1960: SCUNTHORPE is BOOMING | Panorama | Voice of the People | BBC Archive 

That brief moment when war was behind us and a golden future lay ahead. Or so it seemed. In reality it was a swansong for British industry and storm clouds were already gathering.

Scunthorpe men are not real men like us from Preston, we used to eat beetles on two thin slices of bread made out of sawdust and water.

I cannot stop watching videos on this channel, it's such a good decision by the BBC to release them all in this way.

I was born in Scunthorpe, the narrator here sounds like Attenborough discussing an alien species. When I was young I'd never seen a beggar, pawnbrokers were something in old black and white movies, and Mum told me about my Dad standing in soup queues in the 1930's. I thought all that was consigned to history. This is so condescending. I don't recognise the pitch in this film, back then people had decent lives and the town came alive on Thursday, which was pay day for the steelworkers. I worked at Normanby Park Steelworks until closure. The best bunch of blokes I ever worked with; great banter in the clockhouse; guys that had served in the war. The night sky would blossom with crimson light, like a false dawn, from slag being tipped on the banks. It could be seen as far away as Hull and out at sea. The street I grew up on - Holland Avenue - was a community. A lost age; a lost time. There's an agenda here though. Fascinating to see the old town. Robin Witting

1 in 3 houses is a council house. Making life affordable. Thanks Thatcher, you put a stop to any of life being affordable.

I live in Glasgow and I still consider Scunthorpe to be Paradise.

Grew up in the area, the optimism is definitely not there anymore.

I'm from Scunthorpe and this town has gone into the dust the steal works is a rotten past to the sadness this town is now

Does anyone know how much it costs to get a dinghy out of the UK?

This whole newsreel seems like it was made to tempt fate. If so it definitley worked 🙁

People seem so much more measured & considered in their words. People seem so much calmer and balanced in their communication & perspective on life. They talk about people striving for materialism with no intrinsic connection to those around them/sense of community. Don't know what to do with themselves they say of the young folk.

Lived there in the early 70's and remember the mobile grocer shop coming round every week, the huge drums of Riley's crisps dumped on the local wasteground, the Comet pub and the Community Centre in East Common Lane

Wow. This is so perceptive and prescient.

There were plenty of estate pubs in Scunthorpe at the time, and built as part of the estates in late 50s through until 1968.

"Fresh maggots daily".

What a fascinating video

I’m living in Scunthorpe now and hasn’t changed much ..

Wish life was still like this. People spoke alot more educated although they had less. Government is too blame

What a great video, really like these longer ones,

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