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.
This film is part of Free
Claygate Celebrates the Coronation
Exotic floats and fancy-dress feature in the Surrey village's exuberant celebrations for Queen Elizabeth's Coronation.
From the collection of:
Overview
The 6th of June 1953 sees the Surrey village of Claygate pull out all the stops in its Coronation festivities. There's a parade of decorated floats ranging from the everyday to the bizarrely exotic. There's a reference to Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tike expedition as well as a panto-horse and a fairy. We see a motorcade of period cars with period-costumed passengers pass by, followed by the 'Queen' herself before the final celebratory bonfire and fireworks.