A fantastic event was held at Annan Lonsdale Cinema this week, a premiere of a film made by local young people focusing on the life of 94 year old Bettie and her experiences of World War Two.
“Several months ago, we took a group of young people connected with the Devils Porridge Museum to Carlisle to meet with Bettie.” said Judith Hewitt, Manager of Museum. “These three young women spent several hours listening to Bettie’s experiences and asking her questions about being a member of the Women’s Land Army. They all really enjoyed the experience and this became the basis of the film which premiered this week.”
Following on from the initial filming, more young people were involved in the editing of the film. “A group of us travelled to Haltwhistle to work with Vicky and Marc from the Film Project there.” continued Judith. “We learnt how to edit a film to take three hours of raw footage and cut it down to a more manageable amount by focusing on some of the great stories Bettie had told.”
These stories were then animated by young people in a stop motion workshop at the Museum. “This was a challenging process as it took a lot of patience to make short clips using hand drawn pictures but the results were really pleasing.” commented Judith. “Bettie’s stories of rat catching, mole baiting, cows and tractor driving came to life in creative ways as imagined by the young people.”
The event at the cinema this week was the result of months of work and a great crowd of over 60 people were in attendance as was Bettie herself with her family and the majority of the young people involved in the project. “The evening started by having Border News interviewing us” said Judith “then we had brief talks, screened the film and awarded certificates to the people involved. Bettie was delighted with the evening and everyone had a great time. Thanks so much to Alan Towers and everyone at the cinema for letting us use their venue, it made it a really special event.”
The film will go on display within The Devil’s Porridge Museum soon and will also be used with school groups when they visit.
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