And now for something completely different and rather wonderful. The idiom “one man’s junk is another man’s treasure” rings particularly true for the residents of Selby in North Yorkshire after an astonishing discovery. An extraordinary collection of cine film (9.5mm, 8mm and Super 8 film) was saved from where it had been languishing in a skip.
Preserving Local History
Peter Jackson founded Selby Cine and Video Club in 1962. He passed away recently at 96 years of age, and a local house clearer happened upon the sizeable and impressive collection of local footage covering the past fifty years. The prize collection of film includes footage of the Queen and Queen Mother in 1969 and 1976 respectively. The footage of the Queen shows her giving Maundy Money to the people of Selby. There are also some interesting slides, such as one of the 1947 flood.
Mr Jackson’s collection was discovered and donated back to the Selby community to celebrate their history; an exhibition of the film and slides is planned for later on this year.
Another fine example of priceless skip discoveries occurred in 2013, when two Peter Sellers films (including negatives, out-takes and master print) were discovered during a clearance of a former Park Lane Films building. The films were digitally restored and showcased on opening night of the 2014 Southend Film Festival.
In both these cases the preservation of priceless footage was thanks to a professional house clearer such as the ones working at the organisations found here: http://www.ukhouseclearanceassociation.org/.
What Is House Clearance?
House clearing is a service that can be outsourced to a professional who will empty a home, estate or property of all its contents safely and respectfully. While house clearing services are traditionally used when dealing with a deceased person’s estate, the service is also proving popular with homes where OCD and hoarding are an ongoing issue.
Get Involved
Of course, there is nothing stopping you from clearing your own clutter when you need to. A good idea before you begin is to call in the experts and consider using a local Swansea skip hire company .
Hiring your own skip is a no-nonsense, practical solution to most clutter worries, but make sure you double-check you haven’t thrown away priceless local artefacts!
