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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The Girls Leaving "The Aber" & Castle Silk Mills Flint
Once upon a time there were artificial silk factories in Flint employing thousands of the local people, hundreds of whom are seen here leaving work, on foot, by bike or by bus.
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Overview
The shift is over and men and women, boys and girls pour out of the gates of Courtauld's artificial silk mills in Flint, most on foot, some arm-in-arm, some wheeling bicycles, buses waiting to transport others. A woman and a boy sell newspapers, a girl carries bunches of flowers (to sell?) and a few women are seen carrying flowers. The film's title card states that this film is presented by 'The Prince of Wales', probably a reference to a cinema in Holywell, 5 miles from Flint.
A factory manufacturing artificial silk was opened in Flint in 1907 by German company, Glanzstoff. However, during WWI, with German employees interned, the factory was taken over by Courtaulds Ltd, a world renowned producer of man-made textiles, and named the 'The Aber Works'. Over the next few years Courtalds went on to open the 'The Castle Works' and 'Deeside Mill'. All three works, employing thousands of local people, were situated within yards of the Holywell Road football ground and members of the Flint Town United Football Club were known as 'The Silkmen'. Two further mills were opened nearby in 1936. But by the 1980s Flint's large-scale textile production was over, all the mills having closed.
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