Alexandra Day in Peckham
16mm film Black & White Silent 1913 4:22
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Summary: This film documents a procession of flower-selling women fundraisers as they collect money for London hospitals on Alexandra Rose Day, June 1913. A wonderful time-capsule featuring notable South London locations such as Camberwell Town Hall and Rye Lane.
It is a fragment of a longer film.
Title number: 1057
LSA ID: LSA/1475
Description: Title card (TC): 'ALEXANDRA DAY IN PECKHAM'
The film begins with the mayor leading a procession women and girls down the steps of Camberwell Town Hall. These flower girls are all finely dressed in matching white dresses and sashes, sun-hats and bonnets decorated with flowers. They are carrying baskets of fake flowers to sell in order to raise funds for London hospitals. The group also includes two men dressed in suits, a young boy wearing a sash, and a very young girl, perhaps about 4-years-old, dressed like the older flower girls, with her own tiny basket. The very young girl gives a flower to the mayor, before the procession departs the hall, passing the camera as they go.
(1:24) The procession pours onto the street. We see double-decker buses pass in the background.
(1:51) Cut to a crowd of onlookers on Peckham High Street. Mucking about in front of the camera, several of the flower girls appear to jokingly chase shopkeepers, causing a basket of goods to be thrown up in the air.
(2:01) A group of flower girls and onlookers are outside Peckham Hippodrome. The girls begin a spontaneous dance, laughing and linking arms. In the background, there is a poster for this film 'Alexandra Day in Peckham'.
(2:41) Cut to Rye Lane, a busy street scene. The girls start to walk out into the road to stop men on bicycles, collecting money from them in exchange for a flower.
(4:00) A flower girl sits in a parked carriage and places a flower in the lapel of a man standing on the street while a small crowd watches.
(4:12) Passing through a crowd, the procession of flower girls once again passes the camera, smiling and holding flowers in their hands.
Keywords: health; Charity; Peckham; Street
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