Scottish National Party Conference

From the collection of

National Library of Scotland

Scotland’s national collection of moving image is based at the National Library at Kelvin Hall, Glasgow. The National Library of Scotland collects, preserves and promotes access to films capturing Scotland and her people, from the early days of film making to the present day, with over 48,000 items captured on film, videotape and digitally. Manuscript, printed material and memorabilia relating to the history of filmmaking and the cinema going business in Scotland since 1896 are also part of the collection. You can watch over 3,500 clips and full-length films on the Moving Image Archive catalogue or to explore even more of the collections visit Kelvin Hall.

Scottish National Party Conference

Assembling a Scottish news story: the 1994 Scottish National Party Conference, council tax and Scottish independence. 

A compilation tape featuring news items from Grampian Television in 1994. This selection of material mainly relates to the 1994 Scottish National Party (SNP) Conference in Inverness, alongside items on council tax, Scottish independence and a prison officers dispute. The tape opens with a feature about the launch of Scot FM Radio.

This compilation tape is one of almost 2,000 such tapes preserved at the National Library of Scotland. Grampian Television transferred content from mostly news and arts output onto a single videotape. These tapes record audiovisuals in the form of interior shots, interviews, exterior shots, and occasionally, material from external source such as ITN or advertisers.

For example, a tape can jump from colour bars to a scenic view, from an interview with a prominent figure to a live performance - usually without context or guidance on what you're seeing and when it was recorded (although Grampian did keep detailed logs of timecoded content on each tape with recording (?) dates attached. Due to their age and format, some of these recordings may now have visible video dropout, splashes, tape wrinkles, and visual distortion, among other technical issues.

Tapes digitised for preservation and viewable on BFI Replay are mostly Betacam SP. These compilation tapes provide a rare, informative, and fascinating look at how complete news stories were archived by a regional broadcaster, and they are still likely to contain a little untransmitted material.

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Grampian Television Compilations

Punching above its weight? These snapshots from Scottish channel Grampian Television showcase a 'wee' TV channel with big ideas!

2003, and Grampian Television leaves Queen's Cross Studio, Aberdeen. Over 2,500 film cans and nearly 2,000 videotapes were saved by Scotland's moving image archive as the doors closed. The National Library preserves mostly news, current affairs and documentary recording a Scotland from Shetland to Tayside that was also part of Britain and Europe. Steeped in Scottish culture and tradition, Grampian always looked outwards, embracing the changes of the era. (Indeed, the channel was first known as 'North of Scotland TV' before a swift name change to Grampian TV!) Grampian TV's willingness to invest in and adopt new broadcasting technologies made it an industry pioneer. It was the first ITV station to use 'electronic news gathering' (an advance which enabled the use of portable video equipment to make reports from outside the studios), and the first regional station to have its own outside broadcast unit. Making use of this technology, journalist Selina Scott made the first video report from an oil rig in 1979. It's award-winning news programmes, network documentaries and entertainment shows won Grampian the highest ratings approval of any company in the ITV network. So dinna fash, switch over to GTV and have look at some videos now!

21 videos in this collection

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The Arts, Rehearsal to Performance

  • 1990
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Piper Alpha Public Inquiry

  • 1989
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Interviews with 100 Scottish Personalities

  • Aberdeen
  • 1994
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Timex Industrial Dispute, Dundee

  • 1993
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Scottish National Party Conference

  • Inverness
  • 1994
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Flooding and Snow

  • River Tay
  • 1993
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European Commission

  • Houses of Parliament
  • 1991
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Fishing to Berneray Ferry

  • 1990
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News Reporting from Dounreay to Tony Blair

  • 1994
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Politics to Kylie Minogue

  • 1989
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Skye Bridge Construction and the Hebrides

  • Isle of Skye
  • 1990
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Braer Oil Disaster

  • 1993
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Gordon Highlanders to Agriculture

  • Aberdeen
  • 1994
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Labour and Tory Party Conferences

  • 1993
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Western Isles Council Scandal

  • Stornoway/Steòrnabhagh
  • 1991
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General Election Coverage

  • 1992
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Cormorant Alpha Explosion Inquiry

  • 1992
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Royalty to Rod Stewart

  • Inverness
  • 1995
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Runrig to Robbie Coltrane

  • 1989
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Grampian TV: Castle Robberies to Dundee United 

  • Dundee
  • 1994
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Interviews, Alex Salmond to Jethro Tull

  • 1989
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