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  • Short Summary

    Parents buy school at Willesden Green, London.

  • Description

    Willesden Green, London.

    Various shots of school mini bus arriving outside the school in the snow, children get out the bus and enter school - this is a mixed school. Various shots inside school classroom. The headmistress Mrs Summers talks with parents of the school children. After she has finished the parents make a move and get their cheque books out to write checks. BCU. Hand writing out cheque. Various shots of Mr Summers, husband of the headmistress, unfolding a table from the wall and the children come in to sit around it to drink their milk. MS. Children drinking milk from bottles. MS. Work going on in school kitchen. MS. Mrs Summers taking a class. Various shots of the children in the classroom during lesson. Various shots of the school children entering school and hanging up their clothes in hallway. GV. The school which is really a large house that has been converted. MCU. Sign outside school 'St. Helen's School'. Various shots in living room of a house. Mr and Mrs Coleman look at holiday books while their children get on with homework. Various shots of the furniture being moved out of the Coleman house into the school. CU. Goldfish in a bowl. MS. Mr Summers fixing notice board outside school. Various shots of the Colemans having a word with their bank manager about getting a loan to buy the school. Various shots of Colemans leaving the bank. The manager waves goodbye, they have got the loan.

    (Orig.Neg.)

    Date found in the old record - 12/02/1963.

  • Tags

  • Data

    Film ID:
    2663.01
    Media URN:
    79165
    Group:
    Unissued unused
    Archive:
    British Pathé
    Issue Date:
    1963
    Sound:
    Mute
    HD Format:
    Available on request
    Stock:
    Black & White
    Duration:
    00:05:37:00
    Time in/Out:
    01:00:01:00 / 01:05:38:00
    Canister:
    UN 3762 A

Comments (3)

  1. blueeyes says

    I must say seeing this film was a great shock to me as I am now fifty one years older than I was in the film. Seeing myself aged five and a half years old made me feel quite emotional . We wore bright red blazers and caps with grey pullovers and Mrs Summers was an absolute dragon. I remember my mother spotting her in the local butchers one Saturday and trying to drag me over to say, "hello". After lunch we all had to sit still cross legged on the floor for twenty minutes to let our dinners digest. Also remember the Janet and John books plus chanting out the tables. The school was on both sides of the road, juniors one side, infants the other. If you misbehaved you were sent under escort to see Mrs Summers on the other side of the road. I was always in trouble for chatting to my best friend Lawrence who I am sure wasn't in the film. There was a garden at the back which had a big conker tree. All in all I have a lot of very happy memories which your film brought flooding back. Thank you

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  2. davidesjones says

    I was amazed to see this footage, I was about 10 at the time and was at the back of the classroom looking fazed. I can remember a film crew coming in to film but had no idea I was in shot. Most of my friends were there including the proprietors son and daughter! I can't imagine why they filmed this but glad they did!

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  3. davidesjones says

    I have been doing some research in an attempt to find out what happened to the school as it apparently closed in 1964, but have drawn a blank. Did the venture fail, was it closed by the education authorities or something else? I left to attend secondary education in 1964 so was unaware of what happened. If any one has any more information please update the comments or contact me at davidesjones@icloud.com. I remember that there was a cartoon in one of the national newspapers about the purchase at the time.

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