Thanks to Heritage Lottery Fund support the Yorkshire Film Archive have been working with Rural Arts and other partners across the region to develop YFA Online - an interactive moving image website that everyone can enjoy, learn from and contribute to.

At YFA Online you can watch hundreds of films reflecting Yorkshire life, landscape and culture from the 1890s to the present day including newsreels, documentaries, promotional films, home movies, animation and much more.

Angela Hall, Director, Rural Arts said:

“Over the past two years the Yorkshire Film Archive and Rural Arts have been working together to reach out to communities across North Yorkshire, to get their help in selecting footage to be included online, ensuring that the films featured are what the people of North Yorkshire want to see. YFA Online is a great way for these rural communities to engage with their moving image heritage.”

From the 16,000 titles of film and video in the vaults of the YFA, selecting which films to include online has been a tough decision, but the reactions and information provided from the public has helped us choose over 6 hours of varied and distinctive films that reflect life in North Yorkshire. They will be freely available from Thursday 25th February at www.yfaonline.com and will add to the existing 21 hours of footage already online.

The new North Yorkshire footage available on the website at the end of February ranges from rare footage of a piano factory in Scarborough in the 1930s to a colourful Morris dancers of the Flagcrackers of Craven in 1999, Second World War footage of training of the Green Howards regiment in Richmond and the 1943 Settle Wings for Victory Week to visit of Pope John Paul II to York in 1982.

Sue Howard, Director, Yorkshire Film Archive said:

“The Yorkshire Film Archive is dedicated to making its collections available to as many people as possible. Available at a click of a mouse, the films to be featured on the website provide a unique snapshot of life in North Yorkshire over the past century. Users of YFA Online can also discover more about each film from the ‘context’ sections which are crammed with fascinating information.”

On YFA Online you can also see footage of fox hunting in the late 1930s, St George’s House - a pioneering housing development for the disabled in Harrogate in 1979 and our regions coastal resorts including idyllic 1950s footage of Fylingdales, Robin Hoods Bay and Ravenscar, a promotional film for Scarborough in 1960 and a documentary of the closing of the railway line from Whitby to Scarborough following the Beeching report in 1966.

From agricultural life in Sherriff Hutton and events at the Great Yorkshire show in 1957 to intimate amateur films from small village communities such as the Church Fenton, Great Ayton, Carleton and the Coxwolds the films reflect the history, the people and the beauty of the North Riding of Yorkshire.

To celebrate the official launch of YFA Online in North Yorkshire and the partnership with Rural Arts a free public screening is being held at the Old Courthouse in Thirsk on Thursday 25th February at 6pm. From Scarborough to Settle, Aysgarth to Harrogate the film show is packed with North Yorkshire highlights from the Yorkshire Film Archive collections - but places are limited so please reserve your seat.

Visitors to Rural Arts in Thirsk can also enjoy ‘Reel Snapshots’ an exhibition that takes just a few of the faces, the people of North Yorkshire featured in the films, to give a unique glimpse of a moment in time, captured on film. The exhibition runs from Thursday 25th February until the end of March 2010.

Graham Relton, Project Manager, YFA Online said:

“There are thousands of characters and stories hidden in the millions of feet of film kept in the vaults of the Yorkshire Film Archive, all part of our county’s rich heritage. Covering over nine decades, the exhibition images are taken directly from the films featured in YFA Online, so come and see the exhibition ‘Reel Snapshots’ in Thirsk then go online to watch the films at www.yfaonline.com, find out more about them and add your own information and images”

As part of the launch activities there will also be a workshop for teachers at 4pm at the Old Courthouse in Thirsk on Thursday 25th February. The workshop introduces YFA Online Learning: a dynamic cross-curricular moving image resource for education practitioners. If you are a teacher and are interested in attending the workshop or would like to reserve your seat for the launch screening at 6pm please contact Janice McVay at Rural Arts, Tel: 01845 526536 Email: janice@ruralarts.org