Whitstable Oyster Feast

Down the hatch! Lashings of local flavour at Whitstable's annual oyster feast.

There are lashings of local flavour in this fascinating newsreel item showing one of Britain's oldest food festivals - the opening of the oyster season at Whitstable. The film tantalisingly cuts between shots of the oyster smacks, the dredgers at work, and bigwig Lord Northbourne and pals sampling the symbolic first catch of the season - washed-down with a few glasses of ale. Down the hatch!

Whitstable's ever-reliable annual fixture was manna for newsreels and newspapers alike - as is abundantly clear from the throng of cameras that surround the noble diners here.