THE region’s film archives have joined forces to bring history alive on a daily basis.

The North-East and Yorkshire Film Archives are among six taking part in a ground-breaking scheme to share historical clips captured on celluloid by amateur cameramen.

Their on-line calendar of magical moments from the past features a weekly 60-second film from each of the regions taking part and a daily film across the regions as a whole.

This week the North-East calendar is celebrating the party atmosphere of the Coronation, 60 years on from the event itself, with colour footage of Gateshead streets in 1953, dressed in Union flags and bunting.

The archive calendar is supported by the National Lottery through the British Film Institute, and is free to incorporate into any website – and more are now being encouraged to do just that..

Together, the regional archives contain millions of feet of film, providing a social history of life in the UK over the last 100 years and the project manager for the national project is Graham Relton, the archive manager of both the North-East and Yorkshire Film Archives.

“Regional film archives have a remit to find, preserve and show moving image,” he said.

“This week, the calendar will be focusing on the street parties and celebrations that took place to mark the Coronation sixty years ago. Next week it’ll be something different.

“This way, we hope it will encourage people to keep coming back to discover something new about the country’s screen heritage, with archive clips that remind us of the past and link us to the present.”

He added: “Thanks to the launch of this web application, everyone can enjoy glimpses of what was happening across England throughout the twentieth century.

“Whether it’s local footage of national celebrations, or events and festivals specific to a particular region, this has brought them all together to be shared and enjoyed.”

Sue Todd of the BFI, said: “The Archive Weekly is a wonderful juxtaposition of 21st century technology with historic events from the country’s past and brings this wonderful material from the regions to wider audiences.”

To visit click on nationalarchiveweekly.co.uk. To host the North East Calendar or Yorkshire Calendar on a website for free, email a request to nefa@tees.ac.uk or yfa@yorksj.ac.uk