Springtime in an English Village (1944)

Unseen for years due to the fragility of the materials, 'Springtime in an English Village' offers an extraordinary and unexpected snapshot of rural life in wartime. After a fairly predictable opening - farmers ploughing fields, cute baby animals gambolling - it finally gets down to business. The film is about that most ancient of English traditions: the selection and crowning of the Queen of the May. But what is so surprising is that the village of Stanion in Northamptonshire chose to honour a young black girl - apparently the daughter of an African merchant seaman who had been evacuated there during the War.
It's hard to know quite how literally to take the proceedings. The film was made by the Colonial Film Unit for the purpose of screening throughout Britain's African and Caribbean colonies - to demonstrate 'typical' life in the UK - at a time when the government needed to recruit the support of men and women from across the Empire. Later, in the immediate post-War period, such films not only acted to reinforce imperial solidarity, but formed part of a propaganda campaign to attract cheap labour to the UK. (Robin Baker, with thanks to Tom Rice for additional research)
All titles on the BFI Films channel are preserved in the vast collections of the BFI National Archive. To find out more about the Archive visit www.bfi.org.uk/archive-collect...

[@impetrioconquest]

She now lives in the U.S.. My mom is the 3rd from the front row with a bow in her hair. Mom said that none of them have seen this film yet. A story about it was just published in the Evening Telegraph with still photos. Hardly any photos of my mother are around of when she was a child - it is priceless to see this!!!

[@ianwilkinson4602]

It must have been very emotional for you to watch this, I hope you were able to download it at the time and show it to your Mom :-) I wonder if she ever talked about that time in her life. I can only remember fragments of my young life, I was born that year actually, so I was too young to remember the end of the War in Europe. Your Mom would be 84 now I guess, and hopefully still going strong. Regards to her and yourselves. Cheerio.

[@velvetindigonight]

How lovely what a gift for her after so many years ............ I'm English and grew after the war up on the edge of London and can't believe we ever lived like this!? I'm pretty sure this is 'rose tinted glasses' as it was towards the end of the war and moral was low. Whatever very sweet and enjoyable, made me smile. x

[@happymonkey9416]

That is so cool!

[@nacholibre1962]

You could always pause it and do a screen grab.

[@PaulNathan82]

Wow. What happened to this world? The innocence, the simplicity, the discipline, joy, respect.....

[@VIGOUROSO2024]

It's called black people!

[@SampoLapilill]

There is something about this film I find deeply moving, beautiful and pure; some quality of innocence that has been lost from the society at large. Is it possible that England was a more inclusive and less divisive society then? Might it not also be true that the heart warming innocence of rural childhood has been lost for ever? I went to just such a school in Sussex during the forties and this film reminded me of what it was like and why that time has always been a golden memory.

[@normannokes9513]

The gentleness and benevolence quite moving. Imagine the horrors enacted not far away. Fortunately separated by that 'strip of water'.

[@SampoLapilill]

@Bighill 'obbit That all sounds so positively, blissfully right!

[@velvetindigonight]

Beautiful to read of your experience in Sussex........... I'm from London and very interested in history and because we were a port, really the centre of the world for trade, we were very inclusive. I think it was so hard simply to survive colour was not such an issue. People get caught up in black white but the true issue then as now is rich poor alas................. I watched a brilliant forensic documentary here on yt about a person buried in the grounds of a monastry in Ipswich Suffolk from the fourteen hundreds who was of African origin. A historian had done quite a lot of research into being BAME going back to the twelve hundreds. I would include the link but I think that causes problems have just looked it up it called 'History Cold Case - Ipswich Man' and it is on Reel Truth History Documentaries channel here on KZbin. Ironically narrated by Laurence Fox! Enjoy PS I believe we are going through a process of evolving into a society that lives from it's heart and not it's head and so we will become more 'healthy' in many way's including how we bring up and teach our children. Childhood is so important. Ironically the most popular school for parents working in the California tech industries is the Rudolph Steiner/Waldorf School which though not perfect teaches through play and creativity, following the seasons of the year and the christian calender!!! ......... though later they are academicaly rigorous. Creativity is what they value and where innovation resides........................

[@cgrieve1636]

Multiculturalism has worked a treat ..exactly how they intended to destroy European identity .. no other reason or need for such a program .i ,like many other english men have watched with our own eyes the systematic wholesale destruction of our culture for the sake of others and we are silenced

[@MrAllenm94]

@@cgrieve1636 Stop your bleating typical crying imperialist, pinning for the halcyon days of the sixteen hundreds when Britain ruled waves and they all bowed down. Not tired yet of robbing, pillaging and holding The Other in servitude ever since, still not enough? European identity has not changed, STOP LYING AND THE SELF PITY When you know you still have the handle, YOU and everyone like you ARE FUCKING WEAK AND PATHETIC Cry more!

[@britishfilminstitute]

This film was made by the Colonial Film Unit for screening across Britain's African colonies. As such, like a number of films made by the Unit, it was made without dialogue. Some films, however, would have been accompanied by live narration during the screening.

[@ftrtrjn]

I love how nearly every single comment misses the entire point of the movie. In the video description, it says, and I quote, "...such films not only acted to reinforce imperial solidarity, but formed part of a propaganda campaign to attract cheap labour to the UK." The reason this is so idyllic and cutesy is because it was made to attract people from Africa and the West Indies to the UK so they could be used as cheap labor. People saying that the video is wholesome and pure are missing the entire point of it.

[@theunimerse8567]

They are and they aren't. Yes, the film was made to promote a vision of England to encourage immigration, but it was also actually a real event in a real place - the filmmakers went there because the May Queen choice had been reported, and other pupils confirm that they chose their Caribbean friend by ballot. The world it represents was, in fact, real enough, but of course the motivation for the film is more complex. That quaint village life certainly existed, as did a degree of openness in many places that we find surprising retrospectively. There's nothing wrong with wanting that, albeit it wasn't the reality for everyone, and didn't represent the experiences of the majority of immigrants in the UK's urban centres.

[@samhirst2830]

It literally states in the description that the original purpose was to attract support from men and women from across the empire. Also, can't help to point out that cheap labour describes 95% of global immigration.

[@iainhughes6637]

Cheap labour! Are you having a laugh! In 1944, 95% of the population were just that “cheap labour” even when I grew up in the 60s food was scarce and everyone was living on the bread line! I am sick of this thought that every Englishman were well off, it’s only really been since the mid to late seventies that people living in this country had spare money!

[@krisstradling4270]

The music (or most of it) is the Children's Overture by Roger Quilter

[@nopasaranexetercityfc4666]

Love the little girls dancing at the back of the inside girls row. Just like my grand daughters.

[@Simon-pl2zi]

Reminds me of scenes from an Enid Blyton book like Famous Five

[@hardrockerdave94]

I love old stuff like this.

[@stoysville]

Beautiful, beautiful England. How I wish we could return to these days when England was England...

[@messagesforourtime9306]

Thought the same myself, especially in Covid 2020!

[@MichaelSHartman]

Dated 1944. It wasn't always good.

[@nigelmitchell351]

Absolute gem.! Thanks for the post.

[@64mung]

I just love old films like this! Thanks for posting :) 64m >:-)

[@HeavensGremlin]

Wonderful. Yes - a lot of innocence that we have lost. No mobile phones to pollute kids minds.

[@kathygilbert1970]

Filmed in Stanion, Kettering. Still a lovely village.

[@mariapierce2707]

I agree....lovely

[@millikins3017]

Is this Stanion in Northamptonshire. I grew up there in the 70's and although the old school next to the church closed around 1967, we still marched and lined up like that

[@freespirit8508]

I live in the next village and it certainly looks like Stanion

[@jayessextra3640]

it’s definetly stanion!

[@tw555555]

thats great but could you imagine children of today lining up like that at the end of playtime it would take a miracle lol

[@avidutubewatcher]

This is fantastic ... please put more on

[@violetflowers26]

I love the video. But I really don't understand people saying racism didn't exist back then. It was 1944, around the time WWII ended. How could no one be aware of the atrocious acts and purpose of the War? Rather this video was made to show how racism should be overcome.

[@MrCagivaman]

What a bloody great film

[@Climpus]

I used google street view and the church and hall are still there, just in colour now.

[@ManCaveCollectiblesandOddities]

Stephanie Marshall, the May Queen in this video, just passed away and her funeral will be on December 16 in Washington DC.

[@ianwilkinson4602]

RIP May Queen Stephanie.

[@allisonforfornsed]

omigosh this was so cute. Love it

[@lewpv]

I lived in stanion until about 18 months ago and It was honestly such a great place to live. Although it did lose it's community aspect as time went on it still had that old spirit.

[@ohmeowzer1]

This is awesome and thank you

[@scurrie42]

Look at how happy and well behaved those children are without X-boxes, 'reality' TV, blackberries and entitlement to disrepect the adults that guide them. What a beautiful window into the simple life of a bygone era, when children were allowed to have a childhood.

[@gilgameshofuruk4060]

@Kevin CHOU point proven.

[@ianwilkinson4602]

@Kevin CHOU You were a bit late to insult him. You lack a certain amount of empathy. Why should he shut up anyway it was his opinion, to which he is entitled. You are an example of what people have become today, a waste of time and resources.

[@thefreedomlass]

A bygone age of decency and civility.

[@markhenry192]

What could possibly of changed? "diversity is our strength"!

[@breehopton2903]

So peaceful and love please show more clips

[@goldentigerclaw1]

All hail the queen of the May !

[@carapo66]

I was just wondering what the dressing-up was about, thanks for that.

[@khair-un-nisa670]

Wonder ful video, very close with harmony and love.

[@coffycup75]

This blows my mind. 😢👏❤👏❤😢

[@TrainmasterCurt]

The kids are much more behaved than many now!

[@frankklein4872]

Machete gangs

[@doubledeckers]

Or maybe it's the BFI which is putting a spin on this by implying that it was deliberately slanted by the Colonial Film Unit? Perhaps it wasn't and the villagers loved the little black girl and chose her? I know my own family absolutely adored various black singers. Paul Robeson was entertained by MPs at Parliament in the early 1930s. Black history is presented in a very one sided way. It's untrue and unhealthy to suggest that in the past every black person was a downtrodden victim.

[@Joykeymusic]

BFI films should release a dvd of all these old films, serioulsy, think of how many old folks and world war II veterans would by that.

[@aggresive1queen]

Villages are great!

[@andymooseman]

Keep up the good work :)

[@PaulNathan82]

@R0undAboutMidnight Yes, but the kids played no part in the war. They are truly innocent. I was referring to this particular scene of "life as usual" in rural England for the time period in question.

[@GypsyHunter232UK]

Its sidney poitiers daughters

[@DataWaveTaGo]

The schoolyard scene missed the daily pep talk: "'The sun never sets on the British Empire'. So hold your head up and remember that when you realize your years of schooling and innumerable sound-thrashings yield you no more than a severed leg whilst toiling as a trackman for the GWR, boys, or third degree burns girls, as you pass too close to Watt's contraption in the spinning mill."

[@johnauger5746]

did you forget to take your medication this morning?

[@DataWaveTaGo]

@@johnauger5746 Awwww... Aren't you special... I base that comment on many years studying "Cases on the Law Of Torts" by Cecil A. Wright Q.C., S.J.D., LL.D. You really ought to read it to understand how the British Class System works against it's citizens.

[@snowflakemelter1172]

Your brain is broken.

[@DataWaveTaGo]

@@snowflakemelter1172 You just don't understand the how the British Empire was managed, it started at home of course.

[@jonnsuz]

The year I was born ! Never know the war wa still raging would you .

[@sharonpeters2262]

The queen of the may was crowned & kissed by the princess Elizabeth (soon to be queen of UK) it looked like to me.

[@ianwilkinson4602]

I doubt it very much.

[@coviecemarshall2586]

@@ianwilkinson4602 @sharonpeters2262 is exactly right. That May Queen is my Mumsie (grandmother) and that is in fact princess Elizabeth.

[@marioriospinot]

Very nice.

[@chanctonbury63]

@MsJoy15 Yes it does answer all questions. The most truthful observation is almost always the most obvious and simple one. Fully agree.

[@reluctantpaladin]

Wonderful, as always with BFIfilms! I could (and have) spent hours watching the old films from this era and particularly the earlier films. I'm curious, though, why there isn't "live sound" with this. Was it common to have silent movies instead of "talkies" in 1944?

[@maysongbirdsnineteensevent6416]

what a delightful film pity is was not filmed in colour.

[@andyrbush]

Sometimes it seemed like England way back was black, white and grey anyway.

[@Steveningen]

What a curiosity.

[@MatthewDavidParr]

@MsJoy15 You were so SWEET!

[@DataWaveTaGo]

A happy time, and just a few months before the rains - the rains of V1s & V2s. /s

[@incongra]

@twyborn29 Then enjoy your feast of nostalgia and dream of an England which has not existed since Churchill's funeral in 1965.

[@Veruvir]

These kida are more behaved because cameras were more important, because society was less laissez faire about rudeness in public. Social pressure created slight naivity and public politeness. We are the way we are because we are free to be honest and self promoting (or not). You do not see the rudeness and knife gangs of 1944 because there is no documentary on it, not because it didn't exist.

[@heathersmith5405]

Good thing there's a lengthy explanation as to what the kids were doing. Otherwise, I would not have had a clue. Interesting film but one gets the feeling that the kids were on their best behavior.

[@HeatherBBC]

Dear All, my name is Heather and I'm contacting from the BBC. I have been looking at this fabulous film with the idea of using it in an up and coming BBC documentary. I'd be really interested in speaking with anyone who features in the video or knows anyone that features in the video. I'd be really interested in getting in touch with highgatemini Impetrioconquest and MsJoy15. I look forward to hearing from you, thanks - Heather.

[@annwatt8139]

Hi, did you notice there is someone below - highgatemini - who wrote 5 years ago telling how she met Stephanie the May Queen. Check it out

[@jwhit8083]

Heather Absalom Dear Heather Absalom & others, I met the girl featured in this film today, in the doctor's office. Her name is Stephanie. She and her nonidentical twin sister, Connie, were both in this film; Stephanie was the one crowned Queen of the May. She is the daughter of a Nigerian man and an Irish woman. She said that at the time they lived in London, only three Black families lived there. I asked her whether there had been perceptible racism in London at that time; she said it was there (imagine the word there is underlined) but not obvious. She and her sisters and brother were indeed evacuees, as an earlier commenter posited; they were sent to the country when she was 8. She said there were no other Black families in that town. Though this was a propaganda film, from what I gathered, the children in her class had actually chosen her Queen of the May, and she was the first Black Queen of the May in England; this perhaps prompted the reenactment shown in the film. The teacher shown was one of the teachers but not her primary teacher. She knew the name of the primary song in the film -- it was something like The Bells of Rhymney--different tune from the Pete Seeger & Byrds version we may know, but similar lyrics (though not all the same). She also named the game where they link hands and go through/under other linked hands, but I don't remember what she called it. In 1958 Stephanie moved from London to Alabama with her American husband, who she met during the war. She had at least two children, and currently lives in Maryland. In her face, you can still see the face of the little girl in the film.

[@ianwilkinson4602]

@@jwhit8083 Wonderful piece of background information, thank you. I hope they all had memorable lives. I wonder if any of them ever saw this lovely film, how emotional that would have been. Greetings from Wales in the UK. Goodbye.

[@coviecemarshall2586]

Stephanie Marshall, the May Queen, was my maternal grandmother. She passed away recently. Her service will be held at Nineteenth Street Baptist Church in Washington, DC on 12/16.

[@coviecemarshall2586]

@@ianwilkinson4602 yes, Mumsie (Stephanie) and Auntie Connie (her twin) have both seen the video.

[@tiernanwearen8096]

A vanished world so little like our one yet so near

[@SuperAlexrios]

why i found this video so relaxing? I m very curious how black kids were accept in schools

[@brousseaua]

when you say "identify the young star" do you mean the black girl? Haven't a clue though. I love old stuff like this too!

[@franceskronenwett3539]

Lots of US soldiers were stationed in England during 1944. Is it possible that the little black girl was a daughter of one of those soldiers and attended an English village school during that time? I could well be wrong, but it was just a thought.

[@dezze0n]

not many left... unfortunatly

[@ingy750]

@MsJoy15 Great movie, I've viewed it at National Film Theatre a few times Where were your memories published? I heard there wa something in the Telegraph. was this recently? I would love to read them

[@mrmagicroundcircle]

looks like the school mistress is hard of hearing

[@incongra]

Nowadays is you tried to make a similar film ( not that people are even allowed to film kids anymore) it would be like Baghdad.

[@gheebowman578]

What an extraordinary bit of film. Rather beautiful, actually. I love the way the kids behave. Amazing that some people in the comments below use the film as an opportunity to attack multiculturalism in general and Muslims in particular!

[@snowflakemelter1172]

Its not amazing when you see that the film shows a mono culture and you yourself admit it looks more peaceful and civilised.

[@chanctonbury63]

there actually appear to be two coloured girls in the movie.

[@gehanoates294]

They are black not coloured, that’s a racist term.

[@coviecemarshall2586]

They are twins, my mumsie and aunt.

[@cocklesandmussels]

Great! What's the music?

[@Climpus]

Children's Overture by Roger Quilter

[@daisymutch1545]

big up stanion

[@GlamGlamable]

This must be a silly myth or a short-lived occurence, as the reason I found out about this was through an article in The Observer, which talks about the whereabouts of the May Queen and her family.

[@Denis-tg6jw]

GlamGlamable The Catholic Church devotes the month of May to Mary. Hence the crowning of Queen of the May. I assume that this is an Anglican (Episcopalian) church, but probably a very "High" church one.

[@robwilde855]

@@Denis-tg6jw The Queen of the May is a pagan survival, as is Maypole Dancing. Nothing to do with Mary, or the Christian church, Catholic or Anglican, although the country parsons of course went along with it, most countryside English Christianity in those days being really related mainly to nature, underneath it all. Think about the majority of the parishioners only going to church at Christmas, Easter, and Harvest Festival, the only times in the year when the churches were full. [Speaking from experience, by the way.]

[@Denis-tg6jw]

Rob Wilde but adopted by Christianity.

[@robwilde855]

@@Denis-tg6jw Broadly speaking, yes. I was just trying to say that it was taken in and subsumed into Christianity by pragmatic clergy from outside, gradually, during the middle part of the Christian era, rather than being an internal part of original [Middle-Eastern, or Roman] Catholic doctrine. However, your point does suggest the possibility that there would have been early, purely Christian, celebrations of Mary in association with youth, springtime, purity, and of course flowers, which could have run parallel with the pagan version, and then merged with it. The clergy would have their reasons for it, and the peasantry theirs, and even if in places the feelings were different, everyone was happy.

[@cocklesandmussels]

Thanks. It includes a number of variations of pieces, for example one starts at 0:50, maybe a children's song or an English folk song. Any idea of the names of these?

[@franceskronenwett3539]

The tune which was played the most frequently in this film was that of a song called "Girls And Boys Come Out To Play".

[@xwsftassell]

Springtime in an English village. Bloody raining again.

[@edcurrie311]

I need to know what the music is for this!? I need to get my hand on it. Anyone have any ideas?

[@Climpus]

Children's Overture by Roger Quilter

[@pamelapuntay6902]

1.47-01.57 3.25-03.33 4.56-05.07 6.25-06.40

[@trommie31]

i would like to know more about this for black history month..

[@anthonycurtis4120]

of course it wasn't but this was can't we remember the living and not always the dead?

[@MrCagivaman]

Sorry, meant to say '' IS ''

[@markhenry192]

Very unusual to see black kids pre Windrush. Not a coincidence I suspect!

[@chanctonbury63]

@stoysville And our boys were fighting for their lives.... Anyway after all that we had austerity for years followed by the industrial grime and poverty of the fifties, followed by 20 years of weak government when the Unions ran the country. No I dont look back to the big picture with any longing whatsoever. The countryside where I grew up OK yes, but not the rest.

[@yell50]

and? so what? what point are you trying to make?

[@redro32244]

actually in the old silent films , it came out from lip readers that some rather filthy things were being said by the actors mary pickford being one of the worse offenders .

[@johnkevinwilshaw2490]

Cute black kids were a novelty. Not now.

[@TimelineProvision]

yea you liked them when they were kissing white mans ass and bowing down to white master. the new age is finally here, and there wont be no "yessir massa" and buckdancing anymore. deal with it.

[@johnkevinwilshaw2490]

I never saw a black when I was a kid. I grew up in a monoracial, Christian, crime free village in West Cumberland. We went to school, went to church on a Sunday, attended Scouts and were typically naughty but loveable rogues who poured beer on the Flimby Town Band during the Seaton Carnival. You are talking out of your rectum.

[@johnkevinwilshaw2490]

TimelineProvision TP Look, don't impose a guilt complex on the whole world. My ancestors never had slaves but my grandparents and great grandparents were themselves slaves to a system that exploited, used and abused them. I shouldn't have to explain this. If you want to understand then visit the museums devoted to the cotton mills, the pits and the workhouses. Going further, remember the 'Pal's Battalions', the children of the pits and the cotton mills fed into the 'meat grinders' of Loos, The Somme, Ypres and Paschendaele. Don't give me a fucking guilt trip. Our grandparents paid for their descendant's security in blood.

[@johnkevinwilshaw2490]

TimelineProvision TP You've got a million chips on your shoulder. As regards black people, my grandparents probably never saw a black man as Britain was a monoracial society back then. Even I didn't see black people 'in the flesh' until I moved to multiracial southern England. I'm simply not interested in 'black oppression' and 'white racism'. Sorry.

[@coffycup75]

john kevin wilshaw So you're saying that cute black kids are everywhere now ... thanks!

[@chanctonbury63]

...And 10 million people were dying every year in a World War. Those were the days.

[@chanctonbury63]

What?

[@MrCagivaman]

You are obviously not British then ????

[@MrCagivaman]

I am sure these kids in this film did not run around stabbing and shooting each other because of gang membership. That only happened in the shit holes of Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester and London. Now it's rife everywhere. Bring back the birch and hanging I say

[@joejohnston2331]

MrCagivaman here here

[@Joel4god]

lol

[@dangerman8625]

Slight propaganda in this film regarding the crowning of the gueen, 1940s.

[@59acres]

THey sure did swear alot back then! Every word they said has been edited out.

[@lopzilla]

Where's the mosque ?

[@Sennmut]

Lip reading, anyone?

[@coviecemarshall2586]

The only thing I can make out is the children voting in majority for ‘Stephanie’.

[@briansearle4138]

Discipline, you have order and you know exactly where you stand . Today though nil. That's what you get for being liberal I suppose children running amok bad mouthed etc. Parent's to blame, had my rant , I've been watching films like these and it makes me sad , if only they knew !!. 🇬🇧🇬🇧

[@robwilde855]

That's just it - they don't know. Don't know what has been lost.

[@TrainmasterCurt]

Women also looked more like Women back then

[@ianwilkinson4602]

Instead of tarts you mean or worse? I agree, they follow trends like demented ewes.

[@stephenvince9994]

As you can see of course just how horribly racist we were.... (Its sarcasm for readers of reduced IQ)

[@sheene71]

be all blacks and one white person now sad state of affairs

[@coffycup75]

sheene71 Cheer up, there's still plenty of white people in the world.

[@andrew-vo9hi]

truely pathetic

[@nopasaranexetercityfc4666]

What is ?