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

Opening of Castleford Maternity Home by Princess Mary & Viscount Lascelles
A princess gets the usual enthusiastic welcome in a Yorkshire town between the wars, with locals enjoying the occasion and children waving their English flags to order.
From the collection of:

Overview
Miners raise money for a maternity home, but Princess Mary does the honours in opening the home in Castleford in 1929; which also, fittingly, serves as a war memorial for those who lost their lives in the Great War. Locals turn out in force to witness the event, and rare treat of seeing the Princess wielding a spade.
The film shows the Princess opening the eight-bed maternity home on 23rd August, when she also opened the rebuilt Market Hall. The home was distinctive in that it was much more than an ordinary war memorial. The Miners Welfare Committee contributed Ј2,800 towards the Ј4,000 that was raised, which allowed the District Council to purchase and equip Hanbury House in Barnes Road. The hospital was renamed Municipal Maternity Hospital in 1949 and Castleford Maternity Home in 1951, and finally closed in 1970; sold for private residential housing and the Memorial Tablet was discarded. The Princess continued her association with nursing, becoming chief controller of the ATS at the outbreak of war.
Related

Castleford Advert 4 Castleford Advert 4
1941 1 mins Silent Location: Castleford
Never mind that the country is at war with a powerful and vicious foe, that’s no reason to stop going to greyhound racing, with a bet on the side.

Castleford Advert 3 Castleford Advert 3
1939 0 mins Silent Location: Castleford
No attempt to sell an idyllic lifestyle here in these two cinema ads for local shops, just a simple warning on the irreplaceability of eyesight.

Castleford Advert 1 Castleford Advert 1
1939 0 mins Silent Location: Castleford
Adverts not to get punters to buy anything, but just to enjoy sports and preserve memories of seaside holidays, in “real” photographs.

Castleford Advert 2 Castleford Advert 2
1941 0 mins Silent Location: Castleford
Advertisements for tripe, cow heels, trotters and milk – those were the days! It was a time of food rationing, but going to the cinema wasn’t.

Annual Pram Race 1962 Annual Pram Race 1962
Amateur film 1962 20 mins Location: Castleford
‘Carry On Castleford’ – crowds take to the streets in fancy dress for the Annual Pram Race.

Wheel of Fortune Wheel of Fortune
Amateur film 1958 6 mins Location: Castleford
Rich man vs. Poor man - what goes around comes around in this unexpected gambling tale

New Perspectives: Pusher New Perspectives: Pusher
Short documentary 2025 5 mins
Noah Bell of Northumbria University explains why you should seize the chance to watch Nicolas Winding Refn's debut.

Twin Peaks star Kyle MacLachlan on working with David Lynch - Q&A Twin Peaks star Kyle MacLachlan on working with David Lynch - Q&A
Inside Film 2025 38 mins
Kyle MacLachlan talks to BFI CEO Ben Roberts about working with David Lynch on the legendary series Twin Peaks.

On Falling - Exclusive Q&A On Falling - Exclusive Q&A
Inside Film 2025 30 mins
Writer-director Laura Carreira talks to Nia Childs about her debut feature, On Falling.

Layla - Exclusive Q&A Layla - Exclusive Q&A
Short interview 2025 27 mins
Writer, director and performer Amrou Al-Kadhi talks to Rico Johnson-Sinclair about their debut feature.

All We Imagine As Light - Exclusive Q&A All We Imagine As Light - Exclusive Q&A
Short interview 2025 28 mins
Payal Kapadia discusses her Cannes prize-winning and Bafta-nominated drama with Ashanti Omkar.

Khichdi Khichdi
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2023 16 mins
The interwoven stories of four best friends who reunite in the UK, thirty-five years after training together as nurses during their teens in Ferozepur, Punjab.