Royal William Yard, Plymouth

Over the Christmas holidays I went for a nose around the Royal William Yard in Plymouth with my friend Stacey. (I believe she counts as a ‘vintage’ friend having been in my life for 22 years…!) This area of Plymouth had become really run down once the shipyard tradition started to die out. However, in recent years there has been an injection of money into the area, with many of the large old buildings being made into flats & housing, new cafes & restaurants opening up, and the South West Film & Television Archive being housed there.

Stacey is an archivist for SWFTA, and took me for a tour around their very old (and very cold!) building. I have to say that from the outside it looks a little bit ‘asylum chic’, but it’s worth it once you get inside for a nose around! The South West Film and Television Archive (SWFTA) is the regional film archive for the South West of England. It covers an area from the Isles of Scilly in the west to Bournemouth in the east and as far north as Gloucestershire, and includes all the county and unitary authorities in the South West. SWFTA is a charity whose role is to conserve, preserve and provide access to the moving image heritage of this region. Established in 1993, it is one of the largest regional film archives in the UK and holds the Westward Television and TSW (Television South West) independent television collections as well as a significant number of donated film collections, both amateur and professional.

Check out their website here: http://www.swfta.org.uk

Or pop along yourself for a visit!