Haytime

Headmaster, A C Barnden, shows how farm machinery is a great boon at harvest time, in this film aimed at schoolchildren in his charge

A C Barnden's amateur educational film, demonstrates how modern farm machinery transforms harvesting. Hand-held tools like scythes, rakes and pitchforks are contrasted with mechanical devices like tractors, grass-cutters, wheel rakes, harrowing machines, conveyors and baling machines, all of which made light of what was previously back-breaking manual labour. The second part of the film focuses on the all-in-one baling machine in particular.

A C Barnden was the headmaster of London Road School, Burgess Hill. It is likely that he made this film on a local farm. He made several films for use in his classrooms, this one being a good example of how he used film as a starting point for exploring subjects further.