The Films of Sam Hanna

Sam Hanna is perhaps most associated with his series of educational films about ‘Old English Crafts’. Sam had trained as a furniture designer and cabinetmaker before becoming a handicraft teacher at Abel Street School. He saw the potential of using film to educate his pupils in the classroom and was soon making films himself that captured the skills of the craftspeople whose work he so respected. Hanna made around 35 of these educational films, from the 1940s right through to the 1980s covering such crafts as coopering, brush making, charcoal burning and clog making.

There are several films in the collection that illustrate or promote local commerce and industry or simply tell us more about working life. ‘New Fields for Industry’ is an upbeat twenty-minute film designed to persuade businesses to locate to the North-East Lancashire Development Area. ‘The Story of Victory-V’ explores the history and workings of the famous Nelson sweet factory. ‘Pendle Sheep Farm’ provides a glimpse of agricultural work and the Knocker-Up is a fascinating record of the infamous human alarm-clock service.

As a teacher at Burnley’s Abel Street School, and later at Burnley Grammar School, Sam Hanna not only brought film into the classroom with inventions such as his ‘daylight screen’, but also made films about school life. Hanna was also involved in shooting films to support local road safety campaigns, and in ‘Street Games We Used To Play’ the children are the stars.

Hanna was minded to film events in his home town and beyond, providing records of important occasions such as whit walks, royal visits, remembrance services and community celebrations.

The Hanna collection features records of cultural life, sport and leisure. In 1957 Sam was at Turf Moor (the home of Burnley FC) to capture unique colour footage of the Manchester United football team, famously known as the ‘Busby Babes’. Other aspects of local life filmed by Hanna include an archaeological dig, a theatre production, the workings of Burnley library service, a celebrity book signing and a circus coming to town.