TV students capture 50 years of community spirit

TV students capture 50 years of community spirit

November 17, 2022

Budding film-making students have received rave reviews after being commissioned to produce a documentary to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Barely Mow Village Hall. Jake Faulkner, Ellen Bridgett, Elice Reilly and Fraser Kinnon who are all second-year students on the Extended Diploma in Creative Media Production & Technology were chosen to make the documentary after pitching their ideas to the village hall committee. The four students then spent the summer months filming events and activities at the village hall and interviewing and capturing 50 years’ worth of memories about the village hall from local residents.

The final documentary was shown to an audience of over 100 people including the Mayor of Gateshead at a 50th anniversary celebration event in the hall. Graeme Wilkinson, Development Officer at the village hall said: “The documentary was a highlight of the event. Not only was this applauded after it had been shown but we also received a phenomenal amount of positive feedback afterwards. “Not only is the documentary something that captures the last 50 years but it also serves as a snapshot of where we are now together with some of our hopes for the future. As a tool to promote the project it will prove invaluable. Simply splendid job all round.”

Student Jake said: “This was an amazing project for us to work on and it gave us the chance to put everything we’d been taught into practise on a commission we won on the back of our creative pitch. “We managed the project from start to finish which included research into the history of the village hall, identifying local people to interview, filming and then editing the many hours of footage into a 30-minute documentary. We all felt really proud at the official screening, especially when the Mayor of Gateshead said that our film really captured the essence of the local community in Barley Mow.”