YORK’S place in the history of insurance business NFU Mutual was further cemented with the business’s expansion into new offices last month.

Its past was also uncovered when the mutual rediscovered a number of old films, produced in the 1930s by its own film production unit, in the loft of a house in York.

The works, thought to have been lost forever, have been restored by the North West Film Archive just in time to celebrate the organisation’s 100th year.

The films, which include a combination of documentaries and dramas, were made by Sydney Carter, an old employee of NFU Mutual. Carter persuaded the insurer’s board of directors to invest in state of the art black and white cameras and a projector, screen and generator to show the films to the rural communities served by the business.

Screenings were held at meetings of the National Farmers Union, agricultural shows and other rural gatherings. The film unit ran from 1932 until the outbreak of the Second World War, when blackout regulations and petrol rationing curtailed its activities.

The video depicting the visit of a general manager to the York branch office of NFU Mutual, with scenic shots of York in the 1930s, is available to view at yorkpress.co.uk/business NFU Mutual was founded in 1910 in a tea shop in Stratford-upon-Avon by seven local farmers to provide insurance for fellow farmers. Over the past 100 years, York has held a key position in the company’s history because of its rural location.

The York branch was established in 1922, when branch manager Ernest Baines moved house and the organisation’s Nottingham branch to Hull Road. In 1926, it moved to restored Tudor house, Herbert House, in Pavement, which is now owned by York Conservation Trust.

The business outgrew the office and moved to No1 Pavement in 1936, where it stayed until 1964 when it moved to its most recent premises on St Saviourgate. In 1980, the York branch became the office for the whole of the North East region and now employs 180 staff.

Now based at Clifton Park, the office supports 24 Yorkshire branches, including two in York and 18 in North and East Yorkshire.

The York office is also the headquarters for the mutual’s equine claims unit of horse experts, which takes about 400 calls a day.

Group chief executive Lindsay Sinclair said: “Over the next 100 years we will continue to grow and adapt to the changing needs of our members, however, we will do so with our roots firmly embedded in the principles of our founding fathers.”