FORMER pupils of Newby First School in Bradford may recall the days when they had lessons in the cramped corridors of a sports centre and were marched half a mile down the road for lunch.

The school, which found itself 'homeless' when its Victorian building was beyond repair, was highlighted on current affairs programme Nationwide in January 7, 1982. The footage is included in a series of films released from BBC archives.

The broadcaster has opened up its collection of quirky news footage, much of it shot locally over several decades, and some of the films are being shown on the Telegraph & Argus website.

When Newby First School in West Bowling had to make do with cramped conditions and limited budgets, assembly was held in a Bradford sports centre and, said the Nationwide presenter, there was "no hall, no staff room and nowhere to play". The piano had to be pushed in and out of the building for music, and lessons took place in corridors. There was no dining room, so children were marched to another school for lunch, with teachers "guiding the human crocodile across busy roads".

With money for basic equipment also short, pupils had to write their names on pencils and cover maths books in Cellophane, so they could write in crayon then rub it out after lessons so the books could be used again.

In another film, architectural critic Ian Nairn takes a tour of Saltaire while on a trans-Pennine canal journey from Manchester to Leeds. The footage was part of Nairn Across Britain, first broadcast on September 21, 1972.

"It's not quite the first of the new towns of 19th century England, but it's certainly the most ambitious," says Nairn, wandering through the village. The most impressive building, he says, is the Congregational Church and "straight opposite is the entrance to the mill - so God and man are staring each other in the face".

He concludes that, despite its lack of pubs, the village is "paradise" compared with "monolythic tenements going up in the name of philanthropy in London at the same time".

West Yorkshire eccentric John Grey, alias Jake Mangel Wurzel, is featured in another film, as cameras follow his endeavours to try and cheer up the people of Huddersfield - "bringing hilarity and mirth to a place better known for its choruses of the Messiah than its choruses of helpless laughter". First broadcast on Nationwide on April 18, 1980, the film shows Jake at home in his Wurzel Land cottage, and reveals why he turned up for a court appearance wearing a nappy...

Whitby's Dracula connection is explored in another Nationwide report, broadcast on May 19, 1977. On the 80th anniversary of the publication of Bram Stoker's novel, members of the British Dracula Society arrive in Whitby by coach and talk about what the seaside town means to them.

Other films recently released from the BBC archive include Margaret Drabble exploring Haworth's Bronte Parsonage to see how the siblings spent their childhood, three Bradford inventors revealing their 'hot air bed', the City Hall bells playing TV theme tunes in the 1960s and youngsters in a Bradford family sharing their experience of growing up Muslim in Bradford in 1990.

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