Monte Umbe – The Motion Picture!

[Martin Mobberley]

Thanks entirely to James Fraser I have recently acquired a copy of the video ‘A Line to the Sun’, which was originally a 1973 16mm film made of the infamous Transolar Travel/BAA cruise to the coastal waters off Mauritania, to observe ‘The Eclipse of the Century’. Although a Sky at Night with clips from that trip still survives (see Dave Scanlan’s UK Astronomy youtube channel for that), I had given up hope that I’d ever see the ‘Line to the Sun’ film itself. The quality, sound and vision, leaves much to be desired compared to 2016 HD TV standards, but even so, it is a nostalgic recording of many BAA folk of that era. Apart from (of course!) Patrick, the film has videos of many others who were prominent in the 1970s BAA. These include the voice of Gordon Taylor, plus Howard Miles, Ron Maddison, Henry Hatfield, Bill Granger (!), and quite a few others…..
Due to the less than brilliant combination of BT and Suffolk Broadband cables I have uploaded the film in 4 chunks, all of which are now on Youtube…. Without James Fraser’s generosity this would not have been possible…..

Anyway, for anyone wanting a shot of pure BAA 1970s nostalgia, the first chunk can be found at the link below, and the other 3 parts are the most recently uploaded videos to my channel.

Enjoy!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcc-eB78uxk

Martin

[Jimmy Fraser]

Hi Martin,

Delighted to have helped you share this bit of BAA history with a wider audience.

True, it may lack the benefits of modern technology, but it does have something that money cannot buy – the film is about and was made by people with a warm heart.

James

[Nick James]

Martin/James,

I’ve just watched this all the way through and it was great fun. Thanks very much for posting it. It gives a really good impression of the trip and shows how very different things were back then. It’s also great to see so many old BAA stalwarts at their prime.

Nick.

[Bill Leatherbarrow]

Martin and James,

Congratulations on finding this – and many thanks for half an hour of nostalgia!

Vey best,

Bill

[David Scanlan, FRAS]

Thanks for these uploads Martin

They are a great visual record of Patrick and many notable BAA members of the past

Enjoying them greatly 🙂

Dave

[Author]

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