60 YEAR OLD CINE FILM ABOUT RICHARD JEFFERIES FOUND IN A LOFT IN ESSEX RETURNS HOME
PRESS RELEASE: RICHARD JEFFERIES SOCIETY
2 March 2010
A cine film, made by the Film Production Unit of the Swindon Public Library Film Society in 1948, has found its way back to Swindon. The film, produced as a tribute to Richard Jefferies one hundred years after his birth, was found in a loft in Essex by Philip Mansbridge among films about trains.
Mr Mansbridge has sent the film to the Richard Jefferies Society but has no idea where it came from. It is possible that it originated from Albert Mansbridge who was the founder of the Swindon branch of the Workers’ Educational Association.
The film runs for fifteen minutes with no sound-track and it shows shots of Richard Jefferies’ birthplace and home at Coate, and some of his books and places that were special to the writer such as Liddington Hill, the Gamekeeper’s Cottage at Hodson and Coate Water. There is a charming re-enactment of a scene from Jefferies’ boys adventure story: Bevis, where local boys wield hand-made wooden swords at Coate Water in a mock battle. Those children would now be in their seventies and may still be living in Swindon and remember making the film. The Richard Jefferies Society would like to hear from them.
The film was last shown at the Arts Centre on 21st June 1948. It will get a new airing this Saturday (6 March) at the Richard Jefferies Museum when enthusiasts of Richard Jefferies and Alfred Williams joining forces to share readings from their favourite works of the two Victorian Swindon-born authors.
The meeting starts at 2pm and is open to the public.
Contact Jean Saunders on 01793 783040 for further information.
The Story of My Heart, 1883
CHAPTER I:
THE STORY OF MY HEART [published Oct. 1883] commences seventeen years ago. In the glow of youth there were times every now and then when I felt the necessity of a strong inspiration of soul thought. My heart was dusty, parched for want of the rain of deep feeling; my mind arid and dry, for there is a dust which settles on the heart as well as that which falls on a ledge. ...
When this began to form I felt eager to escape from it, to throw off the heavy clothing, to drink deeply once more at the fresh fountains of life. An inspiration―a long deep breath of the pure air of thought―could alone give health to the heart.
There is a hill [Liddington] to which I used to resort at such periods. The labour of walking three miles to it, all the while gradually ascending, seemed to clear my blood of the heaviness accumulated at home. On a warm summer day the slow continued rise required continual effort, which carried away the sense of oppression.... I began to breathe a new air and to have a fresher aspiration. ...
Moving up the sweet short turf, at every step my heart seemed to obtain a wider horizon of feeling; with every inhalation of rich pure air, a deeper desire. The very light of the sun was whiter and more brilliant here. By the time I had reached the summit I had entirely forgotten the petty circumstances and the annoyances of existence. I felt myself, myself.
