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
Guernsey Again - Trying Our Hand at Farming
Join Lewis Rosenberg and his friends on holiday in Guernsey where they milk cows, feed chickens, lark about on the beach and attempt to surf
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Overview
This unique film from Lewis Rosenberg shows holiday scenes on Guernsey during the late 1930s, starting with the friends helping out on a farm, enjoying their bucolic surroundings, before heading for the beach where they lark about and attempt to surf the waves into the sunset. When the holidays end we see the group board steamers heading back to Portsmouth. The line of Admiralty trawlers in the Portsmouth roads hint at the menacing world situation in the late summer of 1939.
Lewis Rosenberg was born in London in 1906. His parents were working class Polish Jewish immigrants who settled in London’s East End and he was the youngest of six children. He was in his twenties when he bought his first cine camera and, despite a lack of formal training, took it with him when he went on holiday with his friends. Every week they each saved 2 shillings and were thus able to afford annual camping holidays, using home made tents, mostly in Cornwall and Guernsey. The film shows their return from Guernsey around the eve of World War II, with armed escorts ensuring their safe passage into Portsmouth. Guernsey and the other Channel Islands would be occupied by German forces less than a year later.
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