In the interest of preserving the unique heritage of the Noss site, Noss Marina, Dartmouth Caring, Dartmouth Museum, filmmaker Chris Watson and Dartmouth Chronicle reporter Phil Scoble worked together to produce a documentary using interviews with men and women who worked there when it thrived as part of Philip and Son.
The film was put together by Chris Watson, partner in Totnes film production company Smith and Watson with more than 25 years experience of documentary filmmaking, with Chronicle reporter Phil Scoble, who brings his local knowledge and passion for documentary to the project. Members of Dartmouth Caring have given their time to pass on their memories of the site and Dartmouth museum has opened its extensive archive of photos and artefacts to help bring the full story of Noss to life.
A shipyard operated for more than 100 years on the Noss site and it is hoped that through the film its importance to the town as a whole over a long period of time will be realised in the wider area.
The film focuses on key themes and moments in the life of the shipyard, its men, women, the boats, yachts and machines they built. It looks at how the life of the yard was affected as it moved through the extremely busy war years and the tragedy of the 1942 bombing raid by German Focke Wulf aircraft in which 20 men and women lost their lives.
The story moves on to the still busy 1950s and the production of the iconic Lightships, the Alexander Tug Company Sun Tugs, the work done for the Sultan of Zanzibar, and the construction of the still current Higher Ferry in 1960.
The story of Noss then moves into the depressing downturn in British Shipbuilding, which coincided with a change in management, but unfortunately no investment from the new leadership. The story continues to the end of the work of the yard in 1999,
The DVD is be available @ £5.00 plus 75p re postage and packing, from Dartmouth Caring (01803835384), Dartmouth Museum (01803832923) and Noss Marina (01803839087). Monies from the sale of the DVD will be donated towards Dartmouth Caring and the Dartmouth Museum.
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