We open with scenes showing the making of an amateur cine film (the cast are members of Hall Green Little Theatre). In a garden a man uses a camera mounted on a tripod. A woman walks past carrying a tray. A younger couple join her for tea in the garden. A fourth man brings a deck chair and has trouble erecting it. Cakes are brought out but it is cold and windy and they jump about to keep warm. One of the men does a pretend fall for the camera. Further similar scenes are shot.
We then cut to a football pitch where a squadron of the Air Training Corps are seen taking part in a Drum Head Service. (This sequence which has been identified by a member of the squadron) shows 492 (Hall Green & Sparkhill Squadron) of the Air Training Corps and was shot on 17 September 1944 at an event at Jack Mould’s football stadium at Hall Green to mark the fourth anniversary of the Battle of Britain. After the service the squadron march past the saluting base led by the Squadron Band and are followed by other squadron flights.
We then cut the 137 Hall Green Company of Girls Training Corps marching along Stratford Road back to their base in the Beacon Insurance Company building in Hall Green. (Again expert first-hand information has dated this film to 1946 based on the uniforms worn). After the company have arrive and are dismissed we then see a group of the women on the roof of the Beacon building undergoing lessons in Morse Code. We also see views from the roof of surrounding houses and a bus passing on Stratford Road. This is followed by shots of the girls being instructed in the use of an Aldis lamp.
The final section shows members of the Home Guard (possibly B Company of the 24th Battalion Warwickshire Regiment). We briefly see the soldiers being given rifles at the back of a house and then cut to a park where we see the soldiers practising bayonet drill, marching past and being shown a machine gun. The men stand in a group chatting at the end of the reel.
No credits specified
Tom Bassindale served in the Home Guard during the Second World War.