by
Lynton Cox
|
I must have been about 4-5 years old and I remember that part of
a film was made in the village - only part - the rest was
probably in the studio.
The film was called "She didn't say no" and to
my surprise I found it in the online data bases . It was produces
by associated British Pathe. Here are the details:
Synopsis:
In this gently humorous farce, an unwed Irish mother who has six
children by some of the town's finest fathers finds herself
bedeviled by the townsfolk who find her a liability to their
sterling reputations. They try different ploys to get her to
pack up her illicit clan and move. Then they pool their
resources and buy the woman a farm far away from town, but
before they have to move, mysterious Fate intervenes, and in the
end all involved are happy, including the free-spirited young
mother.
Among others above in the film were Ian Bannen and Ray McAnally
The bit that was filmed involved the leading lady being
driven up the high street in a pony and trap at great speed.
All the shops in the high street were disguised with Irish shop
signs.
A few years later a mobile cinema used to come
regularly to the Memorial Hall - run by a chap from
Watton who everybody called the "Colonel".
I remember it was requested that he show it and he did.
Much to people's consternation the piece filmed in the village
must have lasted all of 30 seconds! It would not be worth
organising a showing of it in the village that's for sure.
It did however get banned by the Irish board of film censors as
this following item in the Munster Express from 2010.
“She Didn’t Say No”
“She
Didn’t Say No,” a film made in the 1950s and based on
the book “We Are Seven” written by Luna Troy who spent many
years living in Bonmahon, will be shown in The Gealach Gorm
Theatre this Wednesday August 18th at 8pm. This is a heart
warming and often humorous story of a single mother raising her
six children in a close knit village community in an era when
single mothers were ostracised. The cast includes a number of
well know Irish Actors including a young Anna Manahan. The film
was banned by the Irish Film Censorship Board when it was first
released. This screening is being hosted by the Copper Coast
Geopark. There will also be a short documentary on ‘The Fitups’
Irish Touring Theatres of the ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s which includes
an interview with Anna Manahan shortly before she passed away in
2009. A number of locals participated in the making of this
documentary. Tickets cost €8........"
Another example this time of a TV series was called "A
Man of Our Times" with George Cole
(late 60's early 70's) which used Junipers at Gustard
Wood as his home but only for outside scenes. We also
figured in an Anglia TV program (for which I do not at the
moment remember (but I remember what I had for dinner though!) -
Lesley Ivory was interviewed about her
cat paintings and there were people from Ayot and
elsewhere in the surroundings.
Blue Peter the children's magazine program had an item in the
late 50's early 60's about gamekeeping. They came to
Lamer and accompanied Ted Westbury the
gamekeeper on his rounds, whistling up the pheasants
and pointing out things of interest.
Not quite in the village but at the Crooked Chimney
and around Brockett Hall one scene of a
Morse episode was filmed.
I do not know if anyone can remember any other examples of the
village appearing in the moving pictures or on TV. We have been on the news though fairly often and generally for the wrong reasons! Regards Lynton Cox see www.mrqe.com
|