At Wessex Film and Sound Archive you can see and hear history, from late Victorian times to the present day, through moving images and sound recordings. The Archive contains over 36,000 film and sound recordings relating to Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, including film and tapes of local TV and radio.
This film is part of Free
Adderwell Armaments Factory in Frome
It's all work and plenty of play at the Adderwell Armaments Factory in Frome - featuring various weapons, choirs, comedians, boxing, Tessie O'Shea and a visit from Queen Mary.
From the collection of:
Overview
This film shows work and play at the Aderwell Armaments Factory in Frome, Somerset. We begin with men inspecting and loading guns for shipment before switching to a factory canteen where a lunch-time concert is being broadcast by the BBC. Boxing scenes are followed by a visit by Queen Mary who meets with women workers. While RAF trucks are loaded another concert gets underway with Tessie O'Shea playing banjo and Jack Ballantyne on concertina. More boxing follows.
William J Evans owned an engineering business, J Evans & Son (Portsmouth) Ltd, which relocated to the Adderwell Works in Frome, Somerset, along with many of the workforce, after Portsmouth was blitzed in 1940-41. During this intensely busy period, he still found time to film some of the activities at the factory such as a ‘Works Wonders’ concert, boxing matches and a visit by HRH Queen Mary, who insisted on being filmed meeting the factory’s women workers. 'Works Wonders', a forerunner to Worker’s Playtime, took to the air in November 1940 and was broadcast lunch-time concerts staged in factory canteens across the country. It often featured amateur performers drawn from the factory’s own workforce.
Related
Watch for free
Yesterday Is over Your Shoulder Yesterday Is over Your Shoulder
Industry sponsored film 1940 8 mins
An enticing government call for men to retrain as skilled engineers to help with the war effort.
Watch for free
Warwork News No 11 Warwork News No 11
Cinemagazine 1942 12 mins
Wartime news magazine for factory workers, sponsored by the Ministry of Supply. News items often stressed the value of the 'factory front'.
Currently unavailable
Worker and War Front No. 3 Worker and War Front No. 3
Cinemagazine 1942 11 mins Location: Liverpool
A wartime magazine made to motivate and inform war workers, commissioned by the Ministry of Information in 1942 and exclusively screened in factories.
Watch for free
Behind the Guns Behind the Guns
Documentary 1940 20 mins Silent
A Second World War propaganda film, looking at the industrial might behind Great Britain’s armed forces.
Watch for free
Shipbuilders Shipbuilders
Government sponsored film 1940 10 mins
Shipwrights, plate-fitters and riveters support the war effort as their ships take majestic shape in this tour of British shipyards.
Watch for free
The Port of Cardiff 2 The Port of Cardiff 2
Promotional 1943 25 mins Silent Location: Whitchurch
Meat and wheat, oranges and eggs (dried), salmon and peaches (tinned) arrive in Cardiff from Brazil, America, Canada and New Zealand to keep war-time’s wolf from the allied door.
Watch for free
Cinema Commercial for Jewellers Cinema Commercial for Jewellers
Advert 1920 0 mins Silent Location: Frome
It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that bling… early silent cinema advert for a local business in Frome.
Watch for free
Prince's Tour in the West Prince's Tour in the West
Non-Fiction 1923 1 mins Silent Location: Frome
The Prince of Wales visits Bath and Frome in this 1923 newsreel for local cinemas
Watch for free
The Buckley Family - Somerleaze (Frome) and Castell Gorfod (Llangynin) The Buckley Family - Somerleaze (Frome) and Castell Gorfod (Llangynin)
Home movie 1931 12 mins Silent Location: Frome
The Buckley's Brewery (Llanelli) family gets about, visiting relatives in Somerset and cutting hay – and hair – at home in Carmarthenshire.
Watch for free
Laura Mulvey in Conversation Laura Mulvey in Conversation
Inside Film 2025 76 mins
Laura Mulvey in conversation, following her BFI Fellowship Award.
Watch for free
George Clooney in Conversation George Clooney in Conversation
Inside Film 2025 74 mins
George Clooney visited BFI Southbank to look back on his life and career.
Watch for free
Chloé Zhao Screen Talk | BFI London Film Festival 2025 Chloé Zhao Screen Talk | BFI London Film Festival 2025
Inside Film 2025 65 mins
The Oscar®- winning director of Nomadland discusses her unique approach to filmmaking and the inspiration behind the adaptation of Hamnet.
Watch for free
Edgar Wright on The Running Man Edgar Wright on The Running Man
Inside Film 2025 28 mins
The director talks to Mark Kermode about putting Stephen King's dystopian life-or-death gameshow thriller through its paces.
Watch for free
Richard Linklater Screen Talk | BFI London Film Festival 2025 Richard Linklater Screen Talk | BFI London Film Festival 2025
Inside Film 2025 69 mins
Richard Linklater discusses his remarkable and wide-ranging body of work, including Blue Moon and Nouvelle Vague.
Watch for free
Daniel Day-Lewis Screen Talk | BFI London Film Festival 2025 Daniel Day-Lewis Screen Talk | BFI London Film Festival 2025
Inside Film 2025 73 mins
Daniel Day-Lewis, the ultimate actor’s actor discusses his career in conversation with Mark Kermode.