D - The Festival of Britain Alphabet

 The Festival of Britain was a major post-war celebration of the country and a beacon of hope for a better and brighter future. The main site at the South Bank in London was opened on 4 May 1951. However towns, cities and villages across the United Kingdom were encouraged to put on their own celebrations. This blog celebrates the quirkiness of the Festival of Britain away from the main London venues. It is by no means comprehensive as it only draws from my collection of Festival of Britain memorabilia. Each week over the course of the main festival period I will attempt to go through the alphabet. If you want to find out more about the Festival of Britain you may like to become a member of the Festival of Britain Society www.fobsociety.co.uk.

D is for…

Distington, a village in Cumbria formed in about 500 AD. My AI search engine tells me that there was a carnival and village field day, but the document in my collection is all about the history and present day buildings rather than any special events.

 

The foreword includes the sentiment of looking to the future after a dark first half to the twentieth century – “We have won through two terrible world wars in a short lifetime and the foundations of civilisation have been jarred. We are still riding the following storm”.  It goes on to say “Sun and shadow, day and night, pleasure and pain; this is the pattern and life and of our history. We are moving in shadow at the moment but the clear day will come”. Fine words, and far more thoughtful and poetic that you would see in may similar documents today.

 

The souvenir brochure has the usual style of, to my mind, wonderfully low tech adverts, with products such as Tick-a-Tee kiddies wear, confectionery fruit & vegetables, and “steps to good health” – Old Ale, Pale Ale and Stout!

 D is also for the very similarly named parish of Dinnington in South Yorkshire.

 

The village of Dinnington expanded rapidly from 258 people in 1901 to 4,898 ten years later as a result of the opening of Dinnington Main Colliery in 1905. At the time of the Festival of Britain the population stood at 7,053. The colliery closed in 1992.

The Dinnington document is a “brief survey and history compiled to commemorate the Festival of Britain, 1951” and not surprisingly includes a picture of the colliery.

Unlike the Distington brochure, it doesn’t include adverts, but does include the list of events held in the Festival Week.

Interestingly a scan of the whole document can be found on the website of the Dinnington Heritage Society www.dinningtonheritage.weebly.com.

Moving away from locally promoted activity into the official (or maybe central is a better word) world of the Festival of Britain, D is also for The Dolhendre Scheme (Cynllun Dolhendre in Welsh). This was “an experiment in rural reconstruction”

The overall guide to the Festival of Britain describes the Welsh Hillside Farm Scheme  as follows:

 “At Dolhendre, Merioneth, this scheme presents the work done in recent years to improve the living and working conditions of hill farmers and small-holders and to raise their level of production. Model farmsteads and outbuildings, new cottages, and improvements in road approaches are being shown together with a plan for co-ordinating forestry and agriculture”.

 

 Finally, D is for dresses, or rather Dresses of England.  This publication by Muse Arts as part of the New Fabric series is the story (by Dora Nash) of John and Elizabeth as they tell the history of England through the clothes of the period, included a series of cut-out costumes.