A Cricket Match and a Children's Outing

Lady Congleton's film captures the joys of country-house cricket in the 1930s - complete with servants, prams and New Forest ponies

Castle Malwood, seat of the Congleton family, is the venue for the cricket match seen in this fascinating social document from the 1930s. We see women and children sitting in the open. Nursemaids push the prams while the children cavort in Red Indian costumes. A frisky foal also cavorts in a field. A group of portly men assemble by two coaches before arriving at Castle Malwood where they watch a cricket match. This is followed by another family picnic and a visit to a beach.

The films in the Congleton collection derive from the family of the 6th Baron Congleton - John Brooke Molesworth Parnell. Congleton was married to Edith Mary Palmer Howard in 1918. They had nine children in all, some of whom appear in this film, though only seven would reach adulthood. Most of the films within the collection feature aspects of family life, and the children feature prominently.