Lincolnshire museum preserves analogue TV technology and techniques

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BBC cameraImage source, Jake Zuckerman / BBC
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The collection includes a BBC camera used at the Queen's Coronation in 1953

A Lincolnshire village is home to one of the world's largest collections of vintage TV and film equipment.

Enthusiasts at the Broadcast Engineering Conservation Group, external are working to save historical cameras and outside broadcast vehicles.

A collection of 100s of items are housed in a building at the former RAF Hemswell, external base near Gainsborough.

The charity's equipment has been used in period dramas, such as Netflix series The Crown.

Dr Paul Marshall, chair of the organisation, said the museum aims to preserve the analogue technology and its production techniques.

"The skills are dying out," he said

"One of the things that we're keen to do here is impart this knowledge to the next generation."

The museum relies on volunteers and donations to keep going.

Restoration projects include a number of outside broadcast vans used by the BBC, external and ITV.

Image source, Jake Zuckerman / BBC
Image caption,

Museum chair Dr Paul Marshall said they want to educate on analogue tech

One of the star items in the collection is a TV camera used to broadcast the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.

After spending around 25 years in a rubbish tip, it has been cosmetically restored. "It's been seen in many [film and TV] productions," Dr Marshall said.

"One of them was in the Crown where it played itself, as it were: one of the cameras in their recreation of the coronation."

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