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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Corpus Christi Processions and Jiving in Cardiff
Featuring religious Corpus Christi processions and Cardiff girls letting off steam with birthday jiving.
From the collection of:
Overview
The annual Corpus Christi procession in Cardiff (May/June) brought together huge numbers of Catholics to celebrate the Eucharist – the wafer or 'host' believed to manifest the body of Christ during the Mass. Crowds of spectators gathered along the route through the city to the castle grounds. It is all too much for one girl who is helped by the St John's Ambulance volunteers. Between processions, Carmel Brenig Jones and friends are seen jiving away on her birthday (August).
William Brenig Jones (1918-78), the film-maker, became Head of Finance at the Welsh Office. He lived with his family – wife Joan Mary (nee Oakey), children Terence and Paul (twins), Carmel and Martin – in a house he had commissioned on King George V Drive in Cardiff, complete with a dark-room as he was a keen photographer. His sons attended the De La Salle School in Cardiff, a preparatory school for boys aged 5-11 (formal wear: white trousers and green jackets and caps trimmed with gold). The twins - and later Martin too - were members of the 28th Cardiff Sea Scouts, a troop founded by the school's head, Brother Alfred (Herbert Guilfoyle) in 1947 for his ex-pupils.
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