Thorpe-le-Soken Market

Pitchers work up a sweat at Thorpe-le-Soken market – from fashion to kitchen gadgetry to furnishings. Pouffé anyone? Of course! It’s 1968.

"Stanfilms" a.k.a. Clacton Cine Club member, Laurie Stanton, captures a thriving Thorpe-le-Soken market, where tired toddlers accompany the bargain-hunters on a sunny day in 1968. The market traders can be heard, showing off their ‘pitcher’s patter’, if only for a short section of the footage, starting at 3:20.

Laurie Stanton was a member of the Clacton Cine Club, and made many films on Standard 8 and Super 8 film. He had a small cinema in his attic where people were invited to watch films. Stanton was the owner of a clothing manufacturing company called 'Mascot' in Clacton. Thorpe-le-Soken lies to the north of Clacton-on-Sea.