The Yorkshire Film Archive collects, preserves, and shows film made in, or about Yorkshire. Our collections are non-fiction, dating from the 1890s to the present day, and providing a rich and visually compelling record of all aspects of lives, cultures, landscape, industries, major events and everyday activities, many of which are available to watch, free of charge, on our website.
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Gilchrist Brothers' & Childrens' Christmas Parties
With the war now over, these children make the most of a civilized Christmas Party with home-made hats, dancing and tucking into the traditional fare of sandwiches and cakes.
From the collection of:
Overview
In the immediate aftermath of the war Gilchrist Brothers of Leeds held Christmas parties for their employees’ children, in 1945 and 1946. With rationing still in place the goodies on display look fairly basic, but wearing an assortment of amazing hats, dancing to an accordion, the usual balloons, and of course Father Christmas, the children are happy enough – even though instead of bottles of pop they have to make do with cups of tea.
This film is one of several films originating with the firm of Gilchrist Brothers, mainly of family film from the outbreak to the end of WWII. This film seems to be of Christmas parties for their employees’ children. They were a company of photo-engravers with a worldwide reputation, supplying, among many others, the major book publishers Time Life. They had premises near where the Merrion Centre now is and a factory at West Park, and close links with Leeds Polytechnic.
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