Scope from scrap

Series

Series Name: Britain Can Make It

Issue

Issue No.

Date Released

1946

Stories in this Issue:

Story

Story No. within this Issue

1 / 3

Summary

COI synopsis: All over Great Britain are dumps containing shelters and other material which used to serve as protection against bombs and V weapons. This material is on sale without permit and costs about £9 a ton. The uses to which it can be put are limitless - chicken coops, garden seats, sheds, garages, incinerators, cow byres are but a few of the useful things which can be constructed.
COI Commentary - I wonder how many of you realise that all over the country there are dumps, containing the shelter and other material, which used to do such a grand job, protecting us against bombs and V. weapons.
The material is on sale without permit, and is about £9 a ton; the only stipulation being that you cart the darned stuff away.
It is just a case of writing to your local authority, who will advise you where you can get what you want. Then you get cracking, and if it’s sheds or gates you’re after, lengths of angle and corrugated iron can be made up, to deal with the situation in fine style.
A few struts and wire netting, and you can make up chicken coops that will last for years, and save chasing round the garden chivvying the hens off your new seedbed. And then with the summer here, it’s quite a thought to see what you can do about a garden seat. What more is this than an assembly of wire mattresses from shelter bunks, slung and set up in a Morrison shelter frame.
Andersons can become useful sheds, and other assemblies of shelter material can give you such things as churn stands for the farmer, who wants to keep the sun off his milk, while waiting collection.
Garages too, and why not - there’s room in this one for the family run-about, and also that horrible smelly motor-bike affair father always barks his shin on when he tries to climb into his car.
Incinerators - yes, here’s another very good use you can put this material to, and get rid of many a doubtful pail of rubbish.
Some of the structures that can be made up, can really be permanent, tough and of lasting use. Perhaps the one who can benefit in a big way from this great opportunity, is the farmer. His requirements are usually rather larger and more spectacular, and so welding is probably necessary in some cases.
But apart form this, to build a sizeable cow byre takes no more than a few willing hands, and a little adaptation. Six-inch water pipes set in concrete; together with cross bearings, support a corrugated roof and sides against the bitterest storm, "and keep the fodder dry".
You’ll probably find most of the stuff you want in the local dumps. There’s pretty well everything here; right down to the homely nut and bolt.

Keywords

Buildings and structures; Agriculture; Salvage

Written sources

The National Archives INF 6 /592
Central Film Library Catalogue 1948, p83.
British Film Institute Databases

COI Reference

MI 360/5

Credits:

Sponsor: Board Of Trade
Producer: Duncan Ross
Production Co.: Films of Fact
Commentator: Geoffrey Sumner
Producer: Jack B. Holmes
Camera: James Hill
Editor: Len Green
Support services: Peter Hennessey

This series is held by:

Film Archive

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Notes: The BFI National Archive also preserves the original nitrate film copies of British Movietone News, British Paramount News, Empire News Bulletin, Gaumont British News, Gaumont Graphic, Gaumont Sound News and Universal News (the World War II years are covered by the Imperial War Museum).
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