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Holiday in Saundersfoot 1953

The day the Healeys arrive for their summer holiday, a troubadour attracts a crowd in Saundersfoot.

Home movie 1953 6 mins Silent

From the collection of:

Logo for National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales

Overview

The Healey family from Heywood arrive in Saundersfoot and head straight for the beach on foot, Dad filming the excited procession: his wife Majorie and daughters Angela (b.1941), Vivien (b.1946), Rachel (b.1948). They pass a cow being milked in a field, a minstrel in a car park and Green's Motor buses. Scrambling down the sea wall frightens the youngest but Dad is distracted by a twin-boom aircraft overhead. A boat being lifted out of the water also proves interesting.

William was one of the 3 sons of Percy and Alice Healey, Percy being Chair of Healey Brothers Ltd, a rope and twine manufacturing business started by his grandfather in 1843 with the Cartridge Ropery in Heywood. Percy filmed family holidays in Abersoch and Nefyn (see e.g. β€˜Abersoch – The Anchorage') and William films his wife [Florence] Marjorie (nee Etherington) and his 3 daughters enjoying Pembrokeshire. William carried on the family business with his brother Brian, their brother Donald having been killed on the SS Fiscus in 1940. In 1968 the business was acquired by British Ropes Ltd and the ropery is still in operation in Heywood, making e.g. braid and cord for the railways, fire and rescue industries.