Familiar Streets
Familiar Streets
We know the parade route as it was described carefully in the booklet that was printed in advance of the event. The film features many key points in the route and was edited with care as the sequence matches correctly with the order of events described both in the booklet and in the North Berks Herald.
Vineyard
The parade route started somewhere near the Catholic Church and set off down Vineyard. The camera captured the parade (and the mass of people who had decided to walk alongside) as they came past a row of houses that is still there today and identifiable from the windows and brickwork.
The Lipton's tea advert is on the wall of a shop "Vineyard Stores and Post Office" at number 65, verified by the entry in Hookes Almanac.
At the back of the picture (far left of the image above) you can see a building with an interesting shape that seemed to stick out into the line of the street. There is nothing like this there now. A local printer published an Almanac of the businesses in the town and from this we were able to find the building.
On the far right you can see a pub sign; they were marching past the Red Lion which remained on the Vineyard until 2003 when it was demolished for new housing.
View up the High Street from The Square towards County Hall
The crowds jostle at the point where the High Street opens out (beyond the left hand side of the frame) into The Square. This is where the temporary memorial stood (at this point in time just a plain white cross) and the men in the parade removed their hats and the officers saluted as they went past. Most of the buildings on the right hand side are the same as today. (Some changes to the upper part of The Grapes building.) On the left hand side the corner stonework and the little circular turret window are very distinctive and we can see the remains of the base of the window still on the wall today.
Market Place - Nat West Bank
At this point in the film we are back in the Market Place and the crowd is watching the final moments of the parade as the men arrive back, having marched seemingly around most of the town! They are marching into the Corn Exchange to have their celebration meal, which must have been most welcome after the long parade route.
The camera pans sideways and at this point we can see clearly that the columns that stand in front of the bank are still the exact same ones. The lady leaning against one of them must be standing on a box or chair. We can also see at this point that the camera was positioned at least 8 feet up in the air, possibly more. In order to take the comparison shot we held the camera up above our heads but still could not quite achieve the height to get the same angle. It is likely that the camera was on the steps of the entrance to the Corn Exchange. (Where Pablo Lounge is today.)
;oeirjvba;ojie;b
a;oweirb;ewiajv
;aoriweb weoijr
oweairhoiv;
eoiha;rw
wepaiorhbao;we
