Red Carpet Event at the Royal Naval Museum for Special Film Premiere
Children from Stamshaw Junior School will be VIPs for the day when they walk the red carpet next Monday to celebrate their achievements, and see for the first time the short films they created as part of a Their Past, Your Future project.
The Their Past, Your Future initiative is funded by the Heritage Lottery (Big Lottery Fund) and Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, encouraging exploration of the impact and ongoing legacy of 20th Century conflict on people and places in the UK and around the world.
Face to Face: Documenting experiences of conflict is an exciting intergenerational project which has brought together local children, veterans and serving Naval personnel. During the summer term the enthusiastic Year 5 pupils were trained as film-makers by professional staff from Harvest Films. They used the new skills they gained from working with the film-makers to create short documentaries for use in the classroom, by the community and online. The films include memories of D-Day, the Falklands War and Arctic convoys and in the process of interviewing the veterans, the children unearthed some truly moving and compelling stories.
Vic Walker, a D-Day veteran, believes taking part has been beneficial to all participants:
“The dialogue with the children has been a real eye opener. Their questions have shown a surprising depth of understanding and a rapport was built up in spite of the great age gap! Communication over a period of some 70 years has proved enjoyable and enlightening to children and veterans alike.”
As well as a chance to view highlights from the films, the Premiere will offer an opportunity to meet with and talk to the children and veterans and find out more about their experiences during the project.
Notes for editors
Face to Face: Documenting Experiences of Conflict is a ‘Their Past, Your Future’ Project funded by the Heritage Lottery (Big Lottery Fund) and Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. Their Past, Your Future encourages exploration of the impact and ongoing legacy of 20th Century conflict on people and places in the UK and around the world. For more information on this initiative please see www.theirpast-yourfuture.org.uk
During this project the children have had the opportunity to learn a range of new skills including operating cameras, microphones and other filming techniques as well as transferrable skills like teamwork, communicating with people from different generations, empathy and investigation.
The next step in the project will be to integrate the completed films into Remembrance Kitbags which will become a permanent resource available to schools, veterans and community groups. It will form the basis for workshops delivered in-house and as outreach across the region. They will also be accessible to a much wider audience through the museum’s website.
