Southend History
Thursday
09:00 – Music – Somewhere Over The Rainbow Scarlett Taylor
From one of the greatest films of all time, release in 1939. Southend Artiste, Scarlett is 15 years old, she sings, plays guitar, ukulele, and piano. With the help of the local musicians at SoSlam (Southend on Sea Live Acoustic Music) she started to write her own music and has performed at many local gigs , including The Village Green, The Folk Festival, Chinnery’s and BBC Essex. Scarlett was lucky to obtain a place at The Brit School, she loves being in such a creative place and misses it so much!
09:30 Art – How to make your own VE Day Bunting by Ali Ward
With VE-Day fast approaching, local artist Ali Ward shows how children of all ages and abilities can make their own bunting from a variety of materials in the spirit of Make Do and Mend.
10:00 – Art – Digital Art for All Ages By Emma Mills
Southend Artist, Emma Mills, show and describes the process of creating digital art on a tablet computer and explain how any age child can do this type of art and achieve great results.
10:30 Southend Stories – War Comes To Southend – An Excerpt from the Memoirs of Roland Hayward
Westcliff boy, Roland Hayward produced a wonderful memoir later in life and this excerpt offers such a detailed view of what life was like in Southend when World War 2 was declared and the changes to the town and the people during that time.
11:00 History – The Evacuation of Dunkirk – Movietone News
This is a Movietone News report from the time that details the operation to evacuate the British Expeditionary Force and their allies from the beaches of Dunkirk in 1940. Copyright of Movietone News.
12:00 - History – The Little Ships – Endeavour
The Endeavour was (and is) a Cockling Boat from Leigh-on-Sea that was chosen to be one of the flotilla of Little Ships that sailed with the British Navy to the beaches of Dunkirk and ferried servicemen to the large ships waiting offshore.
13:00 – Southend Music – Lockdown family music making
A 9 min film with his family under lockdown with music and fun.
13:30 – Southend Music – Blaze Away by The Music Man Project
This is a 3 minute activity video by the Music Man Project for groups of children to enjoy and participate whatever their musical abilities.
14:00 – Southend Art - The Bicycle Thief
This is a charming film from a local film maker that has a lovely ending and one of the nicest films I’ve seen for ages. “A Little Girl embarks on an innocent adventure, riding through a children’s wonderland of ice cream parlours and amusement parks. However, her journey is soon interrupted when her beloved bicycle disappears. Forced to choose between giving it up or giving chase, she sets off on a new and daring adventure – in determined pursuit of the Big Man who has taken it. The Bicycle Thief was filmed along the Thames Estuary between Leigh-on-Sea and Southend-on-Sea in Essex, UK.”
14:30 – Southend History – ECKO by Mark Flewitt
The ECKO Company played a large part in the development of Southend-on-Sea during the last century and as Mark Flewitt explains also contributed to the success of the country.
15:00 – Jazz – Digby Fairweather and his half dozen at Ronnie Scotts
Digby Fairweather and his half dozen have performed in some of the most prestigious Jazz joints in the world and this recording of Dixieland Jazz shows just why we asked them to be a part of the HMS Leigh Make Do and Mend event on Southend Pier – hopefully now in May 2021. This was recorded (roughly) at Ronnie Scott’s a few years ago.
16:00 – Music - Building the blues – Dan Deacon
Music before the war came in many genres and something new to hit Britain at the time was Blues, and Rhythm and Blues, this is an example of how Blues music of the time builds from simple beginnings to an complex production with multiple harmonics.
17:00 – Southend Charities – A Young Soldier’s Challenges After Leaving The Armed Forces – the Royal British Legion
The British Legion was formed on 15 May 1921, bringing together four national organisations of ex-Servicemen that had established themselves after the First World War. The first ever Poppy Appeal was also held that year. The poppies sold out almost immediately and raised over £106,000.
The Royal British Legion are still sells poppies every year and thanks to volunteers up and down the country they continue to support our service and ex-service people and their families throughout this difficult time.
17:30 - Bygone Years Films – The Fleet Visits Southend 1909
We love this film from 1909 and thanks to Chris Taylor and the Bygone Years DVD we can bring you the wonderful line “The Pier had to be closed several times during the week because of overcrowding”. Hopefully, this will also happen in May 2021 when HMS Leigh celebrates VE75+1
18:00 – Southend History Film – Take The Blue Plane
From Mouatt/ Mercer films and courtesy of Don Mouatt, this is a charming look at the Southend Airport of the last century. With features such as duty free and ash trays on the armrests it really does take you back.
Thank you all for joining us today, we hope to see you for tomorrows event