TREASURED snapshots of Chingford over 50 years will be featured on a BBC 2 programme next week.

The clips from local showreel club Acorn Films are being aired for the first time on national television after production bosses discovered them while trawling the country looking for unearthed home movie archives.

Newsreel producer David Piggott, 70, who has been part of the club since 1956, will be featured on the Great British Home Movie Roadshow on Friday, August 6.

The film buff has been recording events in Chingford since shortly after the Second World War and has seen the group’s production switch from showreels, to VHS tapes to DVDs.

Mr Piggott, 70, from Drysdale Avenue, said: “Since the 60s we have chronicled what was an Essex village to a London suburb. People like to see themselves and their neighbours and about the events they have attended. We are honoured to provide the materials.”

He added: “We filmed every day life. We showed how life had changed, when family shops had closed, when steam trains gave way to electric trains, when dustbins gave way to wheelie bins, how satellite dishes appeared on houses, and royal visits. The Queen came in 2002 to Waltham Forest. We also covered Prince Charles’ visit to the Chingford Old Church five years ago.

“It is unique. There are national companies realising that there is a wealth of film that amatuers have taken. The big companies were concentrating on national and international events, but we have got footage of everyday life.”

Diverse production, who encouraged people to look through their dusty attics, forgotten heirlooms and hand-me-downs for footage, were impressed by Mr Piggott’s collection.

Alan Brown, executive producer for Diverse production, said: “He epitomises what makes home movies different. It’s charting a personal point of view that professional crews would never do. He has done it every year.

“Chingford becomes a metaphor for the whole country. The films have an intimacy of someone who loves it. It has become a social history of Britain and is almost unique. It’s an absolutely charming history shown with a sense of humour, which he has filmed since the mid 50s.

“It’s a taste of the different decades. He has got the telephone exchange with people pulling out the plugs. He even shows celebrities, like Doctor Who when he came to the town in the 1970s.

“The British Film Institute loved it and would love to get their hands on it. It is David’s own take on events in Chingford and he has his own archive in his own home. We are used to seeing clips from YouTube. But these are the early home movies that people forget about.”

The Great British Home Movie Roadshow will be broadcast on Friday, August 6, from 9pm on BBC2.