When Suzanna Hamilton brought me the diary she kept during the filming of Swallows and Amazons we had time to reflect on the seven weeks we spent together in the Lake District during that far off summer of 1973.
‘We were beautifully looked after,’ she said. ‘I mean we were really well cared for. Look – Jane took me fell walking.’ Our diaries record that our local driver Jane McGill also went to endless lengths to make things fun for us – ever with safety afore-thought.
She was right. Jane Grendon, who was Sten’s mother, and Daphne Neville, my mother, were our official chaperones. They worked day and night with very little time to themselves.
Both had left younger children and animals at home in Gloucestershire with their husbands, which can’t have been easy.
Mum later wrote an article for Woman magazine saying that being a chaperone was ‘Fascinating, Fattening and Fun’, but it must have been exhausting. It would have been quite a trial preventing us from getting sunburnt let alone keeping us entertained.
When we had to do anything scary or unpleasant during the filming of Swallows and Amazons, such as walk through scratchy brambles, Claude Whatham would assuage any moans by awarding us ‘Danger Money’. It was a huge encouragement. He gave me £2.00 for being good about diving into the chilly water for the swimming scenes. It was a lot of money back then. My mother would make a careful note of it whilst we were still in costume.
We spent our gains in Ambleside buying presents to take back for the stay-at-homes. I think we might have received a little more after Swallow was nearly mown down by the Windermere Steamer, an incident which had actually been dangerous. I am not sure what Kit and Lesley had been doing to receive £1 each. They may have just got wet and cold sailing.
After all the rushing about in boats, the risks taken clambering from one vessel to another and inevitable dangers that we faced out on the water, it was the boredom involved in filming that proved most dangerous; children’s games that went terribly wrong ~
This was the swing in question, strung from a tree on the shores of Coniston Water opposite Peel Island where a couple were living in a wooden caravan. The white ‘Make-Up’ caravan, that had previously been used as a dressing room for Virginia McKenna, and later Ronald Fraser, is parked beside it. It was there that I was sent to lie down.
It was a shame that the baseball game Molly organised ended so abruptly. We enjoying it and longed to keep playing but she realised that it could so easily have been one of us who ended up with a black-eye.
At one stage we all got into whittling wood. Bod Hedges, the property master, made a number of props on location. Different versions of the Amazons’ bows and arrows were carved from hazel on the banks of Coniston Water. He also made forked uprights for the fireplace and various stakes for the charcoal burners’ scene. Suzanna bought a penknife with her Danger Money and became quite a keen carver until the knife slipped. Jean treated the cut finger with such a massive bandage that Claude put a firm stop to any future whittling. It had been the one thing that kept us quiet. We were active children yet not allowed to climb trees or get wet. Instead Lesley Bennet plucked away at a tapestry and I painted pictures.
Possibly the biggest danger was getting too fond of the primary objective – catching the bug that is film-making. Richard and Claude still had a few vital scenes to record and yet the weather forecast was bleak.
You can read more in ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons’ available in different versions that can be for sale online here
Sophie Neville 
I love this. Thank you for sharing it.
It is quite fun looking back on what we did exactly 45 years ago. Are you able to come to a screening of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ in Cumbria later this month? It will be shown on the big screen at the Alhambra Cinema in Keswick at 2.00pm on Saturday 28th July. We will have Swallow, the original dinghy that starred in the film down by the Lakeside.
It is an Arriflex 35 IIc movie camera for 35 mm film format, not 16 mm.
Thank you! I’ll edit the caption. We usually used a 35mm Panavision camera. The Arriflex was used when two cameras were needed eg: the swimming scenes and once when on a cable.
I love all these stories, particularly about the swing and the ball game. With all these antics going on Claude Whatham must have been tearing his hair out a lot of the time!
Working with a cast of children can’t have been easy but at least none of us were drunk.
I’m sure one member of the cast with a tendency towards inebriation is quite enough for any film director!
Exhausting.
Er, yes, as I had mentioned in a previous post, we had a man who was partial to a drink on one of the films I worked on. Difficult was the word. The director wanted him sacked, the producer kept reminding him that too much was ‘in the can’ to be re-shot, the cost of course, so we were stuck with him. Challenging times.
That and actors having holidays, mid-production, and getting tanned, make up were annoyed! No black eyes thank heavens, that poor girl! No wonder you children were being watched night and day! Truly wonderful memories!
The worse in my career thing was coping with a director who enjoyed his drink. I couldn’t bear it. Our poor production manger had to sit with him in the bar. It was sad, because he was wonderful, experienced director and a charming man. It was amazing his episodes were completed. Have you ever experienced broken limbs during a production?
How awful to know a man has such talent, and to watch it damaged by the demon drink, a tragedy. We had one supporting actor who managed to break an ankle just before his scene was filmed, in Hardy’s Country. It was awkward as the costumes were all made and he was the only speaking part. We changed the scene so that he was sitting down and his plastered ankle hidden under a table. An old Thomas Hardy had to walk into a pub, the lovely Welsh actress Angela Thorn was the unnamed barmaid who had to lean over Mr Hardy with a low cut dress and ask what he would like. The supporting actor, I think his name was Donald (?) then says, ‘Give him a pint Doris!’ To which he replied, ‘A small sherry will suffice.’ The men in the bar all laughed and it was a dissolve to another scene. It was fun and games on the day as we had a real fire that kept spitting hot sparks across the floor and threatening to set light to things!
Ah – here are shot of Tamzin that show her ankles – unbroken: https://sophieneville.net/2014/02/07/the-child-star-once-seen-as-the-little-girl-eating-an-ice-cream-in-swallows-amazons-1974/