Clean Air at Handsworth

Three Handsworth households get paid to breathe more easily in this jaunty promo about Sheffield's switch to smokeless fuels.

Sheffield signs up for cleaner air in this perky Coal Board promo about Handsworth's switch-over to smokeless fuel. It's a delightful window into the swirly-patterned world of ordinary 1960s living-rooms. Twenty-first-century home-owners may also be astounded by the generosity of local government grants.

Though this short film was released in 1973, it's actually an extract from a longer 1967 production by the National Coal Board Film Unit, advertising the Board's 'homewarming' scheme. The scheme offered no deposit, low interest loans for the purchase of solid fuel appliances which were compatible with 'homewarm' - a low cost solid fuel that could be burned 'smokelessly'.