Langley World War 1: Poetry film project

Langley World War 1: Poetry film project

Young people taking part in a workshop
Young people taking part in a workshop

First World War: Then and Now

West Middleton
Rochdale
REELmcr
£10000
"I went out on Friday night and all we did was sit talking about the war, so it gets people talking. I’m just sorry I’ve not learnt before."
Sue Smith, project participant
Residents of the Langley Estate in Manchester used stories and photographs of their ancestors as inspiration to create a collective poem and film.

REELmcr use film-making to provide a voice to under-represented and vulnerable communities. They brought together over 25 people from a variety of backgrounds for this intergenerational project.

Thirteen workshops were delivered in total, covering areas such as research skills, poetry, drama, camera operation, sound recording and editing.

Participants on the project visited local military museums, libraries and memorials in order to collect information and find out about how their ancestors lived during the First World War. They also carried out research exploring working-class conditions in Manchester at the time. The workshops and visits were filmed by a young resident from the Langley Estate, who has edited the footage into a ‘behind the scenes’ documentary.

The documentary and film of the poem were shown at a community premiere in Middleton, at which several of the participants also performed live on stage. The poem was screened across Rochdale during the literature festival, and the Facebook page for the project has had over 2,000 views. The film is now on permanent display in Rochdale Town Hall.