The people of Canterbury and Kent celebrate the 1951 Festival of Britain - in this sumptuous colour film extravaganza from John Clague

John Clague's film starts with a Festival Service on 18th July 1951. We see local dignitaries and foreign visitors file into Canterbury Cathedral - greeted at the door by the Dean, Hewlett Johnson. We then move to an outdoor Festival exhibition held on the remains of a wartime bomb site. There then follows a colourful Festival Procession – with numerous tableaux depicting the history of Kent and Canterbury - with an accent on the region's importance as a centre of pilgrimage

Canterbury's Festival celebrations ran from 18th July to 10th August 1951 - starting off with the Festival Service seen in this film, which features the Rev. Dr Hewlett Johnson, who was nicknamed ‘The Red Dean of Canterbury' due to his strongly pro-Soviet views. John Clague, who made the film, also produced annual newsreels showing events in and around Herne Bay - from 1934 to 1970. He used 9.5mm film at first but by the 1950s had adopted 16mm film. Included in the collection are a number of fascinating pre-war films about Herne Bay's ARP preparations as well as numerous films featuring Canterbury. Today, these films have become an important visual and colourful record of this historic city.