Intergenerational film project brings County Durham’s history to life

PETERLEE care home residents have been collaborating with a group of primary school children to record their memories of growing up and working in County Durham.

The “People of Peterlee” project has seen elderly residents at Bannatyne Lodge Care Home, on Manor Way, being recorded by Year 5 pupils from Dene House Primary School.

The pupils edited the recordings and overlaid them with historical photographs of the area before publishing them on YouTube – part of a growing digital archive of stories from the region.

The initiative is being run by social enterprise Digital Voice for Communities, which was commissioned by The Story, a heritage archive and visitor attraction at Mount Oswald in Durham, and part-funded by the Sir James Knott Trust.

Gay Hudspeth, 93, Derek Sinden, 85, Ann Hall, 84, and Florence Wilson, 85, were among the residents who spoke with the school pupils, all aged 10 and 11.

Derek spoke about growing up on Camden Road, in Hartlepool, and his career as a gas fitter, when he went to Peterlee for work and often visited his mother-in-law on his lunch break. He also supplied the children with photos from his personal albums to use in the final edit of the interview.

He said: “I loved the film. What a lovely group of children they are. It was very nice to talk about working as a gas fitter in Hartlepool. They really listened and asked good questions.”

Gay told the children about growing up in a small, dark colliery house in Blackhall, before moving to a new house in Peterlee when she married at 22.

She said: “You see, when I moved there, well, I thought it was luxury, because we had hot water, we had a bathroom with a lovely bath and a washbasin, and a separate toilet. We didn’t need a coal oven because a gas oven was provided for cooking. I was so thrilled to have all these modern amenities when I was married.”

10-year-old Ebony was one of the pupils who interviewed the residents. She said: “It was so interesting to talk to the residents and hear about their lives. My favourite was when Florence talked about what it was like during the war. And how they didn’t have bathrooms or toilets in their houses.”

Julie Nicholson, managing director of Digital Voice for Communities, said: “The Digital Voice team has loved being involved in this project, coproducing lovely digital stories with residents of the care home and supporting children from Dene House Primary School to develop the skills needed to tell them in this way.

“It’s fantastic to see the impact of this type of intergenerational work. The older people were delighted to see their stories brought to life, and the children really enjoyed meeting them and developing the skills needed to be creative with those stories. “

Julie Armstrong, home manager at Bannatyne Lodge Care Home, said: “Residents got so much out of this project. Working in collaboration with the children was priceless.

“The video outcomes were phenomenal. Intergenerational interaction is so important. Residents have told me they loved telling their stories to a new generation.

“Thank you to the “People of Peterlee” project and The Story in Durham for giving residents the opportunity to share their memories for all to hear.”