Jewish children at Whittingehame Farm School, 1939

Color scenes of Whittingehame Farm School filmed by an unnamed teacher at the school. Between 1939 and 1941 Viscount Traprain (Robert Balfour, nephew of Lord Balfour, author of the Balfour Declaration) sheltered 160 Jewish children from Austria, Germany, Poland, and Czechoslovakia as part of the Kinderstransport program. The children lived in the Whittingehame mansion and learned Hebrew and agriculture subjects that would be useful in Palestine, where they were intended to settle after the war. When the school closed in 1941 most of the children were at least 17 and remained in the UK. Some of them joined and fought in the British Army. Bright color shots of the mansion and grounds, including lots of views of flowers and trees, filmed in summer, fall, and winter. The children appear only briefly in what is a short film mainly about the beauty of the house and grounds in various seasons. 00:42 Two girls walk toward the camera. One wheels a bicycle. Title: "Three Miles of Stately Trees" Trees, a small river. Title: "Whittingehame House from the Gardens" The mansion, gardens, CUs of roses. Several more titles with names of trees, flowers, fruit, and architectural elements of the house and grounds. 07:36 Title: " …and now step to winter…" Heavy snow falling. Two boys wait for a red truck to pass them up a hill before one of them sets out on skis. He breaks trail through deep snow. More nature shots, including birds eating bread crumbs left for them. A forester removes heavy snow from tree branches. 09:53 One boy tows another on a sled. LS of the two boys in front of the mansion.