This film is part of Free

Cherrie and Jonty’s Eighteenth Birthday Cake

With the candles all blown, it's down to the river and homespun rafts at the ready for the celebrating Steel twins

Home movie 1987 4 mins Silent

From the collection of:

Logo for National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales

Overview

Twins Cherrie and Jonathan Steel are now eleven year older than in the film 'Twins' Seventh Birthday', and here share a cake worthy of the Bake-Off – pink icing for her, blue for him. They celebrate with a splash, enjoying a spot of scouts rafting (with much tipping and upending) at Marlow near their home in Hughenden Valley, with brother Simon and friends. Their mother is behind the camera.

Bombs on the Wirral in 1940 forced the Crawfords to relocate to their holiday home in Llanarmon-yn-Iâl. William H Crawford was a keen amateur filmmaker who portrayed his family and Welsh community with affection, and his daughter, Joan Steel, carried on the filmmaking tradition with portraits of her own family from the 1960s to the 1990s - including twins Cherrie and Jonathan, here seen celebrating their milestone birthday.