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Soldiers Play Cricket near Guildford

Kenneth Lockwood's 1930 film shows men of the Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment enjoying a game of cricket at Stoughton Barracks near Guildford

Amateur film 1935 2 mins Silent

From the collection of:

Logo for Screen Archive South East

Overview

This charming film from 1930 features a regimental cricket match being played at Stoughton Barracks, near Guildford. We begin with a brief glimpse of parading soldiers belonging to the Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment parading at the barracks, followed by scenes showing men, mostly wearing cricket gear, passing in front of the camera. One elegantly dressed man doffs his hat for the camera as a soldier, already wearing pads, takes off his tunic before going onto the pitch.

The maker of this film, Captain Kenneth Lockwood, served with the 6th Battalion, Queen's Royal (West) Surrey Regiment prior to and during the Second World War. After capture by the Germans, he was at first imprisoned at Laufen Castle in Bavaria before being transferred to the notorious Oflag IVC in Eastern Germany - otherwise known as Colditz. Despite many attempts at a 'home-run', prisoner-of-war slang for a successful escape, Lockwood was unable to break free from Colditz until the castle was overrun by United States forces in 1945. After the war, Captain Lockwood became the secretary of the Colditz Association, a post he held for 50 years until his retirement in 2006. He received an MBE in 1990.