A family holiday in 1961

The vintage home movie in this post features a film which appears to have been taken during a family holiday. It’s difficult to be precise about the date because the film wasn’t in a box or envelop, but I’ve estimated it to be around 1961.

The family who are in this film have already appeared on vintage home movies playing Christmas Party games.

I think the interest in this video is not in any particular event or place the family is visiting, but the contrast that this scene from a part of everyday life during a family holiday some 50 years ago paints with a similar event today.

For example, no one in this film is using a mobile phone, or could possibly imagine the use of a mobile phone. Most men in the film are wearing jackets and a collar and tie, the women are wearing dresses. There aren’t a pair of headphones in sight. How different would a similar scene look today¹?

Family Holiday

In terms of the events portrayed in the film they are fairly simple. The family are seen walking about a garden, which we find out is called ‘Trianglas Old Vicarage’ at Pont-Ar-Hydfer in the Brecon Beacons in Wales. Some members take turns on a swing in the garden and then are seen walking around a fish pond and across a bridge. Towards the end of the film some members of the party arrive at what I assume is their guest house where they are staying.

1. As the father of two teenage children I can tell you that most young people wouldn’t be separated from their phones and headphones [↩]