Description
Object description
The sixteenth in a series of Ministry of Information "news magazine" compilations issued for screening in factory canteens etc.
Full description
I. SGOIL PHIOBAIRAECHED AN T-SAOGHAL (The World School of Piping). An item on a school for Army bagpipers based in Edinburgh. A staged scene of pipers in action during a night attack (from the film "Desert Victory"). Shot of Edinburgh Castle with the commentary mentioning that the Castle is the home of the 'Mecca of Army Pipers' taught by Pipe Major Ross. Shots of seated, kilted pipers listening to Ross who is holding a bagpipe practice chanter and instructing them by a blackboard. The commentary notes that these students are already skilled pipers and here to learn the higher art of their profession. Shot of the student bagpipers using practice chanters. The commentary also notes that Pipe Major Ross' duties are not only military and to illustrate this he is seen teaching a 10 year old boy who practices in front of him using bagpipes. A shot of a lone bagpiper on the battlements of Edinburgh Castle, followed by a panoramic view of the city and a brief interior view of the Scottish National War Memorial. Shot of bagpiper entertaining a small number of British soldiers resting in the desert.
Content description
II.FARMER INVENTORS. View of the English countryside identified by the commentary as Buckinghamshire. The commentary mentions the wartime necessity to change to arable farming and the use of more intensive mechanisation. Brief shot of a County War Committee instructor teaching a group of farmers 'how to get the most our of a tractor' . The commetary notes that several farmers have applied such new engineering knowledge - Farmer Busby has designed a device to improve his tractor halter to avoid time consuming repairs; Farmer Busby has also found a re-use for binder twine, twisting and combining the thin twine to form a useable rope; Andrew Hilton has added a lever to his seed drill and no longer needs a second person to operate the drill and has also added extras tines to his seed drill in line with the tractor wheels to ensure the best use of all the ground and an even distribution of seed; Merrick (?) Owen has added a sloping floor to his tractor trailer for the more efficient collection of grain when working alongside a combine harvester and the easier deposit of the collected grain in the hopper. The item concludes with the commentary "Simple ides, but they all help the harvest".
Content description
III. BARRACUDAS - FLYING FISH OF THE FLEET AIR ARM. Shots of the manufacture of Fairey Barracuda aircraft, with men and women working on the metal fuselage. Shots of the retractable undercarriage. View of a completed aircraft and the loading of a torpedo. View of take-off, flypast and landing. Brief shots of Barracuda aircraft taking off from carriers and landing using arrester wire.
Physical description
35mm