May Day 1931 - William Kimber On British Pathé Newsreel

[Stephen Chambers]

Last night I was looking for a suitable film clip to post on Facebook to wish my friends there a Happy May Day, and narrowed it down to two British Pathé newsreels, one of The Padstow "Hobby Hoss" (1932) (the first year it was filmed with sound) and another of "Oxford. 'Ye Merrie Monthe of Maye.' Centuries'-old custom of ushering in May-day at dawn with old English songs and dances, filmed for the first time." (1931) and (because there's concertina playing in it) I posted the latter here too, in the A Joyous May To One And All! thread.

 

But I hadn't had time to scrutinise it beforehand and it was only afterwards, when Paul Groff asked me (on Facebook) "Is it known who was listening and holding an anglo (cap, moustache)?", that I realised the man in question was no less than William "Merry" Kimber, and though he's not shown playing for morris dancers in it, you can hear him doing so at the very beginning of the newsreel (which is now the earliest known recording of him).

 

Kimber is to be seen starting from 1.22, to the right of the ring of people around the morris dancers. Here's a still of him, from the film:

 

But what a pity it's not him playing "Country Gardens" for the dancers!

 

There's also a known photo of him playing for Headington Quarry at the same location in 1949:

William Kimber and the Headington Quarry Morris Dancers, Oxford, 1949. From the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library.

 

As Paul Groff has commented, on Facebook, "And perfect for the "Merry" month."

Edited May 2, 2014 by Stephen Chambers

[SteveS]

Thanks for posting Stephen - I really enjoyed those clips.

[hjcjones]

There's a very interesting film of an interview, including some archive footage, with his granddaughter on the "Back to the Quarry" website.

http://folk-arts-oxford.co.uk/back-to-the-quarry.html