Astonishing lost archive of Whitby press photographer reveals 'character study' of coastal town in trio of new films

A vanished chronicle of Yorkshire’s history, as seen through the lens of a Whitby press photographer and in his audio recordings, is now brought to life long after his death.

This vast archive, uncovered by John Tindale’s son David and revealed for the first time in three astonishing documentary films, charts a tide of tales in voices from decades ago.

“When they bombarded Whitby, we was saying our prayers,” one interviewee said, of a time when bombs fell in a hail of rain in the First World War.

And against images of a devastating shipwreck in 1914, another voice echoes: “Not many fishermen can swim.... very powerful stuff is water. If you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time, you’re in trouble.”

John Tindale, a founder of the North York Moors Railway and the man credited with bringing HMS Endeavour to Whitby, died in 2001 at the age of 80.

He was a Whitby Gazette photographer who chronicled life in the coastal town from the 1950s, gathering hours of audio recordings of elderly people’s memories and events that shaped its past.

The archive features thousands of images and amateur reels which form the core of films and an exhibition, opening at Whitby Museum this weekend, from York-based Blow Your Trumpet Films.

To Mr Tindale’s son David, who commissioned the trilogy with filmmaker Anne Dodsworth, they are a “character study” of the town’s people.

“He put together a family photo album for Whitby, in a way,” said Mr Tindale. “It really is a portrait of all the people who lived here.

“This record is a mesmerising picture of Yorkshire people and place. My dad was a skilled photographer, a master photographer. You don’t need to know those pictured to imagine their stories.”

Stepping back in time through forgotten tapes

Film maker Anne Dodsworth was “bowled over” when she first heard the archive, going on to recruit actors and a Berlin-based composer to bring it to life with new footage.

Homeschooling under lockdown, she had journeyed into the past in hour after hour of recordings, struck by the insight they offered into a lost way of life.

Tales of bombardment in war, of leaving a penny for a baker’s bun, and of poaching salmon to survive in the post war years.

“The strength of them is that it’s John Tindale in conversation,” she said. “All these stories are told in a way that is just like chatting to a friend.

“When I came to the last of the tapes I was really sad it was ending. I’d never known what would come next, whether it would make me laugh or cry.

“For me, listening to all this, was amazing. To explore the archive, as nobody else has, and to see what nobody has seen.”

Museum launch

The trilogy is launched at Whitby Museum this weekend, with a documentary about the life of John Tindale, and two audio and film archive works of A Whitby Life and You’ll Never Tame the Sea.

‘A Vision of Whitby’, tells John Tindale’s story through reenacted scenes with music by Berlin-based Alasdair Reid. Two other films describe life on land, and of the fishermen on the cruel, cold North Sea, including the sinking of the ship Rohilla in 1914.

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