The Year's Activities 1949
16mm film Colour;Black & White Silent 1949 26:26
Summary: The Year's Activities 1949
Title number: 367
LSA ID: LSA/476
Description: A portrait of the horticultural activity of the Romford Smallholder's Society. Views of the Society's planning committee sat conversing about a table, quickly lead on to the practical task of meeting members' needs with seed allocation for the coming year. A woman weighs out seeds using a mechanical scales and places them in envelopes. A chalk board lists items available for sale at the society shop: seed potatoes, lime, bone meal and manure as well as vegetable and flower seeds, bulbs, pots, compost and peat. Men queue at a counter to receive their orders, while a display promotes available seeds and the shelves are lined with chemical products like 'Boltac' (grease bands for fruit trees). Out on the allotment site off Pretoria Road, members of the Society get to work on their plots. Men dig and hoe amongst the vegetables, and check over their bean crop. A shot shows the formal gardens and hanging baskets in front of Romford Town Hall, introduces a section on the council's Annual Garden Competition. Some of the winning spaces are shown, with visits to the homes and gardens of W. Stowe at 76 Poplar Street, L. Wheeler at 55 Fontayne Avenue, and C. Bradbrook of 415 Havering Road, who is seen being awarded his trophy. The year's growing and processing culminates in the Society's Annual Show held at The King's Head public house on Romford's Market Place. Flowers, floral displays, vegetables, preserves, honey, cakes and biscuits are all beautifully displayed in the hall, before being perused and sampled by the Society's judges and prizes being awarded. The Show and award ceremony are attended by the Mayor and Mayoress, who leave before the charity auction raising funds for the Romford War Memorial Fund (Old Folks Club). The film ends with a title giving thanks to God for the wonderful harvest and shots of the parish church of St Edward the Confessor on Market Place.
Credits: Photography: J.C. Sanders; Producer: J.C. Sanders; Photography: T.H. Nuttall; Producer: T.H. Nuttall; Photography: J.A. Coles; Producer: J.A. Coles
Further information: The Romford Smallholders and Allotments Society Ltd was formed in 1911 and lost its company status in 1935. It survives to this day, celebrating its centenary in 2011. One of the prizes seen at the Annual Show, the large shield was a gift to the society in 1911 from Sir John Bethel, the local Liberal MP , who had assisted in the original purchase of land for the society.
Keywords: Allotments; Gardeners
Locations: United Kingdom; England; London; Havering
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