FOUR members of the Clarke family were extras in Half a Sixpence starring Tommy Steele during filming in Oxford.

We recalled (Memory Lane, October 29) how local people were recruited to be boatered and bustled strollers, lovers on benches and cheering crowds for scenes on the Thames towpath in 1966.

David Clarke, of Hugh Allen Crescent, Marston, described the article as “a real blast from the past”.

He writes: “I was 18 at the time and took three days off work to become one of the extras. It was a great experience.

“I, my sister Anthea, now living in Northern Ireland, my brother Christopher, who died in 1994, my mother Pam, who died in 2007, and at least one of our next-door neighbours, Brenda Knibbs as she was then, cycled to the costume marquees behind Alden’s Farm off Abingdon Road.

“It was a very early start and, if I remember correctly, it was September/October which made all the costumes hanging in the marquees damp. “However, food and drinks were available and once we were dressed, some of us were ferried across the river to the area by the boathouses. At least one extra, my mother, was driven up and down the towpath all day in a vintage car.

“Others were treated to a number of trips on a small steamer. All these little touches can be seen on the film in the background. “We were there three days, from about 6am until 6pm. The screened scenes in the film lasted maybe three or four minutes.

“Some of the rowing to the finishing line, with Tommy Steele catching a crab, and further crowd scenes were filmed in Henley the following week. “My brother can clearly be seen in his striped blazer and boater in the scene where James Villiers is talking to Julia Foster on the bridge close to Christ Church Meadows and the boathouses.

“The edges of the lens were coated with Vaseline to provide the “dream” effect of the scene.

“I can be clearly seen walking towards the camera and back in my plus fours and flat cap as Tommy Steele alights from his car and runs down the towpath to greet Julia Foster. We all remarked how small she was in real life.

“Preparation was the key and we all had to rehearse our scenes before several takes were completed. There was little real action as most of the time was filled with ensuring all details were correct before the cameras rolled. “We got to know a few of the technicians and crew, many of whom had just finished making the film The Battle of Britain, with Richard Todd.

“Everything stopped for lunch as we all had to be ferried back across the river to the food tent for refreshments.”

As we recalled, two years after the filming, some of the extras were invited to a special preview of the film at the ABC cinema in Oxford and presented with photographs showing their contribution to the film.

Mr Clarke tells me: “We never went to the screening of the film, but have a copy on video and also on DVD.

“We were happy with our pay – £3 per day – although rumour had it that those in Henley were paid more because they were within a 50-mile catchment area of the London studios.”