Second Clacton-on-Sea Film
Standard 8mm film Colour Mute 1960s 4:22
Summary: The Davis family relaxing at home and on holiday in Clacton-on-Sea. The family play in the park in the evening, and shots of the skyline in Central London reveal how much has changed. Scenes of the family on a caravan holiday offer a revealing insight into British pastimes.
Title number: 19571
LSA ID: LSA/25954
Description: Mrs Davis sits on a deck chair outside their house - in a brick housing estate, on one of the higher floors - wearing a blue sleeveless dress and smoking a cigarette. Mr Davis wears a yellow sweater-vest with a tie and shirt.
We then see children playing around the Woodberry Estate, followed by a shot of the older daughter(?) and her boyfriend. The girl has a high bouffant hairdo, a sleeveless dress with a wide white collar, and a large handbag; the boyfriend wears a suit.
The mother and young daughter then walk through Finsbury Park in the sunshine, towards the camera; the mother wears her blue dress with cat-eye sunglasses. The father sits in the grass, and the mother throws a ball. We then see the mother in a different pink dress lying on a deck chair under an umbrella, wearing the same sunglasses.
Next we see Trafalgar Square and its fountains in the sunshine, busy with traffic. Some older men are seen sticking their heads out of a window, presumably colleagues of Mr Davis who seems to work in a building on Trafalgar Square. A shot of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament follows, then the Cenotaph and Whitehall. Traffic is seen from the bridge on Embankment, as well as the old GLC building by the river. Waterloo Bridge is seen, shot from the Embankment, with St. Paul's Cathedral in the background. We also see Cleopatra's Needle, and tourists on a boat. We see the Edith Cavell statue on Charing Cross Road with the London Coliseum in the background. The two young Davis children eat ice lollies - the boy wears a suit.
Now on holiday in Clacton-on-Sea, the family exits a caravan on a sunny day, the mother in a pale blue cardigan with red handbag and the same sunglasses she wore earlier. The family then sit on the sandy beach; the waves are quite rough near the tide breakers. The daughter builds a sandcastle. The mother is then seen outside the caravan again, relaxing on a deck chair in the sun.
Now on a less sunny day, the family walk through a park then play with a kite in a field - the mother sleeps on a blanket while the father tries to work the kite. They are then seen on the beach again, a row of beach huts in the background - this is most likely Frinton-on-Sea. People are seen walking past a large white house, then we are back in the caravan park. The kids relax on deck chairs with a leopard-print throw draped over them; the father wears a pale blue polo shirt. They are then seen on the beach once again.
Next we see the Garden of Remembrance, in which there are large flower beds and a war memorial (a statue of an angel holding a wreath). On a windy day, the family stand wearing coats on the pier, looking through a telescope. A funfair next to the pier is called Blue Lagoon. Some kids play on the tide breakers. A quick final holiday shot shows the family walking up to a parked coach.
Back in Manor House, the older daughter and her boyfriend (neither of whom were on the holiday) are smartly dressed on the balcony, as though for a wedding. The boyfriend wears a suit and the girl wears a tight bun-shaped updo with a pink short-sleeved dress. The mother wears a patterned green sleeveless dress; the young daughter has flowers in her hair, a blue dress, and carries a doll.
Further information: 16 September 1963
Keywords: Leisure; Holiday; beach; families; River Thames; flower beds; caravan; red buses; sun shades; London taxis; leisure tours; caravan parks; sandcastles; deck chairs; kite flying; canoeing; swimming costumes; Statue of Peace; World War One memorial; 60's bouffant; 60's beehive; flower gardens; 1960s fashions
Locations: United Kingdom; England; London; Manor House; Woodberry Down Estate; Trafalgar Square; Big Ben; Cenotaph; Embankment; Waterloo Bridge; London Coliseum; Essex; Clacton-on-Sea; Frinton-on-Sea
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