Channel Between

Wilf Green and his family enjoy a day out in Calais before returning to Deal for more sight-seeing in this delightful film from the mid-sixties

We begin at Gravesend Pier, aboard the MV Royal Daffodil for a day return, without passports, to Calais. We see the family wandering about the town with its famous clock tower and see blocks of new apartments while shops display prices both in francs and sterling. Returning home we pass the port and see a sunset. Next the Greens are seen visiting Deal where they tour the town and the castle and later a packed beach. We also see Folkestone Lido as well as a funfair and a seaside cafe.

MV Royal Daffodil, launched in 1939, sailed between Tower Pier and Ostend. Drafted into war service, she evacuated children to East Anglia – and later rescued 9,500 men from Dunkirk - despite a direct hit from a bomb. After the war, she plied between Gravesend and France, offering passengers, after 1955, Calais day-trips without the need for passports. Musical entertainments were later added - with stars like Gene Vincent and Jerry Lee Lewis performing onboard. She was sold for scrap in 1967. Wilfred Green’s films featured many family holidays - not only to Calais but also to countries behind the Iron Curtain, including Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union.