16 August 2022

We were thrilled to attend the film premiere of Tickets Please! at the Egg, Bath last month. The film was created by and starred local groups of elders from AgeUK Banes in Midsomer Norton, Bath Ethnic Minority Senior Citizen Association BEMSCA in Bath and the Bath City Football Foundation Group Connecting Twerton.

We commissioned Artist Deborah Aguirre Jones to facilitate three creative sessions over the course of three weeks at the start of the project, using a range of maps and key questions to bring out the stories that formed the basis of the film, and we were involved in supporting the project through to the film premiere. 

The project had two aims: To produce a short film highlighting the historical and social value of the railway for people in Bath, and for the film to be made by the members of those groups.  Those involved were trained in the art of film making with the support of filmmaking students from Bath Spa University. The final film that was shown at the premiere goes to prove that you are never too old to learn a new skill and here are just a few of the things the new filmmakers said about the project:

‘What a wonderful evening – I never thought I’d ever see myself on screen at a cinema let alone play a part in making a film.’ Terry

‘I loved everything about making the film; and the premiere evening just made us all feel special.’ Heather

‘Everything about it has been brilliant – going to interesting places, meeting good people and always having a laugh with friends. That Premiere evening was just amazing.’ Ernie

Russell, From Bath City Football Foundation added:

‘Seeing the seed of an idea come together on screen at such a joyous occasion was one of the highlights of my working life. To witness a group of disparate older people overcome inhibitions, embrace new technology and get on so well together in a team, build friendships along the way, grow in confidence and achieve an end result of such quality leaves me with an enormous sense of pride’.

As the stories from the groups began to flow, the ‘film crew’ which were made up of members of the Connecting Twerton Group began to map out the film and how they would go about weaving all the stories together. They did a brilliant job and as so soon as the film is available to share – we will be adding it to our YouTube channel and let you know. We think its very inspiring hearing their stories and can’t wait to share it with you.

Creativity Work worked in collaboration with Bath City Football Club Foundation and AgeUKBaNES on this Railways Memory project which was funded by Great Western Railway [GWR] and supported by internationally acclaimed film director Ken Loach.

Photographs by Adrian Wyatt