A CREDITON charity that preserves historical material has digitised a reel of cine film showing a procession at Hayward’s Primary School.

Exactly what the occasion was or when it was filmed remains a mystery.

Children in costume during procession at Hayward's Primary School (Folklore Library and Archive)
Children in costume during procession. (Folklore Library and Archive)

But at the very beginning of the film Olympic rings can be seen on a banner carried by two people.

Olympic rings seen at start of procession at Hayward's Primary School (Folklore Library and Archive)
Olympic rings seen at start. (Folklore Library and Archive)

And children in costume carrying flags of various countries and sporting equipment suggest it could be a mock-Olympic opening ceremony “parade of nations”.

Possibly Britannia, the personification of Britain, during procession.
Possibly Britannia, the personification of Britain. (Folklore Library and Archive)

The Folklore Library and Archive, which digitised the film, is based at Crediton Library.

A Viking longboat seen during procession at Hayward's Primary School (Folklore Library and Archive)
A Viking longboat. (Folklore Library and Archive)

Founding curator Mark Norman told the Courier the non-profit has been loaned several reels of old cine film and is currently digitising them.

“These include Fordton Silver Jubilee celebrations from 1977, some rugby, some old footage of bowlers on the green and more that we haven't looked at yet.”

Mr Norman also issued an appeal for people to loan the Folklore Library and Archive their old material to help it build “a picture of our past”.

“We think there must be loads of interesting old footage and other documents and records of Crediton in people's attics, sheds and other places,” he said.

“We would love to borrow any of these to digitise for the archives. We can let people have copies of the files too, of course.

“Old film and video are especially welcome (we have a couple of old Sandford pantomimes to do and would like more village shows too).

“We are happy to sort the wheat from the chaff when material is loaned if it isn't obvious immediately what it is.”

Formats the charity can digitise are VHS, VHS-C, SVHS, SVHS-C, 8mm cine film, 35mm slides (positive and negative) and any printed photos or documents.

If you would like to loan any media to the Folklore Library and Archive, you can email [email protected] to get in touch.

The non-profit also recently received a £25,000 grant from Great Western Railway to help it collect personal recollections, photos and film of local branch-line railways for its Devon Railway Heritage project.

You can find out more about the charity by visiting: folklorelibrary.com.