Berrie and Gladys O'Neill share their memories of raising a family in Belfast during the 1960s with shots of family holidays and days out in the grounds of Stormont. This clip appeared in Series 1, Programme 3 of Super 8 Stories.

Various family scenes in park and in garden. Family relaxing in caravan. Family playing in the grounds of Stormont. Boys dressed as cowboys and pretending to shoot each other.

1960s

Belfast

Berrie O'Neill, BBC NI, Doubleband Films

Berrie O'Neill, BBC NI, Doubleband Films

Narrator - Maire Jones; Camera - Michael Quinn; Sound - Sion Kerr, Gregg Bailey; Music Consultants - Jim Meredith, Ralph McLean; Production Accountant - Anne Hegarty; Production Assistant - Tammy Moore; Graphic - Alan Perry; Dubbing - One Zero Zero; Online Editor - Johnathan Fetherstone; Researcher - Ronan Feely; Archivist - Evan Marshall; Assistant Producer - Jenny Waugh; Executive Producers - Deirdre Devlin, Michael Hewitt; Editors - Greg Darby, Henry Wood; Producer - Diarmuid Lavery; Director - Brian Henry Martin

BBC NI

Standard 8mm, film, colour

No

4min57sec

“I was already using a stills camera to record the progress of the children growing up so the idea of moving sequences in colour appealed greatly to me,” says Berrie O’Neill of his motivation to take up amateur film making. Berrie was working in banking at the time and originally he “bought a cheap cine camera jointly with a friend at first – afterwards I borrowed one from my boss!” Berrie has nostalgic memories of using the projector at home to watch his movies: “The first viewing was always really magical – even with occasional problems with the second hand projector and breaking film!” “At this stage my grown up children and grandchildren enjoy the films,” says Berrie who has recently had some of his films transferred to video so that a new generation of his family can enjoy the scenes he recorded. He looks back on his film making days with great warmth and affection stating, “The real joy for me was organising events so that usage of film was minimal at a time when cash was scarce and then seeing the outcome of my ‘directing’!”