The Fete 1970
Standard 8mm film Colour Silent 1970 7:14
Summary: Amateur film of the annual summer fete at the Brandon Estate, Southwark, including bingo, games, races, a white elephant sale and food stalls.
Title number: 1081
LSA ID: LSA/1499
Description: Title card featuring a child's drawing: 'The Fete 1970'.
Shot of a big sign, 'Fun Fair', over an entrance to the estate. Shot of the grounds from a high position (probably taken from the tower block). [00:20] High shot zooms into the bingo area. Closer shots of the woman calling bingo numbers, while the participants sit at table marking their cards. Close-ups and medium shots of the participants.
[00:51] High shot of the white elephant stall and games tables. Closer shots of the women behind the stalls and people looking at the second-hand goods. High shot of the refreshment tent; then closer shots of the people standing the tent and the women inside pouring orange squash.
[01:34] High shot of the games tables. Closer shots of children at the 'Clear the Lines' game; they roll pennies onto a board of numbers divided by lines.
[02:00] At another stand, children throw soft balls to try and knock down stacked tin cans.
[02:45] At the raffle stand a man calls out numbers picked out of a box by someone in the crowd. Two black boys stand together in the crowd; one wins a dart board.
[03:12] Children compete in sack races.
[04:15] At another game of throwing soft balls, a girl wins a goldfish. More shots of the white elephant stall. Back at the stacks of tin cans, an elderly woman knocks over two cans.
[05:20] Shot of two signs: 'Get Your Cocoanut Ice Here, price 6d and 7d each' and 'Top of the Pops for Popcorn, 6d a bag'. Shots of the food tables, particularly one with little packets of what appears to be toffee.
[05:42] At a games table, a boy drops pennies into a bucket of water.
[05:59] A group of girls in matching floral outfits do a circle dance.
[06:40] Children practise for the egg-and-spoon race, then run the race. Same title card from the beginning of the film, but written over with 'The End'.
This film has a mixture of shots, from overviews of the stalls filmed from high up the tower block, to medium-shots of the milling crowds, to close-ups of individuals. The different sections of the film are divided by shots of the milling crowd.
Credits: Richard Morgan (Filmmaker)
Further information: The Brandon Estate was built in 1958 and housed people from Bermondsey whose houses had been demolished in slum clearance. The residents formed several clubs, and the cine club filmed events run by the social club, which met above the library.
Keywords: Housing; Fetes; bingo; games
Locations: United Kingdom; England; London; Southwark
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