Part of the Parkin family collection, this is a home movie which features a couple of plays and a Hospital Garden party in Castleford. B&W – The film begins with a scene of a group of people gathered in a room singing, playing the piano and eating. A large portion of this group are elderly women. There is a man with round spectacles smoking a pipe and various ladies are wearing hats. Colour – A banner reads: ‘Hospital Comforts Fund Garden Party.’ This takes place in Castleford. There is...

Part of the Parkin family collection, this is a home movie which features a couple of plays and a Hospital Garden party in Castleford. B&W – The film begins with a scene of a group of people gathered in a room singing, playing the piano and eating. A large portion of this group are elderly women. There is a man with round spectacles smoking a pipe and various ladies are wearing hats. Colour – A banner reads: ‘Hospital Comforts Fund Garden Party.’ This takes place in Castleford. There is a sequence showing various people playing games and trying out activities including: darts, hoopla, boule and a Punch and Judy puppet show. There are shots of the children in the audience engaged with the show and reacting to it. Speeches are given and there are various people sitting round tables drinking tea. B&W – The next scene shows part of a play filmed from a member of the audience’s seat. During the play a man dresses as a woman. There are various confrontations and arguments. At the end of the play the cast and director come on stage to bow. This scene cuts to a man putting on a vinyl record player.  A man is now operating what looks like a lighting machine. Next, actors behind the scenes are getting ready for the performance; they get dressed and do each other’s make-up. One woman is putting on a nun headpiece while smoking a cigarette. This then cuts to part of a play starring these actors. It shows nuns and priests in a monastery. The narrative of the story is unclear. It is intercut with more backstage footage. It closes with a scene of a large meal with a large group of people. It is quite a dark location; this part of the film is quite underexposed.