The Battle of Billy's Pond 1976

[Brown Cortina]

Children's Film Foundation released in 1977.

This is one my childhood favourites. My dad used to take me and my brother to the Video shop on a Saturday morning to hire a couple of Tapes for the weekend and we found this. There were other CFF films but none that I remember as they weren't a patch on this one. Every time we returned to the Video shop we would hire this out again.



For those who haven't seen the film it's about two boys in the school holidays who discover that their favourite pond has been poisoned and set out to find the culprits. The film is around 53 minutes long and was shot on location in Hertfordshire. I have found a few of the filming locations but I am keen to find more so I'll post some screen shots and see if anyone recognises anything. I've narrowed it down a bit to the Shenley area of Herts but I know I'm in the right place for Location finding !

There's a few 70's Motors in the film and for those who are fans of old Lorries a 1970 Guy Big J Articulated Tanker. Billy rides a 1970's Raleigh Chopper.

Cast:




Billy Bateson, Ben Buckton

Graham (Gobby) McFarlane, Andrew Ashby

Mr. Pugh, Talfryn Thomas

Mrs. Bateson, Ann Beech

Mr. Bateson, Keith James

Tanker driver, Geoffrey Hinsliff

Driver's mate, Derek Ware 

1st policeman, Geoffrey Palmer

2nd policeman, Andy Bradford

Tour guide,  Miriam Margoyles

Sally,  Linda Robson


There used to be a copy of it on YouTube but it's been taken down for some reason.

[Brown Cortina]

I found a 6 minute clip from the start of the film. Anybody remember it ?

[Arthur Pringle]

I vaguely remember seeing CFF films on tv, more recently I've seen some on youtube & the BFI have released several on dvd. I think I saw The Battle Of Billy's Pond. Some others were-
'Terry On The Fence' young school boy falls into bad company
'Black Island' school boys discover 2 crims on the run
'The Glitterball' school boys find an alien in the shape of a ball
'Supersonic Saucer' which features a story & alien that seems to have inspired Spielberg's 'E.T.'
'Mr. Horatio Knibbles' featuring a giant rabbit

There's a yt channel with CFF clips-
www.youtube.com/user/CFandTF/videos

[Brown Cortina]

I vaguely remember black island, I'm almost certain I would have seen it. I have heard of Glitterball as Ben Buckton who plays Billy is in it but I haven't seen that one I don't think.

I'm not sure about the others you mentioned Arthur, I may well have seen them but I just can't remember.

I would love to see them all now.

[D.C. Burtonshaw]

I remember the CFF intro at the start, with all the pigeons flying off from Trafalgar Square. I remember Black Island, which had Michael Elphick as the chief villain. The Glitterball was a good one, featured Brian Murphy in a comic turn (George and Mildred) as a bungling burglar who the glitterballs get the better of!

[Bojan Scores]

I remember Terry on the fence. Children's BBC used to show CFF films on Friday afternoons in the 1980s. I also remember an alien type character on a CFF film, who fed on electricity and stuffed his fingers in plug sockets to feed! :D

[Arthur Pringle]

There are quite a few CFF films on youtube I notice including-
The Glitterball ( 1977 ), Hide And Seek ( 1972 ), A Hitch In Time ( 1978 ), Breakout ( 1983 ), One Hour To Zero ( 1976 ), Sammy's Super T Shirt (1978 ), Pop Pirates ( 1984 ), Egghead's Robot ( 1970 ) & a series of films featuring The Magnificient Six And A Half, a Famous Five type group of kids.
The BFI Player site has some to download as well as a series of dvds with very nice cover artwork, not sure if they come with a booklet but bfi releases usually do.

[Brown Cortina]

Dec 30, 2016 16:54:20 GMT Bojan Scores said:

I remember Terry on the fence. Children's BBC used to show CFF films on Friday afternoons in the 1980s. I also remember an alien type character on a CFF film, who fed on electricity and stuffed his fingers in plug sockets to feed! :D

Yes, I remember the films being shown on a Friday afternoon. A few years after I had originally seen the Battle of Billy's pond I noticed it was being shown on TV, 1988 I think it was. I finished School, In those days School was a fair way from where I lived at the time as we had moved away from the area but stayed at the same school. I rushed back to my Nan's which was closer, Collected a Bike I had there and rode back to my house, I'm guessing a 5 to 6 mile ride to Record it off the TV.  I wanted the film that bad   I still have that recording today.

[Brown Cortina]

I watched one hour to zero on YouTube. Andrew Ashby is in it who plays Gobby in billy's pond. Also I noticed the police Rover p6, HNK 312G was the same car used in billy's pond.

A few Sweeney faces in it too, Denny from The Placer, Maynon and Max Deller from Golden Boy who plays a Villain of course.

[Joe Soda]

Have not seen this but very much like too,looks like a very good transfer from tape to digital,will be looking out for it.