant jet, smoke rising; various close shots of machining processes (4.13) Fitting & Assembly (4.22) ls factory floor; ms "White FX sander"; c/u finger points out flaws; gvs sander in action (5.29) gvs manufacture of doors (6.46) c/u label "Ferodo brake linings"; hand holds up circular piece marked "before sanding", and a second worn piece; "after"; man loads discs onto conveyer feeding sander; man measures thickness using a gauge (7.35) c/u man testing and dissembling tool; c/u chain drive mechanism (8.38) c/u White-Wales Trophy (8.46) ext. Wales Atlas Works Ltd. with shot of members of staff standing in main doorway (6.26) shots of bowling match (9.37) 1949 (9.40) shots of bowling match; c/u's visitors and staff watching (10.18) shot of sign LMS Gourock and sign for Bells Whisky and people boarding steamer (staff outing?) (10.52) close shot of man holding life-saving ring reading "Queen Mary II" (10.58) brief c/u the last drop being poured from a half bottle of whisky (11.12) shot of an accordionist and clarinet playing on board, visiting group clap their hands in time; tracking shots of Dunoon pier (11.50) ms the group arrive; l/s hotel with river in background (12.11) l/s accordionist on bench, sitting with older women outside Whistlefield Hotel; c/u accordion player; gvs men "highland" dancing with arms in the air; c/u hands clapping and foot stamping (13.14) c/u sign "the Bar"; ms man executes a twirl amongst the dancers, holding a tray of full glasses; brief shots of the party drinking beer (13.39) l/s steamer (13.52)


[The following information is from donor's background information on audio cassette]
An annual bowling match was held between one of the company's established customers, Wales of Birmingham, manufacturers of bedroom furniture. A 1948 competition was held in Birmingham and in 1949 a return match held at the company's own bowling green at Hawkhead, Paisley. The visitors were taken the following day for a trip "doon the watter" to Dunoon].