The Buckley Jubilee -Street Procession (1989)

In the mid-19th century three devout Buckley non-conformists, Edward Davies, Joseph Griffiths and Richards Roberts, were involved in the Band of Hope movement encouraging children in Sunday schools to sign the temperance pledge and sing temperance songs.
The Buckley, Flintshire, North Wales, Jubilee officially began in 1857 as a temperance movement meeting, succeeding earlier community gatherings. By the end of the 19th century it featured brass bands leading a procession through the town with each church displaying their own banner.
The Jubilee remains little changed today. For over 160 years it has taken place on the second Tuesday in July. Sunday schools from churches and chapels in the Buckley area come together to take part in a procession through the town led by the Royal Buckley Town Band. This film demonstrates the strength of faith and community spirit which still thrives in Buckley to this day.
The annual procession begins with a short service held on the Higher Common during which the Jubilee hymn, written by Reverend E. Wyn Parry for the centenary in 1956, is sung accompanied by the Royal Buckley Town Band. After the procession ends, the children are treated to tea and games back at their own Sunday school.
This film of the procession taken in Buckley town centre was recorded by David Markey who at the time was manager of a shop in Brunswick Road. Full copyright permission to reproduce the footage here has kindly been granted to the Buckley Society.
The date of this event was Tuesday the 11th July 1989. In addition to the Royal Buckley Town Band, it features a visiting band from Červený Kostelec, a town in the Czech Republic.
As well as capturing images of the various Church members participating, the film also contains glimpses of shop fronts, local characters, fashions from the era and vehicles of yesteryear. The children filmed will now be adults and many adults filmed will now have, sadly, departed.
Because of the Corona Virus outbreak in 2020 and restrictions on public gatherings, it is believed that this year will be the first time in the town’s history that the Jubilee has had to be cancelled. It is fitting therefore to post this vintage footage now, in the hope that it goes some way to raise spirits in these troubled times.
We are very grateful to Mr John Butler for his kind support, skills and assistance in processing this footage and enabling it to be freely available online.
Paul Davies, Secretary The Buckley Society www.buckleysociety.org.uk May 2020
Original VHS tape capture: David Markey
Archive Project Direction: Paul Davies p.p. The Buckley Society
Digital restoration/processing 2020: John Butler
Tech notes:
This event was originally recorded by David Markey using a consumer-grade, Panasonic VHS camcorder. Several copies of the original tape were then made, also onto VHS tapes by a "dubbing" process between two hard-wired VHS machines. One of these copies was transcribed onto a DVD. At this time the aspect-ratio of the original as the DVD copy played in wide-screen, 16x9 aspect ration.
In April 2020 in conversation with fellow local history enthusiast, Paul me told of the existence of the DVD. We discussed the possibility of re-transcribing the DVD and uploading it online for general to make it accessible to a wider public audience. I accepted the challenge with some enthusiasm and set about the task using my skills in NL video editing and restoration of vintage film/video media. What you see in this presentation is a forth-generation copy of the original; in analogue/digital transcription terms, that's pushing-it a bit!
How much better, in respect of resolution, stability and colour grading, the end-result might have been had we been able to find and use that original analogue VHS media?
I am so pleased to note that within the first 24 hours of uploading this item to youtube, it was viewed by over 1000 people. I would hope that any who view this item in the future will be generous and agree that the remarkable content goes a long way to make up for any technical shortcomings!
John Butler 8 May 2020