The video of the 1947/8 Fete

Little information is available on the fete held in 1947.  Indeed, some people have remarked that is more likely to have occurred in the year 1948, going by the ages of some folk.

From the video it can be seen that a group assembled outside the school and formed a procession down the High Street, then going up the drive to the (old) Rectory and then enjoys games and dancing on the lawn behind the Rectory.  We have at last discovered who made this film with the kind help of June Danvers.  It was filmed by Dr Steven Clements, shortly after he began his GP practice for Roade and Blisworth, in either May or late June.  It was probably a May Festival and one of the girls would have been the 'May Queen'.

Dr. Clements filmed the sequences on a prewar Pathe onto 95 film and, in roughly 1995, used a camcorder to transfer it to a Super 8 format.  The sequences were then fed to a VHS recorder whilst Dr Clements added a few words to a sound track.  He presented it to the village, giving his name and some of the transcription details, in June 2005 when the village was celebrating the Bicentenary of the completion of Blisworth Tunnel.

We have had pleasure already in recognising a number of people from that time.  Unfortunately Dr. Clements can recall only a handful of the villagers' names.  Whilst in the charge of the Heritage Society, it is believed that a few minutes of recording at the end was excised, perhaps accidentally.

Anyone wishing to see the entire video please contact us.