National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales preserves and celebrates the sound and moving image heritage of Wales, making it accessible to a wide range of users for enjoyment and learning. Its film collection reflects every aspect of the nation’s social, cultural and working life across the 20th century, giving a fascinating insight into Welsh filmmaking, both amateur and professional.
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Criccieth Beach, Aug. 1938
A J Sylvester, David Lloyd George’s private secretary, here catches the ex-British prime minister at leisure, with his family in Blaenau Ffestiniog and his apples in Surrey.
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Overview
David Lloyd George, ex-British prime minister, enjoys a picnic in the Blaenau Ffestiniog area with his family (daughter Megan does a delightful bit of dancing) and picks apples with his wife Margaret in his orchard at ‘Bron-y-de’, his farm in Churt, near Farnham, Surrey. Criccieth and London (views from Thames House where Lloyd George had offices) also feature on this reel, believed to have been shot by Lloyd George’s private secretary, A J Sylvester.
David Lloyd George had visited Hitler in Germany in 1936 and been impressed by the Fuhrer’s land drainage and motorway building schemes, both of which provided (enforced) work for the unemployed. Lloyd George was himself convinced that substantially more acres could be used to grow food for Britain, that poor land could be improved and that agricultural changes of this nature would also create opportunites for much needed employment. He practised new techniques and tested new machinery at his farm in Surrey.
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