Royal Silver Jubilee 1935 - Cardiff

From the collection of

Archif Sgrin a Sain Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru / National Library of Wales Screen and Sound Archive

Established in 2001, the National Library of Wales Screen and Sound Archive holds an unrivalled collection of films, TV and radio broadcasts, video tapes and sound recordings relating to Wales and the Welsh, from 1898 to the present day. The collection spans multiples formats and genres, both professional and amateur.

Royal Silver Jubilee 1935 - Cardiff

Archif Sgrin a Sain Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru / National Library of Wales Screen and Sound Archive
Cardiff/Caerdydd
1935-01-01
Silent
14m

Yards of bunting have been put up in Cardiff to celebrate King George V's 25 years on the throne and the Wade home in Park Place has its share.

Surgeon James O D Wade's family is well placed to view Cardiff's Jubilee procession on 11/5/1935 as they live in Park Place – no. 25 – and the procession passes right by their bunting-clad house. Members of the family/household are seen on the balconies and at windows, hoping to glimpse the Prince of Wales who was representing the monarch of 25 years, King George V. Mr Wade's sons – all 4 of whom entered the medical profession – are seen riding and on the beach with lively terrier.

Park Place was, at the time, the Harley Street of Cardiff. The Wade's next door neighbours, the Owens at number 24, were also a medical family. They all had bunting but the Western Mail refers to a shortage of such decorative material on 3/5/1935, manufacturers and suppliers in Cardiff unable to accept orders from London – which was desperately seeking bunting - for lack of raw material and the 100% rise in the cost of what little was still available. Cardiff, however, was well be-decked and gave the prince an action-packed 5 hours, including the viewing of a Pageant of Welsh Industries outside City Hall and a visit to the Festival of Youth at Cardiff Arms Park plus, of course, a good lunch and tea.

Pioneers of Personal Film

At the dawn of the cinema age, these trailblazing early adopters brought filmmaking technology into the home.

Home moviemaking is older than the first cinemas: we've been filming ourselves for well over a hundred years. The birth of the cinematograph in 1895 inspired a plethora of inventions pitched at the domestic market: Kinoras, Kammatographs, Pictorialographs, Birtacs and Biokams - all cameras designed for amateurs and enthusiasts to film and project in the home. This collection celebrates the earliest home movies preserved in Britain, and bears witness to the dawn of the amateur's long-standing fascination with family, travel and community. "The object in introducing this apparatus is to endeavour to popularize this extremely fascinating branch of photography.... [I have] always looked forward to the time when animated photography would be within the reach of every one" - filmmaker/inventor Birt Acres, on his Birtac camera, 1898.