National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales preserves and celebrates the sound and moving image heritage of Wales, making it accessible to a wide range of users for enjoyment and learning. Its film collection reflects every aspect of the nation’s social, cultural and working life across the 20th century, giving a fascinating insight into Welsh filmmaking, both amateur and professional.
This film is part of Free
Llandrindod Wells Carnival
The inhabitants of Llandrindod go all out to make carnival day special, despite war-time privation. They muster floats, majorettes, a sparkling dragon and a walking blackout.
From the collection of:
Overview
Footage of a war-time carnival, to be shown in the cameraman’s Pola Cinema in Welshpool. A ‘Complete Unit’ float carries an 'Air Raid Steel Shelter', a 'Search Lite', a 'Baloon Barace' and a 'Listening Post'. Another presents ‘Hitler’s B&B’. A man walks along dressed as ‘A Black Out’. Those oppressed by their life and times are advised to 'Drown all your Worries in Carnival Spirit', as inscribed on a sign attached to a horse and cart led by two people dressed as gypsies.
Other topical turn-outs include a float bearing a group of bowler-hatted English men and appropriately dressed fascist leaders with attached verse: 'Hitler, Mussolini, joined by a little Jap/Decided to play see-saw all over the map/Badly they started alas not on the level/Into the breach stepped Daladier, Beck & Neville/To outweigh the others they have tried in vain/Now its up to Stalin to relieve the strain'. Two men - one wearing a gas mask, the other a tin helmet – push a bicycle along advertising 'National Service’ as ‘Insurance for Peace’.
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