Description

Admin History:

The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition held throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951. It was organised by the government to give the British a feeling of recovery in the aftermath of war and to promote the British contribution to science, technology, industrial design, architecture and the arts.

The Festival of Britain Exhibition officially opened in Hull at 2pm on Saturday 19th May 1951, and was held in the City Hall until 26th May. It had originally been proposed that the Hull Corporation Development Committee would sponsor a £20,000 Industrial, Commercial and Agricultural Exhibition which would take place on the Bricknell Avenue site covering an area of 26 acres. It had promise of being the largest Exhibition of its character ever staged in the North of England at this time. However, due to circumstances “connected with the weather and the rearmament programme” the scheme was abandoned. Alderman F. Holmes, chairman of the Development Committee “determined to fight back and not let the citizens of Hull down”, agreed the Development Committee would sponsor and organise an Exhibition on a much smaller scale at the City Hall.

For 1/- entrance fee visitors could see many of the products of Hull factories, hear music by the Black Dyke Mills Band and follow the “Story of Wool”, recalling the role of this commodity in making Hull Britain’s third port as early as the 13th century. The story was complete from the daily sheep shearing demonstrations by champion East Riding farmers, to demonstrations of weaving the wool into patterns and the making of dresses and coats, and to finally the wearing of the garments, as displayed by models in a parade which concluded the demonstrations.

Festival Ship HMS Campania

HMS Campania was an aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy that saw service during the Second World War. After the war, the ship was used as a floating exhibition hall for the 1951 Festival of Britain and docked in 10 cities. Numbers reached almost 900,000 people visiting the Festival ship, with 87,840 visiting while the ship was docked at Hull.

Berthed at No.3 Quay, King George Dock, the Festival ship was officially opened at Hull on 19th June 1951 by the Lord Mayor, Alderman R. E. Smith. The ship was made as accessible as possible with a special bus service put on to take visitors to HMS Campania leaving every 15 minutes from the coach station. Visitors could also enjoy a meal on board the ship in the Hangar Deck Restaurant.

The Campania’s exhibition was effectively a replica of the London South Bank exhibition, and consisted of displays for agriculture as well as other industries including coal, steel, power and transport, which included a fascinating section on railways, the sea and ships. Here, in addition to many models of ships, there was a complete radar unit layout on which visitors were able to watch shipping moving in the Humber. Hundreds of school children from all parts of Yorkshire visited the ship at Hull and there was an average daily attendance of just under 9,000 on the Campania during her 10 days stay in Hull.

Description:

Mainly comprises correspondence files relating to the planning of the Festival of Britain events in Hull. Also includes plans of the ship the Campania and a volume of publications relating to the Festival of Britain events hosted in various cities.