Llandrindod Wells Carnival

The inhabitants of Llandrindod go all out to make carnival day special, despite war-time privation. They muster floats, majorettes, a sparkling dragon and a walking blackout.

Footage of a war-time carnival, to be shown in the cameraman’s Pola Cinema in Welshpool. A ‘Complete Unit’ float carries an 'Air Raid Steel Shelter', a 'Search Lite', a 'Baloon Barace' and a 'Listening Post'. Another presents ‘Hitler’s B&B’. A man walks along dressed as ‘A Black Out’. Those oppressed by their life and times are advised to 'Drown all your Worries in Carnival Spirit', as inscribed on a sign attached to a horse and cart led by two people dressed as gypsies.

Other topical turn-outs include a float bearing a group of bowler-hatted English men and appropriately dressed fascist leaders with attached verse: 'Hitler, Mussolini, joined by a little Jap/Decided to play see-saw all over the map/Badly they started alas not on the level/Into the breach stepped Daladier, Beck & Neville/To outweigh the others they have tried in vain/Now its up to Stalin to relieve the strain'. Two men - one wearing a gas mask, the other a tin helmet – push a bicycle along advertising 'National Service’ as ‘Insurance for Peace’.