Juliet's Kenya Days blog

Letter from Judy to Nanny & Grandad 16 May 1975 –

We have got our film back of our Tsavo holiday which we find very entertaining so hope you will too when we send it on. At the moment we will keep it as Graham has some idea of adding titles using a second film. We are trying to film our railway engines – I’m sure John at least will appreciate that – but the timing isn’t easy – of the 5 or 6 trains a day only one perhaps is steam and that not reliable. But they are magnificent engines for all that – they have a climb of 3000ft from Nairobi to the edge of the Rift Valley over about 30 miles.

Stills from our ciné film showing us walking to the railway line, Graham running to catch up, the train coming by, and then us looking very pleased with ourselves for having got there in time !

Letter from Judy to Jo 13 July 1975 –

We are planning to take a couple of ciné films with us on holiday. We have been doing a bit of editing but find the films more temperamental when it comes to being spliced than the booklet would suggest. Have you got any useful tips? In our last film we turned it around out in the open though it was in the shade and when we had it developed a large lump was missing where the light had got in, so we’ll have to be more careful of that in future.

Letter from Judy to Nanny & Grandad 13 Jan 1976 –

We had a very good holiday up at Meru enjoying the warmth and seeing plenty of animals – we explored the banks of two of the bigger rivers and took quite a lot of ciné film which we will be sending in due course. We spent the whole of one morning filming the van going through various drifts (concrete fords) which had just that element of excitement to keep everyone happy – Graham had to concentrate on the fairly tricky driving, I on the filming and the children on watching to see I wasn’t being approached by any ravenous beasts wanting to gobble me up – in spite of the unlikelihood of such a happening they took their job very seriously.

Still photos taken from our ciné film.

Letter from Judy to Nanny & Grandad 25 Oct 1976 –

We are sending a film off to be processed in England and will arrange for it to be sent straight to you. Graham thinks the camera was not working properly while taking it and is afraid most of it will be damaged, so perhaps you can let us know what it’s like when it turns up. It seems that the film doesn’t wind up properly during use so that some of it is flapping around inside the case when it comes to turn it over.

Letter from Judy to Nanny & Grandad 20 Nov 1976 –

Thanks for your and Jo’s comments about the last film. I’m glad most of it was in reasonable condition. We shall be sending another off shortly as we have to get the Kodak films the children brought out processed in England so it seems sensible to send them to you. We will enjoy a grand viewing when we return which will no doubt bring back many happy memories. It’s surprising how difficult it is to remember what we have filmed afterwards !

Letter from Judy to John, Jo, Robert, Nicky & Kerry 15 Dec 1976 –

Thank you Jo for the information about the ciné camera. The problem of reflected light seems to hit everyone taking films out here – it’s difficult to compensate just the right amount. For this reason we took no films at the coast. There one aquires a deep tan just lying in what appears to be the heavy shade of coconut palms – all from reflected light. In fact we found it a disadvantage of camping that we could never really get out of the light until darkness fell. It must be lethal for tourists coming out without a basic tan to protect them.

A still from one of our ciné films. As they had no sound recording with them, Graham had a go at adding a title. We used our pet mice to make it lively! This accompanied a film of us going for a local walk to the nearby marsh with friends – see ‘Holiday time at home’ for pics and description.