THE University of Brighton's Screen Archive South East (SASE) has created a short film capturing moments from the late Queen’s visits to Brighton.
Screen Archive South East is an acclaimed source of film imagery covering a huge range of subjects, and contains footage covering over 70 years of the monarch's life, alongside other royal events throughout the past century.
The footage in the silent tribute film begins with a wartime visit by then Princess Elizabeth on December 4, 1945. Still dressed in military uniform, the Princess visited Preston Manor in Brighton, after reviewing troops at King Alfred in Hove, at a time when it was a Royal Navy training site.
Further black-and-white footage captures a visit by Princess Elizabeth on May 18, 1951 when, just a few months before her ascent to the throne, she visited Brighton and Hove as part of a tour of Sussex which also took in Hastings and Lewes.
On that occasion, she visited the Brighton Palace Pier, Royal Pavilion and Hove Town Hall.
Two years later, and in colour, pictures capture celebrations in Brighton and Burgess Hill of the late Queen's 1953 coronation, complete with flag-draped facades and people showing off royal memorabilia created for the occasion.
The film concludes with a 2001 visit by the late Queen and Duke of Edinburgh to meet children from the city's Goldstone Junior School, Knoll Infant School, Hill Park School (called Hillside at the time), and Aldrington Church of England Primary School. This visit also included a trip to the Brighthelm Centre to greet St Johns Ambulance volunteers and Big Issue sellers.
SASE’s technician Rod Willerton was given exclusive access to film the royal visit.
Dr Frank Gray, director of the University of Brighton School of Art and Media's Film Office, which oversees Screen Archive South East as well as the city's annual CineCity film festival in November, said: “The University’s three decades of support for the archive has enabled its collection to be developed and used by students, artists, filmmakers, television companies and producers, regionally, nationally and internationally.
“I was lucky enough to meet the Queen in Brighton in 2007, when I was able to tell her of the films we had of her from age 19 to 75 in our collection. She seemed very pleased to receive this news.”
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