Screen Archive South East is a public sector moving image archive serving the South East of England. The archive's collections of magic lantern slides, films, videos and associated materials capture the many varied aspects of life, work and creativity from the early days of screen history to the present day and serve as a rich and invaluable historical resource.
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Camping in Guernsey 1932
A group of Jewish friends set sail for Guernsey - where they enjoy the cameraderie of outdoor camping, aerial sight-seeing and great surfing
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Overview
Lewis Rosenberg's splendid 1932 film follows him and his comrades on a trip to Guernsey. Departing by train from London, they arrive at St Peter Port and make their way to a coastal campsite. Lewis enjoys a pleasure flight before we return to the comrades larking about the camp. After a stiff descent down rocky cliffs, the group enjoys some spectacular surfing at Le Jaonnet Bay. The film ends with shots of outdoor cooking and ablutions before the larks resume on the beach.
Lewis Rosenberg was born in London in 1906. His parents were working class Polish Jewish immigrants who settled in London’s East End and he was the youngest of six children. He was in his twenties when he bought his first cine camera and, despite a lack of formal training, took it with him when he went on holiday with his friends. Every week they each saved 2 shillings and were thus able to afford annual camping holidays using home made tents, mostly in Cornwall and Guernsey. They also made their own surf-boards and surfing features in many of Lewis’ films. He also made a waterproof housing for his camera enabling him to capture some unique shots showing the surfer’s point of view.
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