GWR EMERGENCY HEADQUARTERS ALDERMASTON [Main Title]

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  • Title: GWR EMERGENCY HEADQUARTERS ALDERMASTON [Main Title]
  • Film Number: BTF 406
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: Colour film record of the Great Western Railway depot at Aldermaston, Berkshire, in 1944-45 (?).
  • Description: START 00:02:21 Opening titles - "Great Western Railway presents: GWR Emergency Headquarters Aldermaston. Produced by the Great Western Railway Photographic Department under the direction of the Chief Engineer." A commuter train pulls into Aldermaston station on a bright winter's day and passengers alight from the coaches. They walk from the station towards the GWR depot which consists of two rows of long, low sheds, outhouses and a tall water tower. 00:04:09 Scenes inside a GWR drawing office where men and women are seen at work behind desks. 00:04:46 Three members of the Royal Observer Corps wearing steel helmets climb up the side of a building and man an aircraft look-out position on the roof. There are two air raid shelters nearby. A USAAF C-47 Skytrain transport aicraft sporting invasion stripes and a single-seater fighter aircraft from Aldermaston airfield (?) fly overhead. 00: 05:31 Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS) volunteers from GWR's own emergency services hitch a water pump trailer unit to a Ford saloon car and, watched by village children, they demonstrate how to use a fire hose with a nozzle adjustment that allows them to either direct a jet of water onto a fire or spray the whole area. 00:07:01 The AFS volunteers also demonstrate how a telescopic ladder normally transported to the scene of a fire on a trailer can be used, when secured with rope stays, to scale a high wall and lower an air raid casualty on a stretcher from a rooftop without having to lean the ladder against the building. 00:09:39 Two volunteers wearing gas masks and gas proof clothing demonstrate how to decontaminate a road after a gas attack with a dry white powder (lime?) and tar, which they are seen spreading with a spade. Each time they step away from the contaminated area, they use a foot tray to wipe their boots clean. 00:11:05 Female and male first-aid volunteers demonstrate how they can help air raid victims and get them to safety. Two first-aid workers carry a 'patient' on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance. 00:12:42 A female GWR employee has her identity papers checked by a police officer. 00:12:56 In uniform and shouldering arms, members of the GWR Aldermaston Home Guard are inspected by the local area Home Guard commander, who hands out proficiency awards to some of the men. Afterwards, they take part in a march-past. 00:14:25 Scenes showing male and female employees sitting down to lunch at a long table inside the GWR works canteen. 00:14:47 The Aldermaston GWR sports day in which male and female employees take part in a sack race, a skipping and running race, an egg and spoon race, the 100-yards sprint, racing with one leg tied to the other person's, riding a bicycle very slowly without falling over and a tug o'war match. 00:15:50 Scenes filmed in the winter of 1944-45 (?) showing a stretch of the Kennet and Avon Canal with people walking along the tow path, a swan on the water, Aldermaston village in a light covering of snow and frost and GWR employees skating on ice on a pond at the GWR depot. 00:17:08 Scenes filmed in spring 1945 (?) showing villagers tending their gardens, fishing in the Kennet and Avon Canal and two huntsmen in traditional red hunting jackets and their pack of hounds gathering for a hunt in Aldermaston village. 00:18:15 Scenes filmed in summer showing the Kennet and Avon Canal, three cygnets swimming in the water, Aldermaston village, people on the canal tow path and crossing a lock gate. A young woman feeds bits of bread to a swan. 00:20:37 A passenger train arrives at Aldermaston station. End titles. 00:20:39 END
  • Alternative Title:
  • Colour: Colour
  • Digitised:
  • Object_Number: BTF 406
  • Sound: Silent
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM (BTF 406)
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1945
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Great Western Railway (Production sponsor) Great Western Railway, Photographic Department (Production company)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Great Western Railway (regiment/service) British Army, Royal Observer Corps (regiment/service) Auxiliary Fire Service (regiment/service) Home Guard (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: Aldermaston, Berkshire, England, UK (geography) GWR Emergency Headquarters, Aldermaston, Berkshire, England, UK (geography) Kennet and Avon Canal, Aldermaston (geography) Home Front, UK, Second World War (event) British Home Front 1939-1945 (theme) British War Work 1939-1945 (theme) Chemical Warfare (theme) Military Aviation (theme)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: Colour Sound format: Silent Soundtrack language: None Title language: English Subtitle language: None
  • Technical Details: Format: 16mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 500 ft; Running time: 20 mins 39 secs
  • HD Media:
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    BTF 406

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