Whirling Wheels
Standard 8mm film Colour Mute 1963 7:15
Summary: A short film of a cycle race in Kent; cycling through towns and countryside. Stewards mark the route with flags and vehicles follow the cyclists.
Title number: 19639
LSA ID: LSA/26026
Description: The title 'Whirling Wheels' appears over black and white stills of cyclists. A car has a roof rack on it with a racing frame tied to it. Two cyclists in club colours are seen chatting surrounded by bikes. One of the cyclists has a sign saying number' 3' on his shirt. There is a shot of one of the racing bikes close up and we see a water bottle attached to the frame.
A man's arm with a home made cotton sign saying 'Machine Examiner' on it. We see a man testing tyre pressure by squeezing the wheel, another man spinning the wheels with the pedal, whilst the bike is held off the ground. We then see the cyclists in the race wheeling their bikes down a tarmac path, followed by spectators, friends and family. Their is an out of focus shot of the chain around the bike gears on a wheel. A man waving a Union Jack flag. starts the race off and a full field of cyclists races past the camera. They are wearing cycling strips and numbers. A group of people, some carrying a green and a red flag are waiting by the roadside. We see the cyclists from a distance cycling up a hill, past the camera, houses and hedges and in race formation they cycle out of shot. We then see two cyclists in the lead on a residential street, racing through the shot into countryside, looking back to see who is following them. The rest of the field appear, chasing the leaders. A small Austin car and a Mark 2 Jaguar, is following the pack. They cyclists are now in countryside, surrounded by fields. They pass traffic on the roads as they race past. It is Summer time as the fields are full of golden wheat. A red flag flutters in the wind in a village/town. There is an pub in the background advertising 'Shepherd Neame' beer - which is brewed in Kent. The cyclist zoom into shot followed by the Jaguar and go round a bend in the road. We can see green single decker green buses on the road, as the rest of the pack pass the red flag, follow the leaders, round the bed. An old Ford car, has to slow down to let them pass. More shots of the race as it passes through country lanes and built up streets, passing stewards with red flags, marking the route. Nice close up shots of the cyclists in a pack peddling fast along the road, some of the cyclists are communicating with each other. The small Austin car is still following them. The front pack pass people watching them from the roadside in a village. The cyclists are travelling really fast. We see the cyclists swooping past the bend in the rad seen earlier, near the pub. Perhaps they are repeating a circuit? The cyclists are peddling really hard and weather now seems to have changed, as the road is wet. A plae yellow flag fluttering from a hedgerow. The cyclists are seen struggling past up a hill in the wet. A man in a raincoat by a car is waving a chequered flag. The jaguar is parked up by roadside, with other cars, at the end of the race - cyclists go pass and wave and start slowing down. The cyclists and others are n ow in a large hall. Some riders are changing. There a lot of people gathered there. There appears to be some form of prizegiving as men go up to a trestle table, where they are handed what looks like food and water, as epople clap. There is man recoding things on a large sheet of paper. End Credits: 'We wish to thank: - C Brumwell, G. Ely and J Bragington and all the many others who assisted so willingly'.
Credits: Victor A Ashlee; filmmaker
Further information: Mr Victor Ashlee was a local resident and keen filmmaker.
He lived at Eversley Avenue, Barnehurst and later at Caithness Gardens, Sidcup.
His four children named Christine, Peter, Diane and Andrew were born between 1957 and 1969
and feature in many of the films in this collection.
Keywords: race; racing bikes; bicycle
Locations: United Kingdom; England ; Kent
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