Metadata
WORK ID: YFA 2884 (Master Record)
| Title | Year | Date |
| FLOWERS FOR LEEDS | 1952 | 1952-01-01 |
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Details
Original Format: 16mm Colour: Colour Sound: Silent Duration: 11 mins 11 secs Subject: Urban Life Architecture |
| Summary This is a film of the annual Flowers for Leeds competition sponsored by the Yorkshire Post. After showing examples of colourful and well-kept park areas in the city centre, the film shows the winning entries in the competition from the various categories. |
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Description
This is a film of the annual Flowers for Leeds competition sponsored by the Yorkshire Post. After showing examples of colourful and well-kept park areas in the city centre, the film shows the winning entries in the competition from the various categories.
The film begins with a clock tower, clock tower of Leeds Town Hall showing 10 o'clock on an overcast day. Cars and pedestrians pass by a nearby street corner.
Intertitle - The flowers for Leeds Committee endeavour to stimulate pride...
This is a film of the annual Flowers for Leeds competition sponsored by the Yorkshire Post. After showing examples of colourful and well-kept park areas in the city centre, the film shows the winning entries in the competition from the various categories.
The film begins with a clock tower, clock tower of Leeds Town Hall showing 10 o'clock on an overcast day. Cars and pedestrians pass by a nearby street corner.
Intertitle - The flowers for Leeds Committee endeavour to stimulate pride in the City of Leeds and its appearance by the cultivation of flowers and the care of gardens.
Next shown are the flower beds are in front of the Leeds General Infirmary on Great George Street. It's a bright and sunny day. Gardeners tend a well-kept and colourful park. There are close-ups of some flowers.
Intertitle - Some winning gardens
Intertitle - At 22, Grovehall Avenue, Beeston, Mr Mulley
The flowers in the front garden of Mr Mulley are shown, with some boys looking on.
Intertitle - At 136, Alwoodley Lane, Mr Hardy
The beautiful garden of Mr Hardy is shown, with a woman sat out in a deckchair.
Intertitle - Best Municipal Garden: Mr R D Beatie, Ireland Wood
The house is shown in the street, with two tricycles parked outside. There is a large well-kept garden with greenhouses. Two boys sit in the impressive garden; one of them gets up and fires a bow and arrow.
Intertitle - Pre-fab site: Mr G H Blane, St Mark's Street, Woodhouse
There is a church at the end of the street, and a group of children playing near the pre-fab house, which has a lovely garden around it.
Intertitle - A Class Winner, Mr J V Daniel
There is a street sign for South Parkway, and two women are sat on the grass in the street as a couple of small children walk past. Next to them is the winning house with a man out tending to his garden.
Intertitle - Champion Garden: Mr S Mawson, 28, Southwaite Lane, Seacroft
There is a row of well-tended front gardens. On the street someone is filming, with a group of children looking on. One garden is shown in close-up, with two women watching from a nearby house doorway.
Intertitle - Committee Tour August 16th
A group of people walk around a garden and cups are presented to the various winners at their homes.
Context
Flowers for Leeds is one of six films in a collection that document the competition in the years 1952, 1953, 1955 and 1957. The films were produced by Leeds Camera Club, which was founded in 1893 and became the Leeds Cine Club in 1965, at the request of the Yorkshire Post who funded the Flowers for Leeds competition’s certificate and prize money, around £125. As there is little information available regarding the Flowers for Leeds competition, the best online source of information is the...
Flowers for Leeds is one of six films in a collection that document the competition in the years 1952, 1953, 1955 and 1957. The films were produced by Leeds Camera Club, which was founded in 1893 and became the Leeds Cine Club in 1965, at the request of the Yorkshire Post who funded the Flowers for Leeds competition’s certificate and prize money, around £125. As there is little information available regarding the Flowers for Leeds competition, the best online source of information is the Leodis website (see references) which has a collection of photos of the previous year’s competition (1951) some of which feature the same gardens as the competition featured in the film.
This film of the 1952 Flowers for Leeds competition is the first in the collection donated by the Yorkshire Post though it had been running for several years, hosted by the Flowers for Leeds Committee, an organisation that “endeavours to stimulate pride in the City of Leeds and its appearance by the cultivation of flowers and the care of gardens”. The competition was divided up into categories or ‘classes’, such as the window box class or municipal estate class, with a cash prize of £3 given to first place in each class during the committee tour. Trophies included the Hugh Lupton Cup for the finest Municipal Estate Garden, the Charles Tetley Cup for the best non-Corporation Garden and the Robert Barr Cup for the best entry by a young gardener. The Flowers for Leeds competition has since made way for the Leeds In Bloom which is one of several ‘In Bloom’ competitions across the country. There are over 50 ‘In Bloom’ groups within Leeds which have a similar aim to the Flowers for Leeds committee; “Leeds in Bloom encourages residents and businesses to work in partnership to decorate their homes or premises with flowers and make Leeds look more attractive” (Leeds In Bloom site, references). The ‘In Bloom’ competitions are organised by the Royal Horticultural Society, whose competition “promotes horticulture in the community for the benefit of local people and the environment” (RHS site, references). Flowers for Leeds also provides an insight to 1950s Leeds in that the influences of World War Two are still visible. Anderson shelters still stand in many gardens in the film, and these shelters also have a connection with gardening. Those that were buried were used as flower or vegetable beds as the shelter was protected by earth banks either side. Those that were not buried were often used as garden sheds in the post-war years, their usefulness made them popular. Anderson shelter owners had to pay to keep them as the government wanted to reclaim the corrugated iron. During World War Two, gardening had become popular through the encouragement of self-sufficiency in the form of campaigns such as ‘Dig for Victory’. Such campaigns issued pamphlets which explained how to dig correctly and how to sow seeds so that people would be able to supplement their menial rations. After the war ended, as with many places in Britain, extensive housing projects took place in Leeds. Flowers for Leeds provides an insight into one of the new types of architecture introduced during these projects. Prefabricated houses or ‘pre-fabs’ were a type of temporary housing built as part of the Housing (Temporary Accommodation) Act of 1944. The government put £150 million towards the construction of houses for those who had lost theirs in bombing raids. Pre-fabs consisted of prebuilt sections, such as large wall panels, that could be constructed quickly and cheaply, this avoided the issue of the lack of skilled construction workers. Pre-fabs cost around £600 to construct and the most prolific design was the Airey house. Its simple design meant that it could be adapted for a rural or urban setting. These houses were often a modern-style bungalow that became so popular with their inhabitants that many chose not to leave their temporary accommodation when new, more permanent housing was provided. References About the Royal Horticultural Society The Anderson Shelter Dig for Victory Leeds In Bloom Leodis, a photographic archive of Leeds 1950s Britain and the 1944 Housing Act |
