Gladstone collection 3: Northern Territories, Ghana Part 4 c.1961

Filmmaker: Wilma Gladstone General description In this film, Gladstone and her friend Joyce Trott record a driving tour they made of the northern and eastern regions of Ghana. The footage shows a variety of everyday scenes depicting roof thatching, children learning and playing at school, various markets and children weaving cloth as well as scenes from the Independence Day celebrations in Ghana. Detailed description Ferry crossing the Volta River at Yeji Clip shows trucks driving off a car float ferry with side tug on one side of the river while other vehicles wait to drive onto the ferry. Men and women walk onto the ferry as well, including a young bread-seller balancing a large tray of bread loaves on his head. Scene switches aboard the ferry itself as it crosses the river, closing in on the opposite riverbank. Shots of cars and people waiting on the opposite side. Market at Bawku Various scenes of the bustling outdoor market at Bawku, with particular focus on leatherworkers and shoemakers. Includes shots of large bowls filled with produce, show making, a man working a treadle sewing machine, a woman pounding grain, and a European woman with a camera. Many of the sellers sit under simple straw sunshades or shelters propped up by a pole. Cut to a car driving along a winding mountain road. Schoolchildren dance and read near Tamale Men playing drums under the shade of a tree. A group of dancers line up and dance to the drums for the small crowd of children sat on the floor. Schoolboys in khaki shorts and braces dance and hop about, following the movements of their male teacher. The children appear cheerful and happy and not shy of the camera. The teacher leads the boys in a long conga procession with the teacher pretending to drive a car. The teacher pours out water for them to wash their hands. They sit on the veranda and read for a European woman. Girls are present in the reading class. The school building can be seen in the shot, it is a long stone building, whitewashed with columned veranda. Other facilities: a set of traditional drums, a water pump, printed schoolbooks, a teacher's bicycle. Boys guarding cows near Tamale A boy rides a brown and white cow in a herd grazing in a cultivated field (said to be planted with yams). He is part of a group of young cowherds. A very young boy with a gourd runs to join the group in the field. Village road scenes near Tamale A man rides past with a wide load of straw or thatch tied to the back of his bicycle. Women and children walk towards a village with pots and bundles on their head. Camera pans across a village of round mud-walled houses.