North Foreland House and the Seaside

This charming film from Enid Briggs starts with a girl walking her dog down a cliff path to the beach below. Family, friends and more dogs explore the beach against a backdrop of chalk cliffs. A girl exits a beach hut and joins two others for a dip in the sea. We then see a beachside family tea party after which a couple, wearing tennis whites, perform a comic ballet routine in the garden. Staying in the garden we see the family dog with a placard advertising a Minstrels performance.

Enid Briggs filmed scenes in the area of North Foreland and Broadstairs in the 1920s and 1930s. These films are of particular interest because they were made from a woman's visual perspective. Born to a wealthy Leeds family in 1898, Enid moved with her mother and sister, to a cliff-top home in Broadstairs in 1929. It was there that she took up the relatively expensive hobby of film-making. She filmed family activities, outings and local events as well as scenes recording seaside performers like Uncle Mack’s Minstrels. Enid died in 1973 and her surviving films are now held in the Screen Archive South East collection.