Normanton Gala 1922

From quiet rural roads, where the odd car and motorcycle crawls slowly by, to the frenzy of the newly discovered “Merrie England”. Surrounded by collieries in 1922, the village folk of Normanton take advantage of the relative freedom afforded by the annual carnival to give free rein to their repressed exuberance. And then, after one lot of dressing up comes another, with a more sombre ecumenical Whit Procession.

Like many other films of local carnivals in the 1920s, the person behind the camera of this film isn’t known. Neither is it clear what the history of this particular carnival is or what time of year it took place. The carnival continues to this day, now taking place in summer. The mid-Victorian era saw a nostalgic revival of old medieval traditions, and this took off over the following decades into the twentieth century, often led by socialists. By the time of the 1920s May Day carnivals or galas were common, made up of an odd assortment of charity raising, self-promoting local businesses and an odd mixture of dressing up in the fashion of the old mummers plays, or music halls, with a strong dash of nationalism.