Eastbourne on Film: Sussex People's March of History 1939

We’re pleased to continue our partnership with Screen Archive South East to offer our reader a glimpse into their collection. Each month, we bring you a snippet from the archive, all filmed right here in Eastbourne.

This month, we bring you Sussex People’s March of History from 1939. Late August 1939, just before the outbreak of WWII, the 'Sussex People’s March of History' made its way through the crowd-lined streets of Eastbourne towards the seafront. The film culminates in rousing and passionate speeches from local Communist Party members including the filmmaker Ernie Trory.

Screen Archive South East is a publicly-funded regional film archive serving the South East of England and its six local authorities: Brighton & Hove, East Sussex, Kent, Medway, Surrey and West Sussex. Established in 1992 by the University of Brighton, the British Film Institute and a consortium of local authorities, SASE is dedicated to collecting, preserving, digitising, cataloguing and providing public and commercial access to its screen collection of films, videotapes, lantern slides and digital files. Its collection of over 25,000 items documents the rise of screen culture in the region and the nation and represents primarily the changing nature of life in the South East from the late 19th century to the present day.