Medway on Screen

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New community history project launched in Medway and West Kent

Screen Archive South East, with funding of £37,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund, is leading an exciting new community history project on the River Medway in the twentieth century. It is devoted to the River Medway, the towns and villages it passes through and its important place in the social, industrial and agricultural history of Medway and Kent in the last century.

Unique film material

Screen Archive South East has in its care unique film material that captures many of the industries and communities associated with the Medway as they were in the 1930s and 1940s. From the hop fields near Tonbridge to the breweries, factories and docklands at Maidstone and the Medway Towns, the river connected contrasting ways of life and enabled the development of a thriving industrial base.

Medway on Screen Project

The Medway on Screen project invites you to view archive films of the River Medway and contribute your stories and histories. A series of events and discovery days will be held across the year to gather memories, historical information, photographs and documents. All of this material will be combined to create a rich impression of 20th Century life along the River Medway inspired by archive film. This project will provide us with an opportunity to preserve living memories connected to this fascinating history. An interactive website and a DVD will be created to serve as part of its legacy.

Frank Gray, director of Screen Archive South East said, ‘We are very excited by this project because these films of the Medway reveal hidden histories, which we are keen to uncover. By sharing these films we hope to encourage everyone to contribute memories of the river and its many histories’.

Supprt for the project

In support of the project, The City of Rochester Society said, ‘We anticipate with enthusiasm the opportunity to become actively involved with such a worthwhile community project’.

Stuart McLeod, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund South East England said, ‘These archive films capture many aspects of the community history of Kent and Medway that have either disappeared or are in decline providing a unique record of everyday life and work in past times. The project will use this resource to jog local memories and encourage people to make their own contribution.’

Events

Public events will take place in Maidstone, Rochester and Tonbridge during 2010. Full details of the event programme will be publicised locally and are available on the project website:

www.brighton.ac.uk/screenarchive/medway

For further information, please contact:

Catherine Walsh, Medway on Screen Project Officer, Screen Archive South East

c.walsh2@brighton.ac.uk