At the Seaside

Join the Voss family having fun on the beach before visiting St Leonards Lido in this evocative film from 1934

Herman Voss' 1934 holiday film shows his children playing on the beach. Mrs Voss, sitting in a deckchair, gets her small son into his swimming costume. The children dig in the sand and play in the water. The two boys also throw pebbles into the sea. We then see the magnificent St Leonard's lido where crowds of people walk about, swim, slide down the chute and watch spectacular dives from the high boards. The film ends with the children playing in the garden while Mum holds a baby.

Amateur filmmaker H. A. Voss worked for the British Phosphate Commission and travelled extensively both on business and, with his family, for pleasure. Consequently much of the collection held at Screen Archive South East, features foreign travel and family holidays. Beginning in the early 1930s, Mr Voss filmed domestic scenes at home in Coulsdon, Surrey and in Switzerland, where the family lived from 1948 to 1949. In his professional capacity he filmed various aspects of phosphate mining in the USA and the Pacific Islands, as well as other foreign travels including Japan, Hong Kong and Egypt. He also filmed many bomb-damaged cities in post-war Germany.