Sneaky Peak Behind-the-Scenes Photos of Cipher’s Rehearsal of Upcoming ‘Past Lives’ Musical/ Archive Film Performance

Cipher

Over the past year and a half the @MACEarchive Media Archive for Central England‘s, @HeritageLottery Funded, Full Circle Project Curators Kay Ogilvie (@KayOgilvie) and Lucie Kerley (@luciekerley) have worked alongside local community and history groups throughout the midlands to collect over 200+ home-movie, industrial and amateur film collections relating to the East and West Midlands.

One of our West Midlands Full Circle Groups Norman Bartlam and the TNT News Team with the Mayoress Councillor Ward at a film screening event in Ladywood, Birmingham.

Dave Sturt and his creative musical troup – Cipher have collaborated with visual artist Anthony Hatton to produce a thought-provoking and engaging visual and live musical experience using little seen footage from the Media Archive of Central England, including local images of Lincolnshire, Derbyshire, West Midlands and Nottinghamshire.

Cipher's Dave and Theo

Cipher's Dave and Tony

MACE were delighted to be able to work with Cipher to give these previously hidden, film heritage gems new musical accompaniment in order to bring these silent home-movies to life! For more information see here.

Cipher during a rehearsal session of "Past Lives".

For tickets, please contact the venues directly.

Tour Dates:

08/03/12 – Lincoln Performing Arts Centre T: 01522 837600

09/03/12 – The National Centre for Craft and Design, Sleaford      T: 01529 308710

27/03/12 – South Holland Centre, Spalding T: 01775 764 777

25/05/12 – Holymoorside Village Hall, Chesterfield  T: 01246 567118 or 861997

27/05/12 – The Broadway, Nottingham T: 0115 952 6600

30/05/12 – Solihull Arts Complex T: 0121 704 6962

24/06/12 – The Ritz cinema, Belper T: 01773 822 224

27/06/12 – Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry T: 024 7652 4524

29/06/12 – The Public, West Bromwich  T: 0121 533 7161

07/07/12 – The Quad, Derby T: 01332 290606

08/07/12 – Gothic Warehouse, Cromford  T: 01629 824297

19/07/12 – Stamford Arts Centre T: 01780 763 20

http://www.cipher.f9.co.uk/index.htm

The music is composed by renowned musicians Theo Travis(flute, sax – David Sylvian, Steven Wilson, Robert Fripp) andDave Sturt (fretless bass/sound design – Gong, Steve Hillage, Bill Nelson). They will perform with guest musicians Deirdre Benscik (cello) and Clare Bhabra (violin) from the renownedSinfonia ViVA

Past Lives Rehearsal with digitally projected Full Circle films in the background.

Chair of Belbroughton History Society and Full Circle Depositor Sarah Bradley chats with pupils at Belbroughton Primary School during a screening of some local archive films from the MACE Full Circle Project.

Child engaging with vintage cine-film camera that was found during the MACE Full Circle Project at BBC Reel History Event in Leicester.

Dave Sturt chats to Sarah Bradley about her father's beautifully shot cinefilm collection, some of which will feature in the Past Lives performance.

the workshops…….some venues will be running workshops on the day of the performance – please ring to check.  They will demonstrate how to create a soundtrack and will give people a chance to play to a scene from the film. The workshop willinclude basic improvisation techniques, ‘capturing a mood’, exploring musical themes, using music technology in live performance and discovering the hidden potential of musical instruments. Interested musicians of all ages and all standards welcome.

our sponsors…….

A very big thank you to the following sponsors who have helped make this happen – The Heritage Lottery, Arts Council England, Derbyshire County Council and The QUAD, Derby

For more information about Dave Sturt or Cipher check out:
http://www.session-bass-guy.com
http://www.myspace.com/davesturt
http://www.cipher.f9.co.uk
http://www.jadewarrior.com
http://www.planetgong.co.uk
http://www.billnelson.com

 

If you have any cine film, tape or moving image material relating to the Midlands region and want to know how you can preserve these items for years to come and have relevant material digitised as part of the Full Circle Project, please get in touch with:

Lucie Kerley – Full Circle Project Curator: Community & Acquisition – 07919 896 505 or 01522 837756 (Wednesday’s) email: lkerley@lincoln.ac.uk

To learn more about the Full Circle Project, and check out the MACE website  for more Midlands film gems!

Film Showing Tonight! Balsall Heath Local History Society joins hunt for Midlands Home Movies!

Downton Family - William Edward Street, Balsall Heath - Back-to-Back Houses

Balsall Heath Local History Society

Tonight there will be a MACE Full Circle Film Screening of ‘Balsall Heath on Film’ at The Balsall Heath Local History Society group AGM meeting . The screening will commence at around 7:30pm and will take place at: 

St. Paul’s Community Development Trust
Hertford Street
Balsall Heath
B12 8NJ

Tel: 0121 464 4376

Downton Family - William Edward Street, Balsall Heath - one of the many films found by the Full Circle Project that has now been digitised and put back into the Balsall Heath Community.

Chris Sutton – Development Worker for Balsall Heath Local History Society, has invited along a MACE Full Circle Curator, Lucie Kerley, to talk about the Heritage Lottery Funded Full Circle Project and explain why it is so important that the screen heritage of the Midlands is preserved for future generations. 

Watch this Central Television clip taken from Here and Now programme 239 : Minority ethnic magazine programme. This week: The Balsall Heath is Beautiful campaign; the Afro Caribbean dance group Kokuma; and an interview with the playwright Caryl Phillips.

http://www.macearchive.org/Archive/Title/here-and-now-programme-239/MediaEntry/907.html 

 

Balsall Heath & Highgate - Past & Present Project

The Society was founded in 1979 with the aim of promoting interest in local history.

There is usually someone in on Mondays, which is the day the Family History/ Genealogy workshops are held in the computer suite.

The Society is based in The Venture on Malvern Street. It has a part-time Development Worker (Chris Sutton) and has an on-site Archive of memorabilia and artefacts.

Over the years the Society has achieved considerable success, working with schools and community groups, organising exhibitions and events, collecting resources and producing its own publications.

The Society also has a regular monthly meeting with guest speakers. More on these can be found on the Society Website

The 30 minute Balsall Heath on Film compilation will also be reshown at The Balsall Heath Carnival on 2nd July, and also at The Balsall Heath Church Centre on the 7th July.

For more information on how you can get involved with the Full Circle Project check out:

http://www.macearchive.org/Full-Circle.html

From 500ft Hereford Bulls to a Dr that travels by Horse & Cart. Herefordshire Historians on the Hunt for Hidden Home-movies!

Audience member Mark Robinson watches the Full Circle Screening of material from the MACE ATV collection.

On Monday, 15th November, I was kindly invited along by Senior Archivist Rhys Griffith to the Herefordshire History & Archives Forum to discuss the MACE (Media Archive for Central England) Full Circle Project.

Tea, biscuits and a Full Circle Film search.

  The Full Circle film search project is funded by the Heritage Lottery with the aim being to work with community groups in order to preserve the people of the Midlands home-movies and then copy them into a format that as many people will be able to enjoy watching once more.

MACE archive film screening to promote Full Circle.

 The project will run until March 2013 and is searching for Midlands related moving image materials captured by the people who are at the very heart of their community.          

 

Herefordshire Record Office workers pour over a local map.

The Herefordshire History and Archives forum was attended by representative from a number of groups, including:

• Jeff White – Cradley Heritage Group
• Pam Hatherly – Leintwardine History Society
• Anne Abbotts –  Wellington Heath Archive Group
• David Clark – Fownhope History Group
• Barbara Ferris – Dinedor Heritage Group
• Mal Mason – Eardisley History Group
• Dave Tristram – Herefordshire Council – Regeneration
• Anita Syers-Gibson – Independent Volunteer
• Barry Lawrence – Much Cowarne History Group
• Alex Hoyle – Bromyard and District Local History Society
• Mark Robinson – Webb-SHARE
• Sue Knox – Herefordshire Council – Museum Development
• Irene Orchard – Archive of Cider Pomology

Members of the Herefordshire History & Archive Forum.

 

Rhys Griffith - Senior Archivist at The Herefordshire Record Office

After catching up on the latest activities from each member, I gave a short presentation about the MACE archive Full Circle Project, and discussed why it was important that communities get involved in preserving their communities screen heritage.

As a way of promoting the Full Circle Project’s search for film, I put on a film, kindly compiled by MACE programmer Phil Leach,  showing clips taken from a selection of the ATV collection that is held at MACE.

The clips were  from taken from news stories that had made headlines over the past 40+ years. A glimpse of life in Herefordshire and some of the well-known characters that play a part in the making of Herefordshire history.

Smiles all round at memories of old Herefordshire.Dr Cyril Francis on his horse and cart doing the rounds, Hereford.

For more information on the Full Circle Project or to find out who your local participating group is please contact Lucie Kerley – Full Circle Project Curator at MACE. Tel: 0116 252 5931 0r Mob: 07919 896 505 email: lk99@le.ac.uk

To see more clips of Hereford or from other parts of the Midlands region check out www.macearchive.org and take a look at our online catalogue.

Photographs copyright Lucie Kerley.

Springbank Primary School in Eastwood, joins Full Circle and brings archive film into the classroom…..

Julie Vaccari, the new Head of Springbank Primary School welcomed BBC East Midlands into the school in October to film some of the children watching rare archive film footage made by local man Fred Taylor in the 1950s.

Julie and Adam (Assistant Head) were very enthusiastic about this piece of film found in Eastwood because they already knew someone on it. The film was made by a local man, Fred Naylor and featured their very own John Naylor  (son of Fred) who delivers the school meals!
Julie said the school is keen to integrate the film into the curriculum as they recognise film as an important historical resource – and a valuable record of the 20th century.

The film shows family celebrations like Christmas, Bonfire Night, family outings to the seaside and interiors of caravans, plus farming scenes, up in a Spitfire plane and other interesting snippets.

Julie and the children are helping in the search for other films in the community and the school is a local point of contact for the deposit of any films found.

The BBC film will be broadcast on East Midlands Today in early December at 5.41pm.

Adam and Teresa in the classroom with Springbank children

BBC Producer Teresa Mikula prepares to film Springbank school children watching the archive film

Royal Visits, Midland Red, & Local Industry remembered at Smethwick Heritage Centre Roadshow Film Screening

A variety of stalls dedicated to Smethwick Heritage

On Saturday, 6th November St Mary’s Church in Bearwood,  hosted the 2010 Smethwick Heritage Centre Roadshow.

In the Church Hall were several stalls of memorabilia and old photographs and documents that people could look through at their leisure. There was also a Tombola and a number of stalls dedicated to The much-loved Midland Red Buses.

It was a celebration of all things Smethwick, not only including The Midland Red Buses, but also Royal Visit’s to local factories and interviews with local residents about housing conditions in the area. The day also paid tribute to all the Smethwickians who fought for the country during both World War One and World War Two.

It drew in a huge crowd from in and around Smethwick and also some people who had long since moved from the area dropped by to see old friends and reminisce.  

I was kindly invited along to represent MACE’s (The Media Archive for Central England) Full Circle Project and discuss the importance of searching out films and home-movies made by Midlands communities and preserving the film in an archive.

There was also a screening of footage from the MACE archive collection that had been compiled especially by Curator Phil Leach, who is in charge of cataloguing, researching and programming screenings for members of the public. The screening consisted of footage taken from Midlands News and also ATV that is held at MACE. There was a great response from the audience to the clips shown throughout the hour long screenings that took place in both the morning and afternoon in St Mary’s Church which made a great venue for showing the old films.

I asked Chris Sutton, Development Worker for The Smethwick Heritage Centre http://www.smethwick-heritage.co.uk to tell us a little more about the work done by the members of The Heritage Centre and what they thought of the day.

“Smethwick Heritage Centre Trust was started by an independant group to capture the history of Smethwick. The home-base is a musuem which was the former lodge in Victoria Park, which houses the collection of artefacts on display. Smethwick was right at the heart of the industrial revolution and was home to many world famous companies such as GKN, Chance Brothers, Birmid and M&B. All these, and many more companies, are reflected in the museum alongside displays on the arts and crafts, local government, schools and both world  wars.

As well as the museum the Trust also gets out into the community, working with schools, sheltered accomodation and puts on four annual “roadshow” events which are attended each time by several hundred current and former Smethwickians. These latter events are always popular and the addition at the November 2010 roadshow of the MACE film was extremely well received. At least 120 people watched the film all the way through with others popping in and out. Response was highly favourable with requests for it to be shown again and for other clips.

 For us it was invaluable as a tool to get people talking about the past and bringing up long forgotten memories. There were one or two present who came forward to say they have films – which we had not been informed about before – and it prompted others to go and have a look in their cupboards and at the very least I would expect we get more photographs coming back in.

Because Smethwick had so many huge companies based there it does seem likely that there would have been plenty of archive films in their possession. It could well be worthwhile to start looking into the whereabouts of company archives. We are at the moment putting in a Lottery bid to set up an oral history archive pertaining to these companies and as part of that we will be organising a search along those lines.

Our sincere thanks are due to Lucie Kerley and all at MACE (especially Phil!!) for their help and support.”

The day proved a success with members of the public coming forward to discuss both personal cinefilm collections and also other collections that they were aware of that relate to the Smethwick Community. The MACE and Full Circle Team are looking forward to seeing more home-movies come to light as a result of public screenings of archive film like this.

If you have any home-movies relating to Smethwick or the wider Midlands area, please get in touch to hear more about how the Heritage Lottery Funded Full Circle Project can help you to preserve your films.

Contact:

Full Circle Curator: Lucie Kerley. Telephone: 0116 252 5931 or 07919 896 505 or email: lk99@le.ac.uk

Now available:

The Black Country 1969 DVD only  £14.99

Made by ATV in 1969, this documentary is a poignant and atmospheric profile of the people and character of the Black Country. The DVD is available to buy from a number of outlets including Amazon www.amazon.co.uk, The Black Country Bugle www.blackcountrybugle.co.uk , Broadfield House & Glass Museum, TeeT shirts in Cradley Heath www.teetshirts.com  and also from MACE www.macearchive.org  itself.

Emma Morley – Business & Commercial Development Manager at MACE – esm8@le.ac.uk or telephone 0116 252 5062



 

Full Circle Project Curator Lucie Kerley speaks to Talk About Local’s Nicky Getgood about search for Home-movies!

Video interview by Nicky Getgood – Talk About Local & Digbeth is Good. Nicky also runs an Irish Filum night at The Spotted Dog Pub.

Syston Archive Film Screening a Success, Leicester Community Reminisce at Local History Exhibition.

Full Circle needs your homemovies. Television image courtesy of CPRE.

 

Members of the public pour over Syston's Annual Local History Exhibition

On Saturday, 18th September The Syston Local History Group held their annual Local History Exhibition at The Methodist Church Centre. It was a fantastic day, with a great turn out attracting swarms of people from both the Syston community and from across Leicestershire. 

 

On display were The Syston Local History Group’s vast photographic collection of Syston as it was, ‘Then & Now’. Members of the public were invited to bring along their own Wedding photographs and to admire the ones on display – which dated from the early 1900’s, 1940’s and later.

Artist Mike Finney, who paints pictures of Syston exhibited a selection of his printed works and paintings. http://www.mikefinney.co.uk/page2.html

Artist - Mike Finney

To complement the wonderful array of photos were a fabulous display of household bygones and curiosities, which members of the public could ask questions about.

 

Tim Garner, Chairman of Syston Local History Society was on hand to take copies of any old photographs or documents relating to Syston from members of the public who wished to add to the History Society’s collection. If you have any old film, or homemovies relating to Syston or the surrounding area, please get in touch with Tim or a member of the local history society who will be acting as a collection point for any collection found during their Full Circle film search.

Full Circle is a 3 year Heritage Lottery funded project, ran by MACE, working with the Midlands communities to preserve and make accessible its screen heritage. Local History & Community groups throughout the Midlands are on the lookout for film or homemovies created by the people of the Midlands that will give us an insight into how our communities lives have changed over the years.

The wonderful ladies on hand to offer homemade cakes and refreshments!

One of the highlights of the exhibition was the screening of some archive material from the MACE collection. Members of the public were treated to clips of Syston in the news from the 1980’s, of Syston’s female road sweeper and the opening of the Dual Carriageway in 1969.

Tim Garner chats to audience members about the Syston footage being shown.

The screening continued with footage of some Leicester Silent Films – a selection of amateur and professional films, which showed some of the older films we are able to preserve at MACE. From an advertising film of J.S. Wynn’s Leicester coffee houses to a parade to mark Leicester Pageant Week of 1932 (the week’s events culminated with the pageant itself, which included Roman legions marched across Abbey Park!). From our home movie collections we also have film of the two great national celebrations of the 1930s: the Silver Jubilee of King George V in 1935 and the Coronation of King George VI two years later. We will also had a look back at Hinckley’s contribution to the Coronation.

Audience members enjoy watching a selection of Leicestershire based archive film.

Following this we were able to show “Calling Blighty”. This was a series of films that brought the personal messages of servicemen posted to India and the Far East during the latter stages of the Second World War back to their loved ones in Britain. This example was filmed in Bombay in 1944 and was screened at the Evington Cinema on 1st September that year before a specially invited audience of family and friends.

and finally “Leicestershire: A Heritage at Risk”. This travelogue of the county was produced forty years ago when the effects of pollution and architectural neglect were beginning to be felt. With the twin threats of the M1 and East Midlands Airport what future did Leicestershire have? Although little did they know that we would in 2010 dream of driving along roads as quiet as the ones shown here in 1970!

For more information about The Syston Local History Group – or to buy their new book Syston Past 3 – please contact Tim Garner. Email: timgarner@sky.com or call: 0116 260 9154

To learn more about how to deposit your home-movies with MACE and The Full Circle Project, please contact: Full Circle Curator: Lucie Kerley. Email: lk99@le.ac.uk or call: 0116 252 5931

Photographs courtesy of Lucie Kerley © 2010

Tipton Harriers celebrate their 100th Birthday and promote their Full Circle Film Search at local library.

Keith Atkins promotes the Full Circle Project at Tipton Library.

On Saturday, 11th September the Tipton Harriers celebrated their 100th Birthday and Tipton Library it’s 10th! Members of the public were invited to come and celebrate the occasion with a slice of cake and a look back at the History of the Tipton Community, the prestigious Tipton Harriers and a celebration of sport in the area.

Keith Hodgkins & members of Tipton Civic Society

Tipton Harriers, Keith Atkins organised the event with the help of Robert Hazel of Tipton Library. The day was a great success with people stopping by throughout the day to enjoy the displays of sporting memorabilia and catch a climpse of members of the Tipton Harriers, both past & present!

Appearances were made by the likes of Tony Milovsorov – former G.B international, Peter Griffiths – former Welsh International Steeplechaser and Martin Williams – G.B International Marathon runner.

Tipton Harrier – Tony Milovsorov – former GB International

There was even a Birthday cake to celebrate the Tipton Harriers 100th Year and Tipton Library’s 10th Birthday.

On show were sporting memorabilia from celebrated members of the Harriers, including Jack Holden, and a powerpoint presentation with Tipton Harrier member profiles and a Full Circle screening of archive footage of  a Tipton Harrier Boxing Day morning handicap race from 1967, courtesy of Roy Langford – also a former Tipton Harrer 100 – 220m runner. Roy’s wife bought him the cine camera as a present  and this was the 3rd or 4th film that he took. The Tipton Harriers Centenary Project is working alongside Full Circle, to search for film or home-movies made in the Midlands that might hold the key to understanding more about our screen heritage.

Roy Langford created his own home-movies of the Tipton Harriers.

Roy Langford’s Tipton Harriers Boxing Day morning Handicap race, 1967

Also on display was a Tipton Harrier vest for everyone to sign alongside the likes of Tipton Harrier – Jack Corfield – the fastest man in the E.U over 2 miles in the 1950’s, to celebrate the special occasion.

Keith Atkins and volunteers of the Centenary Archive Project invited members of the community along to deposit or share any of their own memories of Tipton Harriers.

If you have any information or memorabilia relating to the Tipton Harriers such as:

Old photographs/reels of film/homemovies – digital & tape	Race results
Scrapbooks	Tipton 10 Mile Race Results
Club magazines	Club badges & stickers
Newspaper cuttings	Club Ties
Race programmes	Old club memorabilia

Please get in touch with Chris Holloway:  tipton.harrier@yahoo.co.uk

or

Keith Atkins: Tel:  01902 674 335

Tipton Harriers display of sporting memorabilia at Tipton Library

Tipton Harrier – Jack Holden

Tipton Harrier Martin Williams and Robert Hazel award prizes to the children who took part in the competition

Tipton Harriers Sports Ground

On Sunday 10th October 2010 – The Tipton Harriers invite you to an informal gathering at the Tipton Sports Academy to celebrate 100 years of Tipton Harriers which members (past & present) are invited with their friends & families. The reunion is due start around 5.00pm and is part of a number of activities being staged by the Harriers on the day.

It is hoped that a large number of past members will be able to attend. There will be a chance to catch up with old friends and rivals!
We will also be taking the opportunity to show a number of the cine films that we have been able to collect and transfer into a modern format. These include the samples from the famous ‘Tony Phillips Collection’ from the 1960’s & 70’s, as well as some short clips from a Boxing Day Handicap (in the 1960’s) and samples from Road Runners Club Archives and, hopefully, a few surprises as well.
For more information contact Chris Holloway – tipton.harrier@yahoo.co.uk

Photographs courtesy of Lucie Kerley © 2010

Dudley Archive’s get involved in Full Circle Community film search

Dudley Archives & Local History Service

Dudley Archives & Local History Service are excited to become one of the 60 partner organisations in the Midlands that will take place in the Heritage Lottery Funded Full Circle project. 

“Dudley Archives and Local History Service holds over 1 mile of original archive material, including business ledgers, maps and school records; more than 80,000 books and pamphlets and around 18,000 images, relating to Dudley borough.”

 The Archive is now on a hunt for previously unseen films hidden away in the Dudley communities.  Archivist – Gillian Roberts  expressed her delight in participating in the project which she feels will be a great way of getting members of the Dudley Communities connected with their screen heritage. 

The Archives are often involved in many local projects – and are interested in preserving the heritage of their community through both Oral and Visual Historical Records. The areas covered by Dudley Archives include Stourbridge, Halesowen, Brierley Hill, Dudley and Sedgeley. All have very distinctive histories and would be a great place to start searching for old film.

The Archives will act as a point of contact for members of the community wishing to get involved in Full Circle and also as a collection point for people wishing to deposit film.

Contact Details

Dudley Archives and Local History Service

Mount Pleasant Street

Coseley

West Midlands

WV14 9JR

How to Find Us

 

Tel: 01384 812770

Email: Dudley Archives

Another Hidden Gem -The Alison Cinavas Film Collection.

Alison Cinavas with her Father's film collection

The Full Circle project has been given yet another gem of a film collection. This time by Alison Cinavas, whose father filmed family holidays and  other events from the 1960s onwards.

Some of these hidden gems include footage of  the 1960 FA Cup Final – Wolves v. Aston Villa. (Billy Wright who played for Wolves was a minor media personality, and his marriage to Joy Beverley of the Beverley Sisters  was one of the most successful showbiz marriages of its time).

Other highlights include early footage of YHA, Drayton Manor, Belbroughton and camping nr Aberdovey.

This collection on 8mm film is being processed and clips will be available to view on the MACE website in the forthcoming months.

This deposit is part of the Full Circle project.

Please visit our website for more details. http://www.macearchive.org
Kay Ogilvie Senior Curator, Full Circle Telephone: 01629 823495 or Email: kay.ogilvie@tiscali.co.uk