HOURS of film of Horsforth stretching back as far as the Victorian era are being uploaded onto YouTube.

The Virtual Heritage Open Days on September 12 and 13 have provided the impetus for the initiative by Horsforth filmmaker, Mark Saville.

Around five hours of film will be uploaded to the Around & About Yorkshire channel.The footage will include a tour of Town Street in 1883 using old photographs and postcards, as well as original 16mm film from the 1930s, with the official opening of Hall Park in 1932. It will also include parades and a Whitsun Sing.

Another, already uploaded, is a film of the Newlay area of Horsforth between the Leeds-Liverpool canal and Calverley Bridge.

An 80 mins film, Horsforth Diary, was filmed over a year in 2005.

“People will probably be surprised to see themselves, friends and neighbours – some of the younger people caught on film will now be in their late teens or early 20s and will have a good laugh,” said Mark.

“You don’t think Horsforth has changed: but it has massively – so many community groups lost (Horsforth Music Festival, Horsforth Flower & Vegetable Show, choirs) and the closure of Park Lane College (latterly Leeds City College) and the Horsforth Training Centre for people with disabilities. It’s all there - people using the facilities, now all gone.

“The most amusing thing is probably a fight breaking out at a Jumble Sale.”

Mark has been filming in the town since 2000 and over the past five years has created more than 170 talks on Yorkshire: “With the lockdown I’ve now had the time to create these into films and now have a worldwide audience, and they are encouraging visitors, both local and overseas, to explore Yorkshire”.

Mark’s in-depth film Guides to Ilkley, Upper Nidderdale, York, the Great Wold Valley, Ribblesdale and the Rosedale area of the North York Moors, amongst dozens of others, are already live.