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A big thanks to all who packed out the cinema at this year’s Vintage Festival in London, where we didn’t have a spare seat all weekend. From Ealing Classics to Ministry of Information films, our programme went down a storm. If you Londoners missed us, don’t panic – we’ll be back in September with the BFI for the Thames Festival.

Our visit was made possible by Vue Cinemas as part of their celebrations about opening the new Westfield cinema at Stratford, and thanks also go to Optimum Releasing and the BFI for putting together a brilliant programme of films, including the classic Ealing comedies which have just been re-released on DVD.

Upcoming Events

RAF Harrowbeer 70th Anniversary Event – Saturday 13th & Sunday 14th August

We’re going to be spending the weekend in sunny (we hope!) Devon for the RAF Harrowbeer 70th Anniversary event. The weekend will kick off with a 1940s Dinner Dance at the Moorland Garden Hotel (formerly the Moorland Links Hotel) near Yelverton on Friday 12th August at 7pm, so put on your dancing shoes and come on down. There will be a special menu and live 1940s music, and the crowd will be getting dressed up in 1940s style for this event. See the website for details and tickets.

The mobile cinema programme will run all day on Saturday and Sunday, after the event opens on Saturday at 10am,  when there will be a Service of Rememberance at the RAF Harrowbeer Memorial Stone at Leg O’ Mutton Corner. The City of Plymouth Pipe Band will lead a march back to Knightstone for the official opening ceremony.

Our visit has been made possible by the new owners of the Moorland Garden Hotel, a very special hotel on the edge of Dartmoor National Park, set in 9 acres of beautiful grounds with breathtaking views across the Tamar Valley. So if you need somewhere to stay over the weekend, you know where to go!

We’re going to be screening a great mix of archive film, including ‘For Your and Our Skies’, ‘Poles in the Battle of Britain’, and material from the South West Film and TV Archive including the award winning ‘Peter and Ruby’ about subsistence farmers on Dartmoor and a selection of archive footage from as far back as the 1920s. And for the very first time, you’ll be able to catch a glimpse of the upcoming BBC2 TV series ‘The Reel History of Britain’ with an exclusive screening of some material from the programme.

And we’re not the only attraction – the sights and sounds include:

IN THE AIR:
Aerial Displays
A Fairey Swordfish (LS 326) from the Royal Navy Historic Fight
The RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight on display over Harrowbeer
The iconic Lancaster with Spitfire and Hurricane escorts.
An Air Sea Rescue display by A Flight of No. 22 SAR Squadron based at RMB Chivenor.

ON THE GROUND:
Full-Size replica Spitfire with working Merlin Engine
Full-Size replica Hurricane (veteran from the 1968 film “Battle of Britain”)
Military Vehicles (Military Vehicle Trust)
Living History displays
City of Plymouth Pipe Band
Jazz Bands – Jazzacadabra and Roger Marks ‘Spitfire Five’
Plymouth Hospital Radio
Field Gun Demonstration
A Charity Dog Show (organised by Children’s Hospice SW)
Airfix ‘Make and Paint’ Roadshow
Wargames demonstration by ‘Game and Computer’ of Tavistock
Climbing Wall
Visit one of Harrowbeer’s newly restored Dispersal Bays for the first time in 50 years

So bring all the friends and family for this unique, one-off event. See the Harrowbeer website for more details.

Other Upcoming Events

We’re heading up North! We’re going to be at the Southport Flower Show from 18th – 21st August, screening archive footage from Flower Shows of yesteryear.

And on the bank holiday weekend 28th & 29th August, we’ll be at the Ramsgate Arts Festival with an eclectic mix of short films on offer.

More details about all of this to come, as well as September trips to Birmingham, Yorkshire, Brighton, London, Bournemouth and the New Forest. For more details, see our events list.

See you there!