Mushroom Growing (1963)

Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire. Once the stone that built Bath was found in this mine, now it is used for growing mushrooms. Various shots of women wearing miner’s helmets. The women walk in the entrance to the mine carrying buckets, lead by team leader Dolly Laywood. Inside the women pick the mushrooms growing in stacks of crates and place them in baskets. C/U of mushrooms. M/S of cave roof. C/U of candle stick attached to the cave wall. Two female scientists - one is Audrey Pointing - look at mushroom spawn in test tubes. C/U of spawn in a test tube. Various shots of men manufacturing compost from rotting hay. After being processed through a machine, the compost is shovelled into crates. Two boys are shown sprinkling the spawn into the compost. “The spawn boxes go into the caves for a four-week sleep before mushrooms appear“. More shots of the mushrooms being picked. M/S of rows of baskets full of mushrooms. The boxes are loaded onto a truck and driven out of the mine. L/S of