With ration books at the ready, shoppers had to stretch the pennies in wartime Derbyshire.

These wartime adverts with their charming graphics originated from a cinema at Ilkeston in Derbyshire. From a one-man window cleaner to the prosperous Ilkeston Co-op a wide range of companies are featured. The war was having a clear impact on everyday life with reference to shipping convoys and the ration book. George Andrew and Sons appear slightly opportunistic however with their plug for spades linked to the government's Dig for Victory campaign.

The makers of this and many other similar local cinema reels of the period were Youngers Publicity Service, a London based agency and production company. What we have here is unlikely to have been exactly how it was screened as many of the advertisements are printed on film manufactured in 1942 but some, towards the end of the reel, are much older. For instance the Corona Cordials ad (Britain's 'cheerful' beverage) wishes cinema goers a happy new year for 1940.