Canvey Island - 20th Wedding Anniversary
Standard 8mm film Colour Mute 1960s 4:18
Summary: A fascinating insight into the life of a working class family from Manor House, North London in the sixties. School sports days, a holiday in Canvey Island, and intimate scenes of domestic life offer a unique portrait of the Davis family.
Title number: 19572
LSA ID: LSA/25955
Description: Opening shot is of a large field on a grey day with a few scattered houses in the background - the camera follows a man as he runs to the left. Closer-up, we see he is wearing a red-and-white vest and red shorts. We then see other people running and a running track.
A high-angle shot follows, taken from the balcony where the Davis family lived on the Woodberry Down Estate in Manor House. Various shots show children playing and pedestrians walking around on a sunny day. Two girls, one of them the blonde Davis daughter, look over the balcony; we then see Mr Davis looking into the camera. We then see two boys in their early 20's, one of whom appears in the other Davis family films with his blonde girlfriend. This boyfriend is then seen with the girl in the garden areas around the estate, walking hand-in-hand with her in the sunshine. She is very fashionably dressed in a sleeveless navy-blue dress with a large white collar, white pumps, gloves and handbag, sunglasses, and a typically early 1960's flicked hairdo. Back on the balcony, a young-ish couple hold their two very young children (possibly a neighboring family, or friends?) with the Davis daughter next to them.
We then see a statue in a park surrounded by flowers, followed by a shot of an unidentified London street, then St. Martin-in-the-Fields church in Trafalgar Square; red London buses drive past, one of which carries a large advertisement for Heinz. Next, we see a busy market street (possibly Berwick Street in Soho?); a black man walks towards the camera, followed by a mother and child with ice cream, then a blonde woman. The next shot shows a busy London street that appears to be part of the city, possibly the Strand.
The family now sit on deck chairs outside a blue caravan on a sunny but windy, in the caravan park on Canvey Island, Essex. We then see them on a stony beach as a very large ship moves by in the distance. On another rocky beach, a large number of children play in and around the water. Various shots then follow of the family walking around the caravan park and nearby fields - we also see a large mock-Tudor house. The parents hold hands in the sunshine and a plane flies overhead. Back on the beach, a bot runs down the pier caked in mud. The family then enjoy tea inside the caravan.
Next we see the modernist St Nicholas Church, with a peaked roof and geometric triangular-patterned window, built in 1960; the mother and daughter walk past in the foreground. They then pass the Catholic Church of Ourr Lady of Canvey and the English Martyrs, more traditionally shaped with a turreted spire, built in the 1930's. We then see some odd-shaped houses with turreted roofs, followed by a large blue building, then a small thatched cottage. The father is seen on the beach, and then the daughter rides a miniature car around a track, then a miniature plane on a carousel. Back at the beach, children play in the water and in the mud. Outside the caravan once more, the daughter waves to the camera.
Further information: 17 June 1963
Keywords: Sports; Church; Swimming; Holiday; beach; caravan; red buses; London taxis; running; fast sprint; ladies fashions; men's fashions; 60's haircut; ocean liner; children's pond; caravan park; mock-tudor house; fairground rides
Locations: United Kingdom; England; London; Manor House; Trafalgar Square; Essex; Canvey Island
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