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"This is the Night Mail crossing the border," |
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All Saints Hall, Swanage was packed out on Friday 23rd for a joint presentation with Purbeck Railway Circle of an evening of 5 films made by the acclaimed GPO Film Unit. Night Mail, the unit's most successful film, with music by Benjamin Britten and words by W H Auden, was the first to be shown and the evening rounded off with Night Mail 2 made to mark the 50th anniversary of the original film with Blake Morrison providing the words for this version. But what timing...
the films celebrated the splendid work of the Royal Mail as its trains sped through the night to ensure that a letter could leave London one evening and arrive at its destination in Aberdeen the next morning. From the specialised equipment used to take up and deliver mail bags whilst trains ran at high speed to the beauty of the machinery, the synchronisation of road, rail and air and the dedication of the sorters and deliverers all worked as one to deliver our mail. All on the day of a postal strike! No one could have predicted with what perfect timing the date of the film show was set but despite the strike we are fortunate to have had a postal delivery in Swanage every day without fail this week. |
15 - 30 October 2010
