1984: it could’ve been a dystopian nightmare if Orwell had had his way (we’ll just have to see how 2015 turns out) but instead something marvellous happened: the birth of snowboarding in the UK. Well, this is the earliest footage we’ve seen to date of shredding in Ol’ Blighty.

This is the earliest footage we’ve seen to date of shredding in Ol’ Blighty

Shot in the Cheviot Hills that border Scotland and England, these guys were taking their surfboard design skills and, using a Burton ad for their iconic Peformer as a guide, crafted these ply snowboards with aluminium fins and webbed ‘bindings’ and helped kickstart the British scene.

It was all filmed on 16mm, recently re-discovered by Julian Barr and posted to the UK Snowboard History Facebook page last night. Seeing as the Our Kingdom film – presenting the UK scene past, present and future, just received funding yesterday, it seems likely footage like this will find a home on their silver screen.

Got your own footage like this? Send Youtube/Vimeo links to [email protected]

“This snowboarding footage was shot on cine in the Cheviot Hills in 1984. A bunch of Tynemouth surfers who knew how to cold-mould plywood and laminate fibreglass made snowboards, based on the Burton Performer fishtail shape. No bindings or edges – webbing straps and aluminium fins! It was the start of great things!”