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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New Homes for Old, Chislehurst
From stone-laying to royal opening, this film shows the construction of new retirement homes for Masons in Chislehurst in the 1960s.
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Overview
The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution look after elderly Masons, and this film shows the construction of their fourth retirement village in Chislehurst starting with the foundation stone ceremony, laid by Lord Cornwallis in April 1966. We see the single home that occupied the 2.5 acre site being demolished, the plans being drawn up at Great Queen Street, then construction and eventually opening by the Duke Of Kent in July 1968. Includes subtle request for funding.
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