This film by the Chester-le-Street Amateur Cine Society records rehearsals and, perhaps, part of a performance of the Pageant of Chester le Street, which took place nightly at Lumley Castle between 26 June and 1 July, 1967. The event marked the Septecentenary of the Parish Church 1267-1967 and was a presentation by the Restoration Committee of the Parochial Church Council. The focus is on performers, many of them children, in the grounds and on the balconies of the castle. The scenes include...

This film by the Chester-le-Street Amateur Cine Society records rehearsals and, perhaps, part of a performance of the Pageant of Chester le Street, which took place nightly at Lumley Castle between 26 June and 1 July, 1967. The event marked the Septecentenary of the Parish Church 1267-1967 and was a presentation by the Restoration Committee of the Parochial Church Council. The focus is on performers, many of them children, in the grounds and on the balconies of the castle. The scenes include many casual moments and a recreation of the legend of the Lambton Worm. The film opens with a shot of the poster advertising the pageant of Chester le Street at Lumley Castle. Exterior views follow of the entrance and Castle building (actually a fortified14th century manor house). Some of the performers, the majority children in costume, are on a stepped stage set up in the grounds of Lumley Castle. A teenage boy in a soldier’s costume carrying a standard climbs the steps to an outside balcony and entrance. An exchange between soldiers takes place. A group of young performers are coached in the use of their swords. An actor bishop is walking through the grounds. A group of nuns and monks carry a coffin towards the stage. The actors rehearse religious scenes as part of the pageant. This probably refers to the Lindisfarne monks forced to flee the island with the body of Saint Cuthbert and seek refuge on the mainland, eventually granted land at Chester-le-Street. Some boys are hammering something into the wall of the Castle. Others are practising a sword fight. More scenes follow where the children, in character, attack the Castle and fight. Groups of girls in peasant costume descend on the Castle, on their way to a Sunday church service. A young male actor in a flamboyant pink cloak appears to be heading off on his own instead of following the crowd. A small bath is placed at a Castle doorway. Young boys act out pouring water into the bath bowl. The young man playing John Lambton, the rebellious heir of the Lambton Estate, County Durham, who misses church one Sunday to go fishing, hooks something from the bowl with his makeshift rod and line, a rubbery looking green worm. From the balcony, he jokes about the object. A train of boys in a colourful, green Lambton Worm (a dragon or serpent) outfit approach the castle along a drive, terrorising a group of local “maidens”. Knights fight with the Worm. More scenes follow with religious figures, nuns, and the coffin again being carried from the Castle. As many of the pageant actors are arranged on the Castle balcony, stairs and in front of the house, the mock Lambton Worm arrives and keels over in the courtyard of the Castle, play acting death. Three women watch the pageant in the grounds. A woman speaks to the crowd at a microphone on the stage. All the actors pose on the exterior stairs and balcony as a finale.