On film: Watch this 1960 ship launch from Thompsons yard in Sunderland

Launch day was always a big moment in Sunderland shipyard history.

And here is a rare cine film reminder of one such special occasion in 1960, provided to us by the North East Film Archive.

It shows the final preparations for the launch of the tanker TSS Bursiris at Thompsons yard.

The clip shows workers painting the hull and knocking the keel blocks out using a battering ram, in readiness for the launch.

The long walk before the launch

Workers in overall can be seen taking the long walk down a stairway as they finally disembark the ship.

The one-minute segment is part of a larger cine film which can be viewed on the North East Film Archive website.

Our thanks go to NEFA for yet another wonderful cine reminder of our past.

Its team has painstakingly taken on the task of preserving, cataloguing, and digitising these vital collections of reminders of our past.

Brian Clough on film in Sunderland

NEFA officials have previously shared clips of fun at the Seaburn fairground in 1966 and Brian Clough in one of his last matches for Sunderland before the injury which put paid to his playing career.

NEFA has a huge catalogue of over 70,000 items of original film, video tape, and born-digital material. Its team painstakingly preserves, catalogues, and digitises these vital collections of reminders of our past.

NEFA operates the The Yorkshire Film Archive in York, and the North East Film Archive, in Middlesbrough.

If you have cine film of Sunderland and County Durham in the past, we would love to hear from you. Email [email protected] and tell us more.