At Wessex Film and Sound Archive you can see and hear history, from late Victorian times to the present day, through moving images and sound recordings. The Archive contains over 36,000 film and sound recordings relating to Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, including film and tapes of local TV and radio.
This film is part of Free
Video Player is loading.
Cricket Ground Preparations for Portsmouth Cricket Week
Cricket stars descend on Portsmouth while a flurry of groundsmen, broadcasters and fans prepare for Cricket Week
From the collection of:
Overview
This fascinating film from 1990 shows the preparations for Portsmouth’s Cricket Week – to be held at the city’s United Services Ground. We see dedicated groundsmen hard at work on the pitch and the scoreboard while Outside Broadcast technicians set up cameras on the boundaries, on rooftops and on cranes. A bronzed groundsman carefully measures and paints lines on the pitch while fans watch players from all over the world practise in the nets and on the pitch.
Hampshire County Cricket Club ceased using the United Services Ground in Portsmouth when they moved to the more suitable and purpose built Rose Bowl stadium, on the outskirts of Southampton, in 2001.
Related
Watch for free
Lancashire XI Cricket Team Lancashire XI Cricket Team
Sport 1923 1 mins Silent Location: Blackpool
Meet the team - a close encounter with some of the great characters of Lancashire cricket.
Watch for free
Somerset CCC v Nottinghamshire CCC Somerset CCC v Nottinghamshire CCC
News 1977 1 mins Silent Location: Taunton
Somerset and Nottinghamshire are playing in Cornwall
Watch for free
Somerset CCC Prepares for the Season Somerset CCC Prepares for the Season
News 1962 2 mins Silent Location: Taunton
Somerset gear up for the 1962 domestic season
Watch for free
Surrey v Lincolnshire - The Gillette Cup 1974 Surrey v Lincolnshire - The Gillette Cup 1974
Sport 1974 2 mins Location: Lincoln
Lincolnshire Cricket Club captain Ian Moore is confident when meeting Surrey in the second round of the Gillette Cup, 1974.
Watch for free
Yorkshire are 1968 County Cricket Champions Yorkshire are 1968 County Cricket Champions
Sport 1968 4 mins Location: Kingston upon Hull
A three-day battle between Yorkshire and Surrey in the cricket County Championship leads to a triumphant win for Yorkshire.
Watch for free
Cricket in Canterbury and a Wedding 1967 Cricket in Canterbury and a Wedding 1967
Amateur film 1967 7 mins Silent Location: Canterbury
Cricket takes a back seat in this film from 1967 which concentrates more on the spectators, their fashions and colourful examples of millinery
Watch for free
Foundation of Beauty Foundation of Beauty
Advert 1930 8 mins Silent Location: Portsmouth
The Foundation of Beauty is what lies beneath - as this parade of corsetted ladies reveal - with corsets to suit all shapes, sizes and ages
Watch for free
Key Key
Advert 1930 10 mins Silent Location: Portsmouth
This enjoyable 1930s info-mercial shows how you can furnish your home -and have that dream kitchen - by using the PIMCO easy payment plan
Watch for free
H.M.S. "Powerful" Arriving in Portsmouth Harbour H.M.S. "Powerful" Arriving in Portsmouth Harbour
Non-Fiction 1900 1 mins Silent Location: Portsmouth
A mighty naval cruiser returns home to Britain, covered in glory - and Nelson's ship is there to welcome it
Watch for free
H.M.S. Powerful Moored at Portsmouth H.M.S. Powerful Moored at Portsmouth
Non-Fiction 1900 0 mins Silent Location: Portsmouth
Take a good look at one of the era's largest warships - the hefty H.M.S. Powerful, back from the Boer War
Watch for free
Portsmouth Guildhall Square Portsmouth Guildhall Square
Amateur film 1976 4 mins Silent Location: Portsmouth
All sorts of building styles sit cheek-by-jowl in Portsmouth's redeveloped Guildhall Square - as George Sloane's mid 1970s film shows
Watch for free
Construction at Portsmouth Polytechnic Construction at Portsmouth Polytechnic
Amateur film 1968 2 mins Silent Location: Portsmouth
Portsmouth Polytechnic is about to rise from its foundations in this short 1968 film from George Sloane - and there isn't a hard hat to be seen
Watch for free
Wrong Bathroom Wrong Bathroom
Drama 2024 9 mins
A trans high-schooler is tempted by toxic masculinity in the boys’ bathroom.
Watch for free
We’ll Go Down in History We’ll Go Down in History
Documentary 2025 25 mins
Two years in the life of TRUK United FC, a beacon for positive change and trans inclusivity in football.
Watch for free
If I Make It To The Morning If I Make It To The Morning
Drama 2024 9 mins
A Chinese teenager dreams of living with her cool aunt in New York, until tensions boil over during a crab dinner.
Watch for free
Dragfox Dragfox
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2024 8 mins
A child struggling with their identity and a charismatic fox (voiced by Sir Ian McKellen) learn to embrace their differences in this heart warming stop-motion animation.
Watch for free
Wait, Wait, Now! Wait, Wait, Now!
Drama 2024 13 mins
A Maori and a Kiwi teen buddy up to raid their mum’s wardrobe and pucker their lips with red.
Watch for free
NGGAK!!! NGGAK!!!
Drama 2024 8 mins
‘I pronounce you wife and wife.’ A young couple design their perfect wedding online, but then mum dials in.