London’s Screen Archives enables Londoners see their past come alive on film. Managed by Film London, we are a unique network of historic film collections that cares for, collects and screens heritage film across the city. Together we preserve London’s rich film heritage from feature films to home movies, public information films, newsreels, and records of the capital’s many different industries.
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Home Guard On Manoeuvres And Parade, Enfield
Amateur footage of the home guard on patrol and at ease in the fields outside London, where anti-tank weapons are tested in front of suburban houses.
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Overview
William Chapman, a driver in the Enfield Home Guard, shot this film showing the home guard in camp and training in London suburbs. It has an endearing mix of tea-drinking and gun-firing – with the odd larger explosion thrown in for good measure – showing the comradeship and professionalism of London’s older soldiers as they did their bit in the early stages of the Second World War, when invasion appeared imminent.
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