FILM AT SURREY HISTORY CENTRE

This material is held atSurrey History Centre

Scope and Content

The contents of the collection comprise:

F/1 Hersham Makes Merry, 1935 (13 mins)

F/2 Molesey Regatta, 1921 (3 mins)

F/3 Declaration of the Poll and Election at Chertsey Town Hall, 1931 (2 mins)

F/4 The Manufacturing of Vulcanised Fibre, [Shalford], c.1930s
(8 mins)

F/5 Ploughing Match, Chertsey, 1922 (1 min)

F/6 Emberton Family Life, [Chobham], late 1930s (15 mins)

F/7 Old Surrey Water Mills, 1962-1963 (36 mins)

F/8 Reed's School for Boys, [Cobham] / Reed's School for Girls, [Dogmersfield, nr Basingstoke, Hants], c.1948-1954 (18 mins)

F/9 Reigate Borough Carnivals, 1926 and 1927 (20 mins)

F/10 A Year at Claygate [School], c.1966 (20 mins)

F/11 The Dennis Factory and their Products/Fire Engine Tour, [Guildford and Haslemere], c.1968 (29 mins)

F/12 Emergency Fire Fighting appliances, Surrey Fire Service College, Wotton, 1953 ( 7 mins)

F/13 Royal Surrey County Hospital, 'What the Brownies Saw', [Guildford], c.1936 (16 mins)

F/14 Church Parade, [Godalming], c.1913 / Presentation of Ambulance to the Red Cross, [Godalming], 1917 (5 mins)

F/15 Leatherhead Floods, c.1969 (3 mins)

F/16 Leatherhead War Time newsreels, c.1940-1945 (57 mins)

F/17 Fire at a school in Surrey (Royal Grammar School, Guildford), 1961 (2 mins)

F/18 'Maxicuts' [lathes] by Drummond Bros., [Guildford], c.1958-1962 (12 mins)

F/19 Camp School, [Sheephatch, Tilford], c.1950-1951 (12 mins)

F/20 Start a Land Club [Reigate], 1942 (8.5 mins)

F/21 The Southern Railway Servants' Orphanage, [Woking], 1928-c.1952 (59 mins)

F/22 Rees Plant Department, Move to Old Woking, 1963 (15 mins)

F/23 Civilians in Uniform, [Leatherhead and District], c.1946 (24 mins)

F/24 Gowlland Family in War Time, [Croydon, Elstead and West Sussex], 1943-1946 (24 mins)

F/25 Claygate Flower Show, 1952 (10 mins)

F/26 The Staley family in Frensham, 1933 (7 mins)

F/27 Horley Coronation Fete, 1953 (14 mins)

F/28 Nanhurst [London County Council Nursery School, nr Cranleigh], c.1946 (15 mins)

F/29 Rifle Shooting Contest at Bisley, 1928-1934 (5 mins)

F/30 The Pageant of Farnham Castle, 1950 (6 mins)

F/31 Surrey Fire Brigade headquarters building developments, Reigate, c.1953 (5 mins)

F/32 Surrey Pentacross, Oxted, 1966 (18 mins)

F/33 Victim of Progress [The River Wandle], 1962 (12 mins)

F/34 Surrey County Council Garden Party, 1963 (11 mins)

F/35 Fan Court Preparatory School for Boys, [Chertsey], c.1930s (14 mins)

F/36 Fan Court [Chertsey], 1952-1955 (18 mins)

F/37 Claremont School for Girls, [Esher], c.1930s (17 mins)

F/38 Murray House, Ottershaw [Botleys Park Hospital, Chertsey], 1976 (16 mins)

F/39 Alan Wardle of Knaphill, films, 1960s

F/40 Everybody's Business [Fire Service training film], c.1940-1945 (13 mins)

F/41 a) Windmill Press at Kingswood, c.1957 (25 mins)
b) Learning in Slow Motion, The Manor Hospital, Epsom, c.1959 (31 mins)

F/42 Thames Ditton Village fairs, 1963 and 1964

F/43 Walton's March for Victory, 1941 (4 mins)

F/44 Women War Workers in Shackleford, [18 April 1917] (4 mins)

F/45 St Nicholas, Thames Ditton: church events and family films 1940-50s (2hrs 2 mins)

F/46 Walton on the Hill Pageant: 30th anniversary celebrations, 1969-1998 and Pageant, 1999 (54 mins)

F/47 Muller-Rowland family of Horsell, 1920-1930s (1hr 40 mins)

F/48 The opening of the M2 Motorway (Kent) construction and opening ceremony, nd [1960s]

F/49 Surrey films from the Wessex Sound and Film Archive: Farnham Anti-Aircraft Battalion traning, 1940; Basingstoke and Guildford in steam, c.1968; The changing face of Farnham, 1968; English Rose III, 1967; Evans family outing to Frensham, 1940s; Evans family opening of Bourne Hall, Ewell, c.1969

F/50 Surrey Archaeological Society 150th Anniversary exhibition, 2004: compilation video featuring A visit to Bottings Mill, Chilworth, 1990; Alan Paine Knitwear factory, Godalming, 1990; and the manufacture of Vulcanised Fibre, Shalford, c.1930s (see F/4 for full version). (15 mins)

F/51 'In Farm and Field through all the Shire', Surrey History Centre Rural Life exhibition, 2002: compilation video featuring extracts from Church Parade at Godalming, c.1913 (see F/14); Cecil Hepworth films Explosion of a Motor Car, 1900; Alice in Wonderland, 1903; A Day in the Hay-fields, 1904; Clifford Spain extracts Walton, Hersham and Oatlands Cottage Hospital Garden Fete, c.1932; The Capitol's Jubilee Gazette, Hersham Makes Merry, 6 May 1935, (see F/1). (10 mins)

F/52 'Race for the Prize', Surrey in the 1950s: Surrey History Centre exhibition compilation video featuring Festival of Britain, 1951; Coronation Day in Godalming, 1953; Claygate Flower Show, 1952; Claygate Coronation Celebrations, 1953; Surrey Fire Brigade Display at Reigate, 1955; Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment; TA Centenary Year, 1959. (20 mins)

F/53 'Surrey on Film: Moving images of the county in the C20th', promotional SASE compilation video with titles and sound, featuring Cecil Hepworth extracts Explosion of a Motor Car, 1900, Alice in Wonderland, 1903, A Day in the Hay-Fields, 1904; Hersham Makes Merry, Walton on Thames, 1935; Hersham and Oatlands Cottage Hospital Garden Fete, c.1932; and Church Parade, Godalming, 1911. (10 mins, repeating)

F/54 SASE compilation video (mute) featuring Cecil Hepworth film extracts How it feels to be run over, 1900 and A Day in the Hay-Fields, 1904; Robert Paul's Epsom Derby, c.1898; Church Parade, Godalming, 1911 and Presentation of a Red Cross Ambulance, 1917; Hersham and Oatlands Cottage Hospital Garden Fete, c.1932; What the Brownies Saw, c.1936; Clifford Spain extracts from Fire Brigade competition demonstration at Walton Recreation Ground, 1932, Hersham Makes Merry, Walton on Thames, 1935 and Coronation Gazette,Weybridge, 1935; Leatherhead Newsreels, 1940s; Mat Day celebrations at ?Claygate School, 1970s. (45 mins)

F/55 'Cinema in Walton on Thames' (produced by SASE and Elmbridge Museum, 1994), featuring extracts from Cecil Hepworth and Clifford Spain films from Elmbridge Museum, the National Film Archive and Telvision Archive, including Hepworth's Explosion of a Motor Car, 1900, Alice in Wonderland, 1903, A Day in the Hay-Fields, 1904, Rescued by Rover, 1905; Spain's Hersham and Oatlands Cottage Hospital Garden Fete, c.1932, Scenes at Walton Inter-Works River Gala, 1934, Jubilee Gazette, 1935 and Hersham Makes Merry, Walton on Thames, 1935 (silent, 30 mins)

F/56 Godalming and Guildford films (used by SASE for Godalming Film Show, 2000), featuring extracts from Church Parade, 1911 (see F/14), Mr Fudger of Godalming Picture Palace newsreels, c.1912, Women War Workers, Shackleford, c.1917 (see F/44), Opening of the Philips Titanic Memorial, Godalming, 1913, Presentation of a Red Cross Ambulance, 1917 (See F/14), Godalming Carnival, 1924, What the Brownies Saw, 1936 (See F/13), Gowlland Family in War Time, 1940s (see F/24), and Start a Land Club [Reigate], 1942 (see F/20) (60 mins)

F/57 Woking Whirl, 1969 and 1970 carnivals (35 mins)

F/58 4 Surrey films compilation:
/1 - Surrey Scenes, 1940-1942 (Box Hill, Esher, Oxshott, Chertsey and Hampton Court); Surrey Scenes, c.1949 (Cuddington, Effingham, Ripley, Weston Green and Heathside).
/2 - Mopping up at Molesey, 1968 Floods
/3 - Demolition of Friary Brewery, Guildford, c.1960-1961; construction of Guildford Cathedral, early 1960s; Guildford Scenes, early 1960s; Guildford floods, 1968
/4 - Clandon Home Guard: Drills and Stand Down, 1944
(85 mins total)

F/59 BBC's 'Blue Peter' handing over Christmas presents and a puppy to Woking Grange [Southern Railway Servants' Orphanage, Woking], c.1965-1966 (9 mins)

F/60 Guildford Cathedral: Archbishop Lays the Foundation Stone, 22 Jul 1936 (3 mins)

F/61 The Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment films:
/1 - Tropical Unit, Khartoum, c.1937 (3 mins)
/2 - 3rd Battallion, regimental events (Devon, Surrey, Sussex and Belgium, The Netherlands), 1958-1961 (45 mins)
/3 - 3rd Battallion Tercentenary Year, Guildford and visit to Belgium, exercises in Devon, 1961 (32 mins)
/4 - 3rd Battallion, memorial visits to Belgium and the Netherlands, camp in Devon, c.1961 (9 mins)
/5 - Presentation of the Colours, Surrey, c.1965 (15 mins)
/6 - Brigade Skills, bombsite exercise, Eastbourne, c.1959 (4 mins)
/7 - 6th Battalion Centenary Parade, annual camp, Surrey, late 1950s-early 1960s (17 mins)
/8 - Presenting the colours, ?Guilford, annual camp ASCD, Eastbourne, c.1964 (17 mins) Total running time: 2hrs 25 mins

F/62 Fraser family films, Surrey and worldwide, 1935-1970s (DVD 1 - 2hrs 13mins, DVD 2 - 2 hrs 56 mins)

F/63 The Stovold family at Lydling and Cross Farms, Shackleford, 1953 (14 mins)

F/64 Long Grove Entertainment: Concerts at Long Grove Hopsital, Epsom, 1986 (39 mins)

F/65 Films of the Surrey Regiments, 1930s-1961, from the Imperial War Museum:
/1 - Landings on Sword Beach, D-Day, [6 June 1944], including Sgt 'Jim' Cresswell of the East Surrey Regiment (9 mins);
/2 - Troops in Burma (scenes on the Irrawaddy River) including -/3 - officers of the East Surrey Regiment, 1942 (10 mins);
Parade of the Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey), in ?Alexandria, Egypt, c.1935 (11 mins);
/4 - Trooping the Colour: 1st Battalion The Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment in Commemoration of the Tercentenary of the regiment, 1661-1961, 1961 (12 mins)

F/66 Rope making at Shere Museum: part of documentary series '21st Century Endangered Arts', featuring 6 films of rural crafts, including: charcoal burning at West Dean; West Sussex Guild of Spinner Weavers and Dyers, Ditchling; renovation of a Hampshire wagon wheel; The Fontridge Printing Press; and icon writing by Benedictine monks at Alton Abbey, 2006 (48 mins)

F/67 Scenes of Horley and Gatwick Airport, 1950s-1960s (3 mins)

F/68 Spurgeons Orphanage, Reigate, London and Kent, nd [1940s] (25 mins)

F/69 Ockenden International refugee films - compilation.

F/70 Arthur Haywood films: Falcon Works, Coulsdon and 1953 Coronation celebrations

F/71 Home Grown Stories: Woking community film (4 mins)

F/72 Royal Earlswood Asylum Film Collection – compilation of hospital scenes (approx. 1hr 20mins; restricted use)

F/73 F H Godfrey Cine productions: Kingston, Molesey and New Malden, c.1940s-1987 (1hr 50mins)

F/74 Pathe newsreel 'Downland Village: Shere', c.1946 (12.5 mins)

F/75 Rowledge is Where We Live, 1958-1959 (25 mins)

F/76 Unveiling of the Blue Plaque in School Road, Rowledge, Farnham, 2012 (30 mins)

F/77 Reigate Carnival, 1976 (12 mins)

F/78 Wingrove family Films, Merland House, Banstead (including wartime Banstead), 1936-1943 (46 mins)

F/79 Blindley Heath Coronation film, 1953 (9 mins)

F/80 Willows School, Morden

F/81 The John Cant Collection

F/82 Drummond Brothers, lathe makers of Guildford, 1960s

F/83 Leatherhead Repertory Theatre, 1969 (26 mins)

F/84 Weybridge Carnivals, 1982-1983

F/85 SASE compilation 'Surrey Jubilees on film'

F/86 SASE compilation 'Big Screen News': Surrey in film newsreels, for Annual Film Show, 2009

F/87 BBC South Today feature Historic Baseball re-enactment at Surrey Sports Park, Guildford, 2011 (2 mins)

F/88 St Anne's Kew 'A Church for All Seasons', record of parish life in 2012 (60 mins)

F/89 Westcott First School, Dorking, 1970s-1980s

F/91 Camberley & District, 1936-1938 and 1938-1939: People, Places and Events, by John King (Surrey Heath Museum). 1hr 43 mins

F/92
Lowfield Heath Windmill, Surrey Industrial History Group films (4), and demolition film (1)

F/93 Voss family films, 1930-1971 (11 mins)

F/94 Films of Oatlands, Weybridge: 1953 Coronation celebrations; 1962 St Mary's, Oatlands Centenary, 1962; 1969 Oatlands Parade '69 (53 mins. 3 films, with notes).

F/95 'They Came to a Village', film made by Banstead Art Group, c.1958 (32 mins)

F/96 The Lord Mayor's Air Raid Distress Fund, Leatherhead, 1941 (42 secs)

F/99 Sporting Film compilation for Surrey Local History Symposium, 2011

F/100 Ridgway and Lawrence family films, Sunbury, Staines and Laleham, 1950s-1980s. 3 DVDs

F/101 British Muslim Soldiers, 2016 - BBC documentary about the restoration of the Muslim Burial Ground, Horsell, as Woking Peace Garden (40 mins)

Administrative / Biographical History

Film, both amateur and professional, is a great but underused source for social history. Being visual and more immediate than most archive sources film can give us a unique sense of time and place, allowing us to almost view events 'first hand'.

Since 1992 Screen Archive South East (SASE, formerly SEFVA, the South East Film and Video Archive) has been rescuing and preserving vulnerable and rare moving images and visitors to Surrey History Centre can view video copies of some of this unique footage of the people of Surrey at work and play.

The films include:

Local events,carnivals and jubilee celebrations, 1911-1980s, including the Molesey Regatta of 1921
Life in rural Surrey, including a ploughing match in Chertsey in 1922 and Surrey watermills in the 1960s
Surrey during the First and Second World Wars and films of the Surrey Regiments
Schools and nurseries around the county, including the Southern Railway Servants' Orphanage, Woking
Surrey at work, 1920s-1960s, with fire engine manufacturers Dennis Brothers, lathe makers Drummond Brothers and Surrey Fire Brigade
Family life around the county, 1920s-1960s
The work of the refugee charity Ockenden International, from the 1950s onwards

Used in conjunction with the other archive and published sources at the Surrey History Centre, the films present a richer view of the county's past.

Extracts of some of the films can be seen online via the Screen Archive South searchable online catalogue (https://screenarchive.brighton.ac.uk/). Screen Archive South East (SASE) is the public sector film archive for the south east region supported by the University of Brighton and local authorities including Surrey County Council. With offices in Brighton and Chichester SASE provides the technical expertise and correct storage environment which film requires for its permanent preservation. Film is transferred to a digital format making it accessible and preserving the original.

Access Information

There are no access restrictions.

Acquisition Information

The material has been accumulated from a variety of sources since 2000, and new items continue to be added to the collection.

Other Finding Aids

An item level description of the archive is available on the Surrey History Centre online catalogue

Subjects

Genre/Form

Geographical Names