Kingston Adult Education offers a range of creative classes at a time and location to…
Kingston on British Pathe News
British Pathé uploaded 85,000 historical videos to Youtube April 2014. The Pathé Brothers invented this reel format of delivering news and topical information in 1908. The reels were shown in cinemas in US, UK and France over an 80 year period with the purpose of informing, entertaining and influencing – particularly in wartime. They are available to view on the British Pathé site and Youtube. Here are some showing footage in and around Kingston.
Bentall’s Politeness Campaign of 1947
Fold-away caravan: Mr C.M Cooper of Surbiton invents a foldaway caravan.
C.H. Middleton died 1945: The first celebrity gardener who guided allotment holders in the ‘Dig for Victory’. Mr Middleton was a BBC gardening writer and radio broadcaster. He lived in Princes Villa in Surbiton and died just outside of it. His funeral was at St Matthew’s Church, Surbiton.
Surbiton goes Gay 1930 -1939: A fabulous piece of footage covering a carnival procession in aid of a new hospital. Opening shots look like Maple Road in Surbiton. Floats are United Dairies, Trickey’s of Tolworth, Peggy Brown’s, Hadley Spectacles Denis Barnett with partners Barry Mason & Ronald Clements owned the Hadley Spectacle factory which was behind the Carl Byrant school of dancing Victoria Road Surbiton: Images kindly provided by David Barnett ) , Palmerston Motors, carnival queen! Does anyone know who that is?
Motorised Bath 1960: A brilliant view of Kingston town centre in 1960. Students From Kingston, Surrey Technical College building a motorised bath and driving it around Kingston and Portsmouth Road for charities’ week.
Parking Meter: Did you know that most of the 10,000 parking meters around in 1965 were made in Kingston? And in the days when parking cost sixpence!
Women ferry on Thames 1936: Ms Violet Pope (Pope’s Boatyard) replaces her father running a ferry from Kingston over to the ‘paddling beach’ ?
Glass Dome Studio 1958: Space age architect’s studio by Hugh Pope of Kingston Hill. Pope also designed Coventry Cathedral with Basil Spence. It took him and his wife a weekend to assemble – the dome, not the cathedral. He got into trouble with Kingston council as he didn’t have permission. It was 18ft in diameter, it cost $1,680 to build.
Ray Mumford of Kingston is a competitive angler. Showing footage of the Thames in 1968
New Malden papier mache studio making some amazing creations including a Swan for the Swan Hotel in Harrogate.
Massed Boxing in Kingston 1931 with the 6th East Surrey’s with words from Alf Mancini.
Brithish Electric Reel 1948: The King George V1 opens Kingston Power station mentioning that King and Elizabeth Queen Mother lived in Kingston as a young couple. The power station, built just after the industry was nationalised, cost £6.5 million and took 3 years to complete. Includes ‘Britain prepares for a cold snap’ in Chessington showing Kingston Power Station on a classic important call to Scotland. Also shows footage of the power station being built and in operation. Gets a bit odd in the second half. The power station closed in October 1980 but the 250 foot, Battersea style chimneys were only demolished in 1994.
Remarkable footage called Roadhouse Nights (filmed on the ‘Kingston By Pass’) May be Surbiton Lagoon?
Music Hall Fire in 1919 at the Empire in Kingston upon Thames.Shows the damage to the music hall (and giving an idea of what it looked like in its day)
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