The Yorkshire Film Archive collects, preserves, and shows film made in, or about Yorkshire. Our collections are non-fiction, dating from the 1890s to the present day, and providing a rich and visually compelling record of all aspects of lives, cultures, landscape, industries, major events and everyday activities, many of which are available to watch, free of charge, on our website.
This film is part of Free
Newlands Carnival
This is a marvellous film from between the wars of children from an orphanage in Hull having a great time playing various eccentric games, such as racing wearing buckets as shoes.
From the collection of:
Overview
Life might not have been much fun as an orphan in the 1930s, but these children at the Sailors' Children's Society home in Hull show they knew how to enjoy themselves at their annual carnival. They think up some highly imaginative competitions to go with the conventional ones, while boys in sailor’s uniform, and girls in domestic uniforms, display their gymnastic skills. There is also the Duke of York at Hull University, and film of the famous Cobham’s Air Circus visit to Hull.
We aren’t sure of the year of this carnival, although we have dates for the Duke and Duchess of York laying the foundation stone of University College Hull, 28 April 1928, and for Cobham’s Air display, 6 Oct. 1932 (part of a non-stop tour). The Sailors' Children's Society has its origins back in 1821, having several name changes – in the 1930s it was the Port of Hull Society. It has made several fund raising films. It acquired the Newlands Estate on Cottingham Road in the 1893 and built 12 homes, as seen here, which by 1930 had 250 children from across the country. The fund raising annual carnivals became one of the biggest annual public events in Hull, before the Newlands orphanage closed in 2004 and later sold off.
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