Newly discovered footage marks 75th anniversary of VE Day

The 7 minute film, released ahead of the 75^th anniversary of VE Day this Friday (8 May), has been assembled by Dr Frank Gray and the team at SASE to provide an introduction to the many films it has collected over the past 25 years on the experience of living in the south-east since the 1890s.

‘War and Peace’ is a chronological montage of footage in black and white and colour, many of which has never been seen before in public, captured by film-makers from the region between 1939 and 1945.

Featuring the building of Anderson shelters, air raid drills in Hove, Spitfires at Tangmere Airfield near Chichester, the ‘real’ Dad’s Army armed with broomsticks and the tragic aftermath of the Blitz in Brighton. The film finishes with the end of war celebrations in London and the south-east, with parades, street parties and doing the hokey-cokey.

Dr Gray said: “Our planning of War and Peace began over a year ago with the identification of key films, research into each work (e.g. the film-maker, the activities seen and the locations) and the careful digitisation process.

“What has emerged is a unique record of the home front – how daily lives were lived during this difficult period. War and Peace was designed to be shared with everyone and each film used within it can be seen on our website and be creatively re-used within new projects.”

The film is accompanied by a specially commissioned score from award-winning screen composer Nina Humphreys.

From the research, digitisation and cataloguing of footage from World War II, over 150 Home Front films are now available to view on the SASE website.