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Mansion House, Newport

The notables of Newport know how to party! Men of the cloth live carouse with the best of them at the Mayor's summer bash

Home movie 1952 6 mins Silent

From the collection of:

Logo for National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales

Overview

The Mayor of Newport's residence becomes a house of fun when esteemed summer party guests, male and female, throw themselves into garden games. Competitive spirit kicks in over croquet, darts, a game of poking poles through fencing and hooking beer bottles, and a Bishop-versus-Minister game of tray skittles with a swing-ball. The drinks table possibly explains the have-a-go spirit in evidence!

The Mansion House at Newport, south Wales was built in the 1890s and became the official residence of the Mayor of Newport until 2009. It also offered hospitality and accommodation to official visitors to the city from overseas, and for a period was used as visiting judges' lodgings. The Mayor seen here is Arthur F Dolman, who was in office from 1952 to 1953, and the Bishop is Alfred Edwin Morris - Bishop of Monmouthshire from 1945 to 1967. It has not been possible to establish what the the exact occasion was – perhaps viewers can help pinpoint the event?