1968 Isle of Sheppey, Kent - Children's Outing Sheerness
Standard 8mm film Colour Silent 1968 8:52
Summary: 1968 amateur film of an outing to Sheerness, Kent, by the residents of the Brandon Estate, Southwark.
Title number: 1086
LSA ID: LSA/1504
Description: The film starts with on screen text: 'B.E.C.C. Presents', before a shot of a flyer which acts as a title card, reading: '1968 Isle of Sheppey, Kent - Children's Outing Sheerness - Dodgems, go-carts, big wheel, big dipper, bingo, etc. New self drive water boats on the boating pool'.
Shot of the entrance to Brandon Estate in the early morning, then of the eight coaches lined up outside. More estate exterior shots. There is a brief amount of double exposed footage of the coaches and some swans. The coaches set off loaded with residents. Interior shots in the coach with people, mostly children, smiling at the camera.
(4:08) We see a horse in a small paddock. Children gather to see and stroke the horse. After that, the coaches stop at a pub, where we see adults and children standing outside and drinking out of paper cups, while some adults are smoking. Several people get back onto the coach while joking around with the camera: a woman pretends to kick a boy onto the bus, before a man runs towards the camera.
(5:38) A black family walks along the seafront in the rain, the woman holding an umbrella while the children eat candy apples. Shots of the sea on a grey day. Children on the rides at the fun fair, including the waltzer, go-carts, a ghost train, the big wheel and a miniature train. A shot of three teenagers leaning in a doorway. They notice the camera, smiling and laughing.
(7:50) Inside what looks like a canvas tent, we see two young boys box in boxing ring. Outside, a puddle shows how hard it is raining. We cut to women in the bingo hall.
Title card: 'The End'.
Credits: director: Richard Morgan
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: Kent; Trip; Outing; Sheerness
Locations: United Kingdom; England; Kent; Sheerness
Related
Comments
The whole character of the seafront was obliterated after a flood (one of many over the decades) necessitated more robust sea defences, so where there were once shelters, kiosks and beach huts is now mainly a high concrete wall.
Oh yes, and then there’s the sunken Liberty Ship a couple of miles offshore, packed with high explosives, but that’s another story…