Newton Abbot, Devon: 'An Essay in Citizenship'

An army of infants proceeds to reforest the Milber Pine Woods neat Newton Abbot.

Residents of Newton Abbot line the streets to watch a parade of schoolchildren on their way to plant trees. We first see them walking into town via Market Street, passing the Alexandra Theatre before marching on to Milber Woods. Placards held by children announce the names of the various schools present. At the woods they quickly set to task, planting out saplings and replenishing the plantation.

Once part of the Carew estate associated with Haccombe House, Milber Pine Woods were purchased by a local resident in 1924 and presented to the town of Newton Abbot as a community asset. The children's actions contribute both to this local endeavour and to a national tree-planting initiative designed to maintain a strategic timber resource in case of war - hinted at by the boys marching with spades shouldered like rifles. The event was recorded by Exeter amateur filmmaker ARL Pout, still photographs by whom also survive in the city's local studies library.