BBC Scotland are making a documentary for the Forth Road Bridge’s 50th anniversary – using an amateur filmmaker’s unique personal footage.

Jim Hendry, now 88, spent six years making regular visits to the construction site, capturing every stage of the building work.

He was a farm inspector when work began in 1958 and documented the rise of the bridge from West Fife fields with a state-of-the-art camera.

The BBC Scotland programme is being made in conjunction with independent production company TVI Vision Ltd – and anyone with a “bridge-related tale” is asked to get in touch.

Filming takes place this month and next month and a spokeswoman said, “The team at TVI Vision has made extensive contact with engineers who worked on the bridge from 1958-1964 but is still keen to hear from more workers and local people who have memories of the bridge’s construction and how it impacted their lives and the wider community.

“They would particularly like to hear from any steel erectors or labourers who worked on the bridge as well as from any women who may have a story to tell about the bridge’s construction and their memories of it.

“Whether they lived in a house which was demolished to make way for the bridge, used the ferry daily, or simply remember the long queues of cars on the opening weekend, people with a bridge-related tale to tell are urged to get in touch.” The 50th anniversary falls on 4th September this year and Jim’s images will feature in the documentary, due to be broadcast in August.

He captured the building work with a state-of-the-art 16mm Bolex camera although, apart from films of his young family, he had very little experience of using it. Jim stayed in Edinburgh at the time and worked as a farm inspector with the Department of Agriculture, travelling to farms on both sides of the Forth.

Most of his filming took place on days off from his regular job, but he admits to nipping off after a farm visit once in a while to scale the bridge with his camera, which was always in the boot of his car.

His film includes the final ploughing of the farmland on the banks of the Forth, the excavation of the Firth itself and the years of cable spinning involved in creating the elaborate structure that would become the iconic landmark it is today.

When it was completed in 1964, the Forth Road Bridge was the only one of its kind anywhere in Europe.

In spite of extensive bridge-building experience, local engineers had no experience of suspension technology on such a grand scale.

The bridge was set to be the longest span of suspended road anywhere in Europe.

To get in touch with the TV production team, email forthroadbridgedoc@gmail.com or call 07501 135537.