🎬British Pathé – Auction of the New Forest ponies, where some four hundred are sold mainly as riding ponies for children. After nine hundred years in the forest the breed is still going strong, in spite of traffic hazards in the Forest.

British Movietone News ran in the United Kingdom from 1929 to 1986.

🎬Gaumont British Instructional Film includes wonderful sequences of a Pony Drift 70 years ago. Plus great shots of city life that still embraced horses.

New Forest ponies shown living on the open forest. A young horse named 'Tuppence' dreams of what it's like to be grown up. He imagines all types of roles for a grown up horse.

Working Horses in London merge seamlessly with modern motor cars and lorries, as they pull all types of carriages and carts. Long distance stagecoach work along Britain's arterial road network. Royal duties, conveying kings and queens. Working on the farm, a ploughing team.

Back on the New Forest. A question and answer section to see how observant the viewer has been.

A pony roundup or Drift. A sequence that includes an enthusiastic Border Collie running with it's master. The Narrator describes 'How to catch a pony': "Ride up behind it, grab hold of its tail and give several quick circular turns. With its balance upset, it is thrown to the ground. Dismount from your horse and sit on the ponies head. You can now put a halter on the pony".... SIMPLE.

Some excellent dynamic shots of riders and ponies as they reach and gather in the pound. Commoners using poles and rope loops to select ponies for a health check.

Stabling and horse riding. The final scene is of a family out and about, riding in one of London's great parks.

Gaumont British Instructional Ltd. Production
Released by General Film Distributors
J, Arthur Rank Presentation
Released in 1950

Formed in 1933, Gaumont British Instructional made nearly 400 films for schools and Cinema Clubs to educate and entertain children. Founder, Harry Bruce Woolfe had a passion for 'Visual Education' and with the help of other recruits from the ranks of British Gaumont staff, they worked closely with education establishments to produce a raft of films over the coming years. By 1954, Gaumont British Instructional had been absorbed into the Rank Organization's main body of production.

🎬British Pathé – Great shots of girls of the Women's Land Army collecting in the harvest. Unused / unissued material - location and dates unclear or unknown. Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire. VS of land girls getting in the harvest. They operate tractor drawn reaper over large corn fields probably on Salisbury Plains. The reapers operate in an impressive chain over the large fields. VS of girls taking a well earned rest when the tea van arrives on site. More shots of the reapers working across the field. Short CU of corn waving in breeze. More shots of the tea break. (Neg.) Cataloguer's Note: The Land Girls are part of the WLA - the Women's Land Army - and these are really good shots. Old record suggests date as August 1941 - MD

🎬British Movietone - The April sale of New Forest ponies at Brockenhurst. The half wild ponies are brought in for auction, six times a year, and if taken in hand young, they are docile and easy to break in. GV ponies grazing in New Forest. SV pan pony led out of horse-box. 3 SVs ponies led in from forest, pan ponies led out of horse-box into paddock. GV diesel train towards camera to GV paddock and auction ring. SV horses in paddock. CU sign "Value Added Tax". SCU horses in paddock. LV ponies in pens having numbers stuck on their backs. SV man sticks number on back of pony. SCU 2 ponies. CU number on back pan up to pony's head. SV ponies leaving paddock for auction ring. LV pony No 5 being auctioned in ring. SCU pony trotting round ring. SV auctioneer completes bid. SV girl in crowd. SV pan pony leaves ring, another pony enters. SV buyers watching. LV pony No 18 being auctioned. SCU auctioneer. SCU woman buyers. CU pony in ring. SV pony leaves auction ring. LV horses in paddock as one horse rears up & almost breaks loose. SV pan young boy owner trying horse over jump. CU people watching. SV pan owner riding away on pony.

British Movietone News ran in the United Kingdom from 1929 to 1986.

🎬 Peter Owen-Jones looks at four seasons in the year of the New Forest. Originally screened on BBC Four in January 2019.

‘The New Forest is a timeless place - there are no fences and the animals roam free. I’ve always wondered how the forest and the commoning way of life have survived in the middle of southern England for so long. It’s been an incredible experience finding out.’ - Peter Owen-Jones.

Over the year, with its dramatic seasonal changes, Owen-Jones ventures out into the forest and immerses himself in the lives of the Commoners, a group of around 700 people who have retained grazing rights for their animals, which date back to medieval times. From the first foals born in spring to the release of the stallions and the annual herding of the ponies, he discovers a hardy people who, despite the urban development around them, and the pressures on the landscape of 13 million visitors a year, retain a deep love of the land and a determination to see their way of life survive.

Presented by Peter Owen-Jones
Photography Paul Williams
Additional Photography Max Williams
Natural History Photography Aaron Cook
Produced by Mark Woodward
Executive Producer (Big Wave) Sarah Cunliffe
Executive Producers (BBC) Mandy Chang & Jo Lapping
Directed and Edited by Nick Stringer

A Big Wave production for BBC (2018)

🎬Jack Hargreaves and Stan Bréhaut came over to the New Forest on 26th December 1979 to follow the annual Point To Point race across the Forest. The meeting place for the race was near the High Corner Inn and the finish a few miles away at Stoney Cross. Stan visited the New Forest earlier in the year to film the opening shots.

This sequence has been restored and upscaled for NFG Media Archive, so can now be viewed in high definition for the first time.

The surviving Out Of Town episodes can be purchased on DVD and Blu-Ray from:
https://new.networkonair.com/further-.... The recently discovered 'Lost Episodes' are also now available to buy.

Our thanks to Gudrun Fowler and Mike Womersley at Northam TV Centre for their help and advice.