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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Janet, John & Susan present "1943-1947"
A Geoff Charles film showing how “the men of Llanwddyn broke their way out for bread” after a great blizzard hit Britain in January 1947.
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Overview
Photographer Geoff Charles's 3 fancy-dressed children celebrate Victory in Newtown, Powys, at the end of WWII. But, after the war came the weather. The new year of 1947 came in like a lion, throwing blizzard conditions at those who had struggled through the years of conflict, and the snow was followed by severe flooding and storms. Geoff Charles, manager of the Montgomeryshire Express and Radnor Times, took his camera out to record the scenes in Newtown and Llanwddyn.
Geoff Charles (1909-2002) was a journalist and photographer who covered large areas of north and mid Wales during his career as manager or photographer on a number of newspapers including Y Cymro, where his talent combined with that of the editor, John Roberts Williams, provided photo-journalism that was innovative and inspiring. They also made several films together, e.g. Yr Etifeddiaeth/The Heritage (with poet ‘Cynan’ – Albert Evans-Jones – providing a commentary for both the Welsh and English versions), capturing a way of life that was on the cusp of disappearing.
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