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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Davies Family at the Royal Welsh Show
The Royal Welsh Show hits Llanelwedd, Builth Wells, for the first time in 1963 and likes it so much it makes the place its permanent home.
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Overview
The children of 'Dolclettwr' farm, Taliesin, Ceredigion, enjoy themselves at the show by testing out the suspension of brand new tractor seats – good fun in pre-bouncy castle days. Their mother, Gwen Davies [Mary Gwendoline Jane Davies, nee Griffiths], films the children at home on the farm too, Kathryn in Welsh costume, Rowland with a cat under each arm. Prize bulls, horses, a sow with piglets and the newly-created Nant-y-moch dam/reservoir also feature.
The Royal Welsh Show, inaugurated in 1904, was initially held at a different location in Wales each year, as the National Eisteddfod still is. However, from 1963 onwards, it found a permanent home in Llanelwedd and attendance has increased every year from 42,000 in 1963, reaching a peak at over 241,000 in 2012. Mrs Davies, who recorded this footage, fortunately passed all her original film material on to The National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales before a fire damaged 'Dolclettwr', and destroyed her video copies of the films, in 1996.
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