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.
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Lefevre's Funeral and Montgomery's Visit
There's a huge turnout to see the victor of El Alamein in this short film which starts with, of all things, a funeral in Canterbury Cemetery!
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Overview
This short film about Field Marshal Montgomery's visit to Canterbury on 20th October 1945, starts the day before with the funeral of the city's Lord Mayor, Charles Lefevre. On Monty's arrival he meets various civic and military dignitaries and inspects a Guard of Honour given by the 2/7th Battalion Royal Warwicks. Crowds of well-wishers line the streets as he passes by.
Sydney Bligh ran a wireless and electronics shop called S.W.Bligh, which was on North Lane in Canterbury. He was an early pioneer of radio, beginning his experiments in 1913 using the call-sign BXA. By the early 1920s Bligh was broadcasting his own shows - before becoming one of the founder members of the British Broadcasting Company. As well as his work as an amateur filmmaker he also was an early pioneer of television and developed some components that improved television reception. Sydney Bligh filmed many of Canterbury's mayors and aldermen going about their official duties on several occasions - in this instance even filming the funeral of Charles Lefevre, who was mayor between 1940 and 1944.
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