RED CROSS ENTERTAINMENT FOR MEN IN HOSPITAL [Allocated Title] RED CROSS GIFTS TO WOUNDED [Allocated Title] THE MOUNTED MILITARY POLICE [Allocated Title] C.M.P DOG SECTION [Allocated Title]

Various scenes of the British Red Cross Society's organisation of entertainments for wounded British and South African troops on houseboats and in sports clubs in Tripoli and Cairo. The entertainment includes steamer trips on the Nile, swimming parties, ENSA concerts and dance parties. The first British Mounted Police in Syria. Scenes at the Military Police Dog Training School in the Bekka Valley, Syria (Lebanon).

AYY 544/2/1 (Sergeant Heaney) Men from the 9th General Hospital walking up the gangplank to the ship. A man with crutches hops up the gangplank. Another wounded man is helped up onto the ship. Close up of Driver Holden of the Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) from Ribchester near Blackburn, looking out at the River Nile. Gunner Emery of the Royal Artillery from Longton, Stoke, eating a tomato given to him by a young woman. Scenes at the Maadi Sporting Club. A young woman wearing a bathing hat dives into the swimming pool. Men watching diving. Men walking around the swimming pool as many others sit around the pool wearing bathing trunks. Men having tea including Lance Corporal Cox of the Military Police from Palmerston Road in Chatham; Sergeant Cooper of the Grenadier Guards from Whalley Avenue in Levenshulme, Manchester and Lance Corporal Fox. Close up of Lance Corporal Fox talking to one of two of the Dagenham Girl Pipers brought in to help entertain the wounded troops. She is wearing a distinctive hat and lace collar, and sips tea from a cup. (The dope sheet decribes a Red Cross officer giving cigarettes to Sergeant Stewart of the 5th Camerons from Coatsbridge, Glasgow and also to Trooper Baker of the Royal Lancers from Salisbury, and Sapper Clarke from Aberdeen but this scene does not appear in the reel.) AYY 544/2/2 (Sergeant Berkshire) Various shots of wounded British troops being carried on stretchers from the hospital ship «Llandovary Castle» at Tripoli. The stretcher bearers are Italian prisoners of war. Various shots of stretchers being carried and lowered from the ship. Before being placed into ambulances the wounded are given Red Cross parcels containing shaving gear, a tooth brush and toothpaste, cigarettes, matches, sweets and a copy of the Tripoli Times. A British Red Cross nurse gives a parcel to a man on stretcher. Man on a stretcher opening his Red Cross parcel. AYY 544/3 (Sergeant Heaney, continued) Four men seated around a gramophone on the Nile steamer and singing - they are Signalman C Cole of the Royal Corps of Signals from Muswell Hill, London; Lance Corporal J R Phillps from Blomfontein; Trooper D MacArthur of the Royal Scots Greys from Rothesay, Isle of Bute and Trooper Douglas from Bulewayo, Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). View from roof of bungalow of wounded men seated at tables in the garden of Madame Galante's Bungalow where men are entertained every Thursday. A New Zealand band playing in the garden. Various shots of the men (and some women) sitting at the tables under umbrellas, eating and drinking. A woman carrying a tray of sweets to American soldiers at a table. A group of men and women walking in the garden under a plam tree. The group walking up steps to the swimming pool. Scenes at the Shell Sporting Club. Private Smith of the Kimberley Regiment playing the piano with his arm in a bandage. Lance Corporal Hoggarth of the 7th Argylls (from Settington Road in Liverpool) having tea in the clubhouse. A black soldier with a bandaged eye at the table. Close up of a man with bandaged hands clapping. An ENSA performer in a pinstripe suit entertaining the crowd in the clubhouse. Audience laughing, including a man with burn scars on his face. Another entertainer wearing a suit and bowler hat singing, panning shot to audience. Men sitting on steps outside the Shell clubhouse, the Shell symbol is visible on the outside wall. Couples dancing inside the clubhouse. AYY 544/3/1 (Sergeant Wootton) The Mounted Military Police of the 9th Army in Syria. Horses lined up. Military police climbing onto horses. Various shots of the men riding horses and jumping over obstacles. Mounted police assisting a convoy. Mounted, Mobile and Foot Police on a tour of duty. Mounting without stirrups is demonstrated by the man in charge of the section, R Q M S Smith (formerly of the 16th Queens Lancers). Men pushing a cart drawn by horses. Three policemen riding horses up a street in Beirut. A lorry, motorcycles and horses lined up. Despatch riders on motorcycles and man on horseback moving up the street. Shop fronts in Beiruit, also a restaurant and possible cinema (sign for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer). Horses being groomed. Close up of man rubbing horse's head. Various shots of horses being groomed, including cleaning hooves, and man cleaning saddle and harness. AYY 544/4 (Sergeant Wootton) Various scenes showing the training of Alsatian and Armanti dogs for police work. Dogs jumping over obstacles, climbing a ladder, jumping through hoops etc. A dog eating. Man pointing a gun at a dog. Man brushing dog. Staff at the Training School include Sergeant Olliver from Luton, ex-Metropolitan Police and responsible for training and administration; Corporal D Highlands from Glasgow, a regular soldier from the Argyles; Corporal J Chantery, ex-Palestine police; Lance Corporal Neller from Bedford, ex-Metropolitan Mounted Police; Lance Corporal E Platman, a former tailor from Ilford; Lance Corporal P Simms, a former milkman from Wandsworth; Lance Corporal W Moffatt, a former grocer from Islington; Lance Corporal E Jaggo, a former gamekeeper from Hertford and Captain Lamont RAVC, vetinerary surgeon.

35mm