The historic celebrations in Rochdale, Stockport and Manchester were captured by amateur filmmaker Fred Pedley
VE Day in Greater Manchester captured on colour cine film by Fred Pedley. May 1945(Image: Fred Pedley)
Incredible colour footage of Greater Manchester’s VE Day celebrations in May 1945 has been preserved and digitised thanks to the family of a local amateur filmmaker. Born in 1923 on Kenyon Lane, Fred Pedley lived in Middleton all his life.
Fred founded Middleton Sheet Metal in the 1930s, a fabricator that supplied the local aeronautics industry. Today, his grandsons run the company.
However, besides being a successful business owner, he was also a keen amateur filmmaker who documented local life in Middleton and beyond. Due to his contacts in the aeronautical industry, he was one of the few who could source colour film early on and throughout the war.
Fred’s granddaughter, Liz Warrington, spoke to the M.E.N. about her grandad and his hobby. She said Fred filmed family holidays in the Peak District and North Wales, and whatever else took his fancy, from the 1930s through the 1970s.
Fred’s family is now slowly working on digitising Fred’s vast collection of home movies, and they have started uploading them to a dedicated YouTube channel.
Liz said: “It’s been really lovely. A lot of people have been in touch and said they remembered him. He gave them their first job or they remember him from Middleton and they always seem to remember him fondly.”
Adding: “People have been in touch and they say, ‘Oh, you know, I remember going sledging at Alkrington Hall or Tonge Field and I remember those mills the way they looked.'”
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During the war years, it wasn’t as common for people to have access to film cameras. Liz explained how Fred got into filmmaking: “I think his parents were into photography in the early years.
“It became a hobby for people, and he always loved the latest things, the technology. He was very excited by these things, and so he got himself a camera and just filmed as much as he could afford to really.
Fred Pedley on a chairlift in Capri with his camera, 1963(Image: Family of Fred Pedley)
“He was just taking fun films and family films, but now we look back 80… 90 years later and they’re such documents of the time.”
In addition to being interested in making home movies, Fred – known as ‘Grandpop’ by his grandchildren – had the advantage of being well-known and liked in Middleton. This helped him get his subjects to agree to be on camera.
“He was a local character, he was very fun-loving and outgoing,” Liz said.
“He knew everybody. I think you can see from his films, he had absolutely no problem talking to people, saying, ‘Oh, can I film this?’ You know, getting them to do things on camera.”
Fred Pedley with his wife and young family in 1943(Image: Family of Fred Pedley)
Thanks to his hobby, Fred’s family has been able to unearth cine-film of the VE Day celebrations in Greater Manchester. The footage combines personal home video with the bunting-strewn streets of Middleton, Manchester, and Stockport 80 years ago.
Fred’s camera captured candid footage of the smiling faces of friends and strangers, relieved by the news that the war in Europe had finally ended. Children in a garden wave their Union Jacks as fireworks and celebrations go on into the night.
You can see more of Fred’s vintage home movies on YouTube here.