Frozen Valley Film Project

 Do you remember those images on the national news last winter of people crawling on their hands and knees to cross the road?

They were shot right here in Huddersfield and, as the long term weather forecasts predict another harsh winter, Colne Valley writer and filmmaker Beverley Addy is launching the Frozen Valley film project to remember those moments where people were caught on the hop, when the traffic was brought to a standstill and also all that community spirit those difficult weeks sparked.

But Beverley, of Addy Media, needs your help.

With a team of volunteers brought together under the Marsden and Slaithwaite Renaissance programme,  she is going to make the film using your photographs, videos and stories showing how the Colne Valley was affected.

The Frozen Valley project, set up with cash from Kirklees Council’s Art in the Neighbourhood fund, the Community Foundation for Calderdale Grassroots Grant, in association with The Examiner, and Linthwaite chemical company Thornton Ross, will culminate in winter when the film will be shown at various venues in the Colne Valley before being put on the web.

Two informal workshops are to be held in Marsden and Slaithwaite where valley villagers and those from further afield can gather to share their Colne Valley footage, stills and tales from last winter. Once all the material has been gathered a handful of memories will be selected and those people will be invited to Qwax Recording Studio in Milnsbridge to record their tales to be included on the final film or films . More than one film may be made depending on what people share.

Composing duo Stuart Comins, 50, of Milnsbridge, and Slaithwaite’s Shelley Aldred, 48, of Media Sounds, have also been commissioned by the project to create an original title theme and soundtrack for the film.

Beverley, 41, of Linthwaite, said: “There were lots of difficult times for people in our valley last year, but most of all I remember how people pulled together and laughed as they cleared their streets and helped out those who couldn’t get out.

“I remember standing in the middle of the road as my Doc Martin boots were the only thing to stick to the sheet ice so I could pass children across the street to get to school without their wellies slipping like skates and taking them back to the bottom of the hill".

“In my cul de sac neighbours chatted in the street more. I even remember us all gathering at one house for an afternoon snow barbecue with mulled wine when none of us could get to work. We’re all so busy normally we rarely get to say ‘hi’".

The films will show the good, the bad and the funny – a real look back on last year and a reminder of what preparations we may need to make before we get hit by snow this winter.

Beverley is currently working with two schools in Kirklees on their film projects and has created short documentaries, films for numeracy learning and a docu-drama -which goes live on the web next month - with Huddersfield schoolchildren over the past year.

She writes for the Stemistry project based in the North East using poetry and prose to explore the issues around stem cell research and is working on Violent Lives, a series of arts films about domestic violence which will culminate in a walk through public art work which will open in Huddersfield.

Anyone with something to share for Frozen Valley should take it along either on CD or DVD or on their camera or mobile phone. You will need to take your USB leads with you to connect to the computers that will be there or your SD cards. There will also be facilities to scan images up to A4 size. The project will only be using images and stories from the Colne Valley.

Workshops will be held between 6.30pm and 8pm at Slaithwaite Community Centre, Bankgate, on Wednesday, October 27, and Marsden United Church Hall, Peel Street,on Wednesday, November 3. *Anyone who cannot make the workshops but has something to share should contact Beverley direct on 07971 259959 or by email beverley_addy@yahoo.co.uk.