Merthyr Vale and Aberfan: Festival of Britain festivities

The mining communities of Merthyr Vale and Aberfan pull out all the stops to celebrate the festival in style.

It’s 1951, Festival of Britain year, and mining villages Merthyr Vale and Aberfan have arranged a week of celebrations in September, kicking off with a Sunday School procession through streets with a background of fields and slag heaps, and moving on to childrens’ sports (coal wagons pass on a bridge above the activities), decorated shopfronts and a carnival which involves all and everyone, including miners in full working dress and the Mount Pleasant Mock Band.

The Festival of Britain ran from May to September 1951 and was designed to be a celebration of British industry, arts and science and post-WWII recovery. The child dressed as “A Chip off the Old Block”, toddling along in a dress made of wood chippings, passes in front of a child wearing a bow tie and bearing a sign reading “Broke after Battersea Fun Fair”, which may perhaps be a comment on the amount of money spent – or deemed wasted - on the festival? The Festival Pleasure Gardens were located in Battersea Park. The metal Festival of Britain sign, seen being unfolded in a street at the end of this film, is beautiful.