Mr Tomas

Mysterious home movie scrapbook of industry and agriculture around Gloucestershire.

A bit of a mystery surrounds this compendium of home movie scenes shot around Gloucestershire: we've no record of who filmed it or why - and who's Mr Tomas? The scrapbook of shots includes many handsome views: there's Gloucester cathedral, Sharpness from the air, and workers at the Lister factory in Dursley. Mixed in is a smattering of rugby, agriculture, burial mounds and historic ruins. Curious!

All the shots in this film were taken with a 35mm (professional standard) film camera - which deepens the mystery. Any home movie-maker choosing to use such high-grade gear in the late-1930s would have been odd, as by then 'small gauge' (8mm, 9.5mm or 16mm) film cameras were much more affordably available.