Brighton Swimming Club: Beach Snapshots part 2

Sun-kissed and glamorous members of Brighton Swimming Club are back on the beach once more - in this vibrant film compendium from Roger Dunford

The film starts with club members going by coach to a water polo match. We join them back on Brighton Beach where they variously swim, sunbathe and cavort in seemingly endless summer sunshine. Night time fireworks are followed by scenes at Brighton's former Lido, where we see swimming, diving and large crowds of spectators. Later we see men, in fancy dress, emerge from the Clubhouse and cavort in the sea while members sunbathe, play records and bury each other in pebbles.

Roger Dunford, a member of Brighton Swimming Club, purchased his first cine-camera in 1943 as a 21st birthday present to himself, soon after he’d joined the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve. While serving in Egypt and Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon, Roger made films about his service life in both countries. Between 1946 and 1954, Roger made a number of films featuring the Brighton Swimming Club, which was founded on the 4th May 1860, and many of those films today form part of the Floating Memories project which is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund along with local partners like Screen Archive South East. For further details go to www.floatingmemories.co.uk