Intergenerational film project brings Peterlee's history to life

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

The pupils edited the recordings and overlaid them with historical photographs before publishing them on YouTube.

The initiative is 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 pupils.

Derek spoke about growing up in Hartlepool and supplied the children with photos from his personal albums to use in the final interview edit.

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: “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.”

Ten-year-old Ebony, who interviewed the residents, said: “It was so interesting to talk to the residents and hear about their lives.”

Julie Nicholson, managing director of Digital Voice for Communities, said: “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. “

Bannatyne Lodge home manager Julie Armstrong 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.”