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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Early film making at Welsh camp
Men on holiday from work at a Staffordshire firm - and on leave from home – enjoy themselves camping at Penygeulan farm, Llanymawddwy.
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Overview
Richard Ellis Jones of Penygeulan farm, Llanymawddwy, has opened his fields to a group of employees on holiday from the mechanical engineering firm Thompson Brothers [TP] of Bilston, Staffordshire. Amongst them is John W Meredith who has a movie camera. He shoots lovely footage of his host's family and friends shearing and haymaking and also his fellow-campers washing clothes in unique ways, receiving a delivery from the postman, and enacting a little drama.
This first trip was a success and the men returned each summer on August 1st and each year they would create and film a drama, the man credited as Jack Whale (seen in this film not getting post and being pursued by his fellows) being the main, shambolic character each time. They made 'Farmer John' in 1930, 'Jack Reforms' in 1931 and 'We Regret' in 1932, each one more ambitious than the last. Then in 1935, Meredith worked with the local Reverend H E Hughes as director to produce a film entitled 'Gwylliaid Cochion Mawddwy/The Bandits of Mawddwy', which retold a legend from the area of lawlessness and mayhem and involved the whole community.
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