Sing out if you starred in this 1950s flashback

IT is a historic snapshot of the pastimes of children from more than 60 years ago.

And now the hunt is on to find some of the stars in a movie that captured life as it was in the Capital at the start of the 1950s.

The Singing Street is being screened this weekend on its 60th anniversary as part of the special live film event, A Kind of Seeing: Memories and Myths, organised as part of this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF).

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The schoolchildren of Norton Park Secondary School had their playground songs and street games captured by local pioneering filmmakers for the 18-minute movie.

Made in 1951 on the streets around Easter Road and Abbeyhill, The Singing Street was co-directed by art teacher Raymond Townsend, artist and former Evening News writer Nigel McIsaac, and Dalry-born science teacher, poet and collector James Ritchie.

The film was originally screened at the then-fledgling Edinburgh International Film Festival in 1952, making this weekend's event a homecoming screening.

And those behind the event have been trying to contact anyone who remembered taking part in the film.

Appeals have been put out on Facebook and Friends Reunited, but organisers said that, while they have had a few responses, they are keen to make more people aware of the screenings.

Raymond Townsend's daughter and James Ritchie's niece will be taking part in a question-and-answer session after the screening alongside Alistair Bell, assistant curator at the Scottish Screen Archive, and Dr Julia Bishop, an esteemed children's folklorist based at the University of Aberdeen.

Dr Bishop is writing the history of this pioneering research into children's songs and games and said: "The Singing Street was the first film documentary about play and is a vivid evocation of the sights and sounds of childhood."

The event, now in its third year at EIFF, was conceived by independent curator Shona Thomson and is a live, guided tour through a selection of archive films rarely seen on the big screen. Anyone interested in being involved in the research can meet Dr Bishop at the event or e-mail her on [email protected]