Screen Archive South East is a public sector moving image archive serving the South East of England. The archive's collections of magic lantern slides, films, videos and associated materials capture the many varied aspects of life, work and creativity from the early days of screen history to the present day and serve as a rich and invaluable historical resource.
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Last Year of Peace
An amazing film that contrasts the last months of peace in 1939 with scenes from the first year of the war - featuring dog-fights over Sussex and the effects of falling bombs.
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Overview
Starting with spring blossoms and sheep, this film shows a burning windmill, a festival attended by the Archbishop of Canterbury and a Channel crossing to France. We also see the people of Egerton coping with blizzard conditions in the winter of 1939/40. Such peaceful images contrast sharply with scenes of aerial warfare during the Battle of Britain and the fire-bombing of local buildings. We see neighbours crawling over bomb craters and a girl posing between two bombs.
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