National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales preserves and celebrates the sound and moving image heritage of Wales, making it accessible to a wide range of users for enjoyment and learning. Its film collection reflects every aspect of the nation’s social, cultural and working life across the 20th century, giving a fascinating insight into Welsh filmmaking, both amateur and professional.
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Wedding of G.A. Cheetham and Miss E.M. Lawson
22/9/1913 was the Big Day for Gustavus A Cheetham and Edith Maude Lawson of Rhyl. Gus worked for his father, film/cinema pioneer and entrepreneur Arthur Cheetham.
From the collection of:
Overview
Footage of the newly-weds – Gustavus and Edith - leaving St. Thomas's Church, Rhyl, after their wedding on 22/9/1913. The groom, who worked in his father's film/cinema business, and his bride, Edith Maude Lawson, are liberally showered with confetti as they walk down the church path. Arthur Cheetham, the groom's father, an entrepreneur and film pioneer with cinemas in Colwyn Bay, Aberystwyth and Manchester, is seen following behind, a portly man wearing spectacles.
Also seen following the married couple from the church are, it is presumed, Bernard Cheetham (groom's brother/best man) and Edith Cheetham (groom's sister/bridesmaid). After the shots of the bridal party and guests walking down the church path (children and others collecting up handfuls of confetti and re-throwing it at guests), a large group, in jovial spirits, stands around the couple, to be photographed, the camera panning across them, the groom then kissing his bride. The Rhyl Record and Advertiser, reporting on the wedding, refers to the making of a film recording both the arrival at and the departure from the church so what we have here is possibly only half the finished film.
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