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.
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Birthday parties and pooch bathing
Boys and girls come out to play in Cardiff for Ken Jenkins’ 6th birthday party and his sister Vanda’s 8th but a dog is not having its day!
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Overview
Birthday teas in Cardiff for 6 year old Ken Jenkins and his 8 year old sister Vanda, the tables groaning with party food and candle-topped birthday cakes. With the camera present, the children curb some enthusiasm but nothing can repress 6 year old Ken’s high spirits – after all it is his special day and it is his father behind the camera. Between the two gender-distinct parties is sandwiched footage of a dog having what it might consider a particularly bad hair day!
Chris Jenkins, filming birthday parties thrown for two of his three children, was a stalwart of the Cardiff Amateur Cine Society. He seems to have utilised a black-out blind, left over from the war, to film effectively indoors at Ken’s 6th birthday in 1950. He owned and ran a hair salon - ‘Vanda’s - in Charles Street, Cardiff (by the time Ken joined his father as an apprentice at the age of 14 it had moved to Dumfries Place) and was also a keen amateur artist and astronomer.
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