Metadata
WORK ID: YFA 5291 (Master Record)
| Title | Year | Date |
| HELPING TO BUY BEVERLEY'S SPITFIRE | 1941 | 1941-01-01 |
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Details
Original Format: 35mm Colour: Black & White Sound: Silent Duration: 3 mins 53 secs Credits: Production Company: Debenham and Company Director of Photography: E.F. Symmons Subject: Wartime |
| Summary Made by Ernest Symmons of Debehnam & Co., this film features Beverley's fundraising efforts to buy a Spitfire in 1941. |
|
Description
Made by Ernest Symmons of Debehnam & Co., this film features Beverley's fundraising efforts to buy a Spitfire in 1941.
The film begins in Beverley Market Square where a large crowd has assembled to hear a military brass band. The Lord Mayor, Arthur Watts, leads the crowd in song. Members of the crowd use sheet music to follow along. Some people carry placards, with one reading ‘Don’t let the children suffer’, with a ‘Dyers and Cleaners’ shop and a café in the background....
Made by Ernest Symmons of Debehnam & Co., this film features Beverley's fundraising efforts to buy a Spitfire in 1941.
The film begins in Beverley Market Square where a large crowd has assembled to hear a military brass band. The Lord Mayor, Arthur Watts, leads the crowd in song. Members of the crowd use sheet music to follow along. Some people carry placards, with one reading ‘Don’t let the children suffer’, with a ‘Dyers and Cleaners’ shop and a café in the background. Another placard reads, ‘Give well and all will be well’. A woman holds collecting tins, and there is a long line of children each holding a placard, all appealing for money. Among the placards are ones stating ‘We want Spitfires’ and ‘Help our Mayoress with her fund’.
A model of a spitfire is displayed on the Mayor’s car as he passes his hat around to collect money. Some people look up at the sky, and a small girl bends down over an outline of a spitfire on the ground onto which children place coins. The band continues to play and two buglers give a blast from the balcony of the Westminster Bank. Again children can be seen displaying the placards they are holding. The Mayor makes a speech holding up a bongo which is being played by one of the soldiers in the band, possibly for auction. Two men look out from the window of ‘A Krill, Gunmaker’, and the film comes to an end.
Context
With the country still in the throes of the blitz in 1941, and with a shortage of fighters to help combat German bombers, Beverley joins the first national public fund raising event with a specific target: £5,000 to buy a Supermarine Spitfire. The band strikes up, with the Lord Mayor leading the singing, as women come around with their collecting tins, backed up by placard-wearing children.
This is one of many wartime films made by local filmmakers Debenhams. The idea of public fund...
With the country still in the throes of the blitz in 1941, and with a shortage of fighters to help combat German bombers, Beverley joins the first national public fund raising event with a specific target: £5,000 to buy a Supermarine Spitfire. The band strikes up, with the Lord Mayor leading the singing, as women come around with their collecting tins, backed up by placard-wearing children.
This is one of many wartime films made by local filmmakers Debenhams. The idea of public fund raising to buy armaments originated in the First World War and was resurrected again with the National Savings Week of June 1940, followed by War Weapons Week (1941) and Warships Week (1942). Raising money for Spitfires occurred across the country from late 1940 – not to be confused with Wings for Victory Weeks of 1943, raising funds for bombers. A sum of £5,000 was needed for each Spitfire, which had greater kudos than the Hurricane. Spitfires were regularly upgraded, and it was the only Allied fighter plane that remained in production throughout the war. |
