A HANDFUL of old films purchased at a car boot sale were found to contain unique footage of Banstead's history.
The lady buyer of the celluloid films found that the frames contained scenes from war-time parades in Banstead during the early 1940s. She also noticed that the 16mm films appeared to have been taken by a Stephen Wingrove "of Merlands, Banstead".
She set about trying to contact the Banstead History Research Group to find out more, and her endeavours led to the films being purchased and converted to DVD by the group members and shown to the public on Saturday.
More than 150 people packed the Banstead Community Hall, Park Road, to see the presentation by the group.
The footage showed wartime parades to the war memorial in the high street by the Air Cadets Band. There were also clips showing meetings on the cricket field, off Court Road, and Garton's Recreation Group during the Second World War.
The history group's Ted Bond said that the box of films turned up at the car boot sale a few years ago, in Sussex.
The purchaser was a lady in Kent.
Mr Bond said that now, the films have been deposited at the Surrey History Centre in Woking.
In total, there were 47 minutes of footage, mostly in black and white, but some in colour.
Saturday evening's event also included the showing of another film, related to Banstead's twinning with Etampes, in France, in 1958.
When the Mayor of Etampes announced that a film about life in the French town was being made, the Banstead Film Society decided to reciprocate with a short film about life in Banstead in the late 1950s, just before major developments changed the area. Other clips of events in Banstead during the 1930s and 1940s were shown and short talks were given by Richard Mantle, Diana Bowes and Stuart Sweetman.
