Reg Walker Video Collection

A Legacy For Beverley & East Yorkshire

(Archive ref: DDX1486 . Now available on the Digital Archive)

When I first began assessing the archives for items vulnerable to technological changes e.g. cassettes, discs, tapes etc, one of the first things I encountered was a substantial set of VHS video cassette tapes created by an amateur videographer from Beverley, mostly dating back to the early 1990s. A local Beverley man had travelled the extent of the East Riding of Yorkshire, and some of the towns of North Yorkshire, creating a detailed audiovisual record of the life and history of various places within the region. To illustrate what is meant by ‘detailed; there is an estimated 120 hours of video content in the collection, 27 hours of which are devoted to the villages of East Yorkshire. It would take around 5 days to view the entire collection! It’s an astonishing achievement to have been able to create such an extensive video record of life in our region.

Hodgson’s Tannery in Beverley was the subject of one of Reg’s documentaries about the town’s industry (from ‘The History & Growth of Richard Hodgson & Sons Limited‘, archive ref DDX1486/3/2).

The name of this videographer was Reg Walker; a proud Yorkshireman with a deep affection for his local area and its history. Sadly, here at the East Riding Archives, we know little about the man himself, other than that he may have once worked in the shipyards and been a tradesman for local Beverley industries. His videography was a passion that he seemed to develop in his retirement; touring the region to capture scenes for his documentaries about the many different villages in East Yorkshire, as well as the history of his beloved hometown of Beverley, its industry, events, and well-known landmarks and buildings, all over-dubbed with his own unique inimitable style of narration.

Reg captured East Yorkshire village life on video. This is Burton Fleming circa. 1993 (from ‘Yorkshire Villages part V‘, archive ref DDX1486/5/5)

At the time of recording, chiefly between 1993 and 1995, some of his contemporaries were sceptical about the significance of what was being captured, but I think that Reg saw the long-term potential of what he was creating. He was acutely aware of how places change over time and that much of life in our region is rarely, if ever, captured on screen. While the advent of mobile phones has allowed more widespread capture of video content, back in the early 1990s, when Reg was making most of his videos, he was doing something unique. He knew this, and I believe that is why he decided to deposit his video collection with the Beverley Local Studies Library at the time (now part of East Riding Archives).

A proud Beverlonian, Reg documented the history of Beverley extensively and captured a number of buildings that have since been demolished (from ‘Historic Beverley part II‘, archive ref DDX1486/1/2)

In later years, towards the end of his life, Reg suffered from a neurological condition that affected his cognitive abilities to ever-increasing degrees. However, one thing that never seemed to leave him, was his passion for the video collection he created and, despite being quite ill with the condition, he made repeated visits back to East Riding Archives to check in on the material and ensure it was being cared for and that it was going to be made publicly available; such was his belief in its importance.

Local community champion, Ernie Teal MBE, makes several appearances in Reg’s videos, including in this special documentary, dedicated to him (from ‘ The Life & Times of George Ernest Teal MBE ‘, archive ref DDX1486/6/6)

In my time working in the Archives sector, the memory of Reg’s visits have stayed with me; it reinforced that the archives have a huge responsibility of being custodians of documentary heritage, not only for the people, identity, and memory of a region, but also for the passion and memory of local creators, and I have always been conscious of that with Reg’s material and carried that sense of responsibility for his work with me, and into other archives in our care.

The task of preserving and making available those recordings has not been an easy one. Items that are vulnerable to technological changes means that if the devices required to access them become obsolete over time, then the information stored on these items is at extreme risk of becoming irretrievable, therefore lost. The solution is an ongoing process of migration to the latest digital file formats recommended for preservation and access, to ensure long-term continuity of the material.

Reg made a number of visits to sites of local interest. In this video, Ernie Teal chats to a local farmer at The Northern Shire Horse Centre at Flower Hill Farm, North Newbald (from ‘ Flower Hill Farm, Newbald ‘, archive ref DDX1486/6/5).

It has taken time for the material to be migrated from analogue VHS video cassette to digital format, but now that we have our digital archive repository and public access portal from Preservica, we are finally able to offer comprehensive access to the collection. Reg was not a professional videographer, and VHS may not be the best quality video format, but his work is infused with passion and affection for our region, and I feel that, with the ‘Yorkshire Villages’ documentaries in particular, he has succeeded in capturing the peace, charm, and seclusion of the East Riding as it was 30 years ago. Thanks to him, we now have a wide-ranging video record of everyday East Yorkshire, especially Beverley, in the early 1990s, and it’s a privilege that we’ve finally been able to ensure the public availability of Reg’s legacy. I feel sure that he would have been delighted with this, and I hope that many people will enjoy the results of his work.