London’s Screen Archives enables Londoners see their past come alive on film. Managed by Film London, we are a unique network of historic film collections that cares for, collects and screens heritage film across the city. Together we preserve London’s rich film heritage from feature films to home movies, public information films, newsreels, and records of the capital’s many different industries.
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Stone Laying Ceremony, Sindlesham, Berkshire
Intriguing glimpse of Masonic ceremony as brothers gather to witness a stone-laying ceremony for a retirement home in Berkshire.
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Overview
Fascinating film showing a stone-laying ceremony in 1970 for a new retirement home, Lord Harris Court, in Berkshire built by the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution. The film shows Masons singing the national anthem before a speech from Lord Harris, a distinguished Mason. Lord Harris is then brought various tools on a cushion, which he taps against the foundation stone while reciting. Next come hymns and prayers, before closing words. The home was completed in 1973.
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