CORONATION CARNIVAL PROCESSION - METROPOLITAN BOROUGH OF WOOLWICH [Main Title]

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  • Title: CORONATION CARNIVAL PROCESSION - METROPOLITAN BOROUGH OF WOOLWICH [Main Title]
  • Film Number: MGH 5115
  • Other titles: AMATEUR FILM BY ARTHUR GREEN [Alternative Title]
  • Summary: Amateur colour film shot by Arthur Green, a Greater London Council Assistant Scientific Officer, recording part of the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich, Coronation Carnival Procession of 4 June 1953 and brief views of HRH Queen Elizabeth II and HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, during their post coronation tour of London, probably 8 June 1953.
  • Description: The film opens with a rostrum shot of a programme for the "Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich Coronation Carnival Procession", followed by a film of a small boy, wearing a version of a British military uniform, saluting for the camera. Shots of onlookers lining a shopping street (probably Eltham High Street) with a line of Brownies and Girl Guides to the front. Several vintage cars driving along the road. The following carnival procession includes - a policeman riding a grey horse leading a military band, members of the Kings Troop, Royal Artillery, blue bowser and blue lorry marked "London Convoy", Boys' Brigade band (?), a contingent of soldiers, beauty competition winner, a float with people wearing Victorian dress, a float carrying three children wearing Elizabethan dress, two steam rollers (the driver of one dressed up as a pirate with a small cannon and a sign "gun to repel boarders"), a group of people wearing swimming costumes from various periods, a "bride and groom", floats portraying France, the Netherlands and Switzerland, a large coronation crown, a float depicting teaching or science, floats with people in costume portraying Richard the Lionheart and Queen Elizabeth I, the Royal Navy, the British Red Cross, St John Ambulance (Knights Hospitallers) (?), people in various fancy dresses possibly depicting fairy tale characters, the Lochnager Girls Pipe Band, men dressed as sailors from the Napoleonic period, an oversized telephone decorated with pink flowers, a large three-tiered wedding cake, dark shots of the carnival queen (?), a float in the style of a naval boat carrying WRNS, young women in fancy dress riding decorated bicycles and a dark shot of a decorated float with a woman dressed as the new Queen (?). Large groups of onlookers, mainly women, young children and schoolchildren in various uniforms, waiting on the pavement for the Royal Couple (possibly Well Hall Road, Eltham). Group of men and women dressed in Dutch costumes walking along the street. Another group of onlookers, including a middle-aged man seated on top of a pillar box, waiting in front of a house decorated with a Union Jack flag. A group of very young children seated on the pavement kerb, many holding small Union Jack flags. Brief shot of two policewomen walking in front of a group of schoolchildren. Close-up a young woman and young man dressed in Dutch costumes. Group holding a Swedish flag. Posed shot of a group in Dutch costume. Young male journalist talking with an elderly lady and making notes in a small notebook. Police motorcyclists leading the royal motorcade. Brief shot of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in their car waving at the crowds, the car stops and the Queen receives a bouquet, brief close-up shot of the Queen and Prince in their car as it moves off. Groups of men, women and children waiting on the roadside for the Royal Couple, one group acknowledges the cameraman and beckons him over to join them (probably Shooters Hill by Blackheath). Police motorcyclist leads the royal car - good close-up views of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip as the car passes the camera. Brief shots of people moving away from the road across Blackheath with three red London buses in the background.
  • Alternative Title: AMATEUR FILM BY ARTHUR GREEN [Alternative Title]
  • Colour: Colour
  • Digitised:
  • Object_Number: MGH 5115
  • Sound: Silent
  • Access Conditions: NON-IWM
  • Featured Period:
  • Production Date: 1953-06-08
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Green, Arthur F2001 (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations:
  • Keywords:
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: Colour Sound format: Silent Soundtrack language: English
  • Technical Details: Format: 16mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 161 ft; Running time: 7 mins (24 fps)
  • HD Media:
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    MGH 5115

  • Related IWM Collections Objects:

    MGH 4625 (RUISLIP-NORTHWOOD CORONATION CELEBRATIONS PROCESSION 6th JUNE 1953 [Allocated Title]) Documents.14985 (System.Xml.XmlElement)
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