British Pathe

Various shots of lawn maintenance at Wimbledon Tennis Courts, London; men pushing lawn mowers; a man riding a roller; a man in a jazzy jumper uses a white line marking machine.

At the factory of Slazenger Ltd in Barnsley, Yorkshire, we see various shots of the processes involved in making tennis...

Various shots of lawn maintenance at Wimbledon Tennis Courts, London; men pushing lawn mowers; a man riding a roller; a man in a jazzy jumper uses a white line marking machine.

At the factory of Slazenger Ltd in Barnsley, Yorkshire, we see various shots of the processes involved in making tennis balls. Rubber pellets are heated to make half of the basic shape (they come out looking a bit like cervical caps), then a moistened chemical pill is put into each half which makes the ball extra bouncy. The sealed halves are checked individually for weight (good shots of a bored woman at work), and then have the two-piece outer coverings glued on by hand; each piece looks like an inner sole or panty-liner. The finished balls are checked for size and squeezed in a special contraption to test compressibility.

Various shots of boys at William Baker Technical School in Hertford as they practise their ball-boy skills; they roll and bounce the balls to each other on a grass tennis court; then try out their skills in a game situation. Reverend Bernard Nixon is seen instructing them on the correct way to grasp the ball and so on. Commentator tells us "Sixty-nine boys from Dr. Barnados homes are picked as ball-boys every year"; their curriculum also includes umpiring, so the boys understand what the game is about.

L/S of Wimbledon with crowds of people milling about in the sun as commentator says "Then what happens? A lot of the ladies forget the tennis and turn the whole thing into a fashion show". Various shots of women in summer dresses and sun hats; three middle-aged women in quite horrendous hats eating strawberries and cream at a table in the sun. Brief L/S of four tennis courts during play; brief L/S and M/S of Christine Truman serving and returning the ball in a game with an unidentified opponent.

Note: print used for transfer is badly scratched; neg is cut. On file are notes on the Slazenger factory footage plus notes and a small booklet about William Baker Technical School. See also cuts on *PM 0195*.