In this digital age of throwaway images, how many captured today on phones and cameras will still be around in decades to come?

How many will become a historical collection of current events and locality?

One group of enthusiasts has done great work in preserving the Island of yesteryear.

By restoring old cine film footage and digitising it, Image Films has archived numerous time-frames from all corners of the Isle of Wight.

Scroll through the images above...

Isle of Wight County Press: The Bandstand at Ryde. Photo: Image Films.

The Bandstand at Ryde. Photo: Image Films

Watch any of their DVDs and long-forgotten memories will be transported back to life.

John Bartlett became involved in this project through his passion for cinema and in particular Jungle Book, which he saw 64 times. His interest went beyond that of the average film fan. He kept a yearly scrapbook of cinema tickets, posters, programmes, newspaper clippings and other ephemera.

Five years later, Jungle Book was released by Disney on Super 8mm cine film. John bought this movie innovation from Nicholsons photographic shop on Ryde Esplanade, together with a film projector. This sparked his life-long obsession with collecting, for posterity, local amateur film-makers’ cine photography.

He teamed up with another film enthusiast to start showing films at the local community theatre. Starting with 16mm film on Monday nights, they hoped to replace the lost cinemas. They persuaded the local authority to buy and install a new £20,000 35mm projector in the theatre to show new releases including, The English Patient, Mrs Brown, Titanic and Batman. Two special screenings of Jungle Book were put on for 800 cub scouts in October 1993.

John’s film watching passion moved on to making films in the 1970s. Image Films was formed by a trio of cine enthusiasts — the name derived from their initials; Ian, Mike And John Enterprises. They made their own Super 8mm films and even tried animation.

Isle of Wight County Press: By Image Films.By Image Films.

Sandown Zoo, 1972. Photo: Image Films.

Shaun Woodnutt, of Nicholsons, offered John a shop assistant job, with a special ‘mission’ to promote the film side of the business. He jumped at the chance. Shaun was stepson of the previous shop owner, Frank Mellanby, a keen amateur movie maker. Mr. Mellanby used 16mm colour film in the 1940s, 50s and 60s to capture a unique record of Island life. Being in the trade, he had access to all the latest cine equipment for making his films.

One of the Isle of Wight Cine Club competitions, for best holiday film, was named after him, ‘The Mellanby Trophy.’ Frank was instrumental in making one of the first tourist films featuring the Island, Sunshine Isle, commissioned by the then IW Publicity Council. It was produced by Frank and two other club members, and narrated by Alvar Lidell.

Mr. Mellanby died in 1973 and his film collection gathered dust for the next 30 years.

In 1985 the Cine Club put on a show of early Isle of Wight film footage to celebrate the club’s 40th anniversary. This became the foundation of an Island Film Archive. The show proved to be an almost embarrassing success. Staged at Newport’s Apollo Theatre it was introduced by the celebrated presenter of archive programmes, John Huntley.

A series of 33 memorable shows followed, entitled, An Evening of Nostalgia, all presented by John Huntley. Staged at the Medina Theatre, Newport, the films included many from the Huntley Archives (largest archive of transport films in the world).

Following the formation of the Isle of Wight Film Archive, John Bartlett remembered the Mellanby collection and asked Shaun Woodnutt if he could view these, with the ambition to restore and preserve this priceless footage. The result of this enterprise can be seen today on Image Films DVDs.

In 1987, the Isle of Wight Film Archive trustees broadened the collection of films that were emerging from various sources. The Island, at that time, did not have a historical film body at all. This had now been rectified and films had to be restored from old, often volatile, 35mm nitrate stock, as well as 9.5mm, 8mm and 16mm film footage.

For the Isle of Wight Film Archive to continue to develop, the revenue from film shows became increasingly essential. Preserving old film is very expensive. In later years, John Huntley was unable to continue his appearances on the Island and sadly, he passed away in 2003.

Isle of Wight County Press:

John Bartlett, John Huntley and Bob Ennis. Photo: Image Films.

The archive has about 100 hours of Island films in the collection. Most of it will eventually be available on DVD. All transfer and studio work, produced with the latest computer technology, is carried out on the Island. All design work, both in the film production and packaging, is done by two enthusiastic trustees, John Bartlett and Bob Ennis. This helps keep costs down and means more money is available for future film preservation.

DVDs can be purchased from their website. Short ‘intro’ footage can be viewed online for free. It gives an overview of content and makes fascinating, nostalgic viewing — trains, boats, planes, rockets, carnivals, market days and so much more, at www.imagefilms.net

If you have any old film footage stored away, get in touch with Image Films. Some of it may be worth preserving for future generations to see, when we’ve all become history.

Like reading stories by Anne Grant? Did you see this one:

Click here to visit our Looking Back section for more stories about the Isle of Wight in bygone days.