Play your part in a new film about the pits of the North East

The search is on for people to help shape a new film about the region’s coalmining history.

The very folk who lived and worked in pit villages are needed for a project which will culminate in a film called In the Veins: Coal Communities.

100 years of mining footage

Forty years on from the Miners Strike, the call has gone out from Dr Ben Lamb, Senior Lecturer in Media in the Teeside University’s School of Social Sciences, Humanities & Law.

He has commissioned the Yorkshire and North East Film Archives to produce a short film on the story of coal and its connection with communities across the North East.

Have your voice heard

It will include more than 100 years of archive footage but Ben also wants to recruit volunteers who will play an important role in creating the film.

He said: “It is essential that the people connected to the communities we are putting on screen have their voices heard, and that the experience we create authentically captures what it was like to live and work in mining communities over the years.

“We are seeking people to join us as community curators, to tell the authentic story of mining communities. We’re looking for people who can come together to form an advisory curatorial group."

'Digging deep into our collections'

Graham Relton, Archive Manager of the Yorkshire and North East Film Archive, said: “We are digging deep into our collections to reveal mining footage from across the decades and importantly the people involved.

"From this raw content we aim to craft a short film full of emotion and resonance, that we hope will to speak to a wide audience to reconnect with their mining heritage.”

Can you spare two hours a week?

The people who come forward could play a big part in taking the completed film to community centres, groups and mining institutions in former pit villages throughout the North East and Yorkshire.

Volunteers would be needed to spare two hours each week during April and May. They would watch video files at home, and be a part of online meetings to discuss the film as it develops.

Anyone interested in getting involved should contact Ben Lamb on [email protected].