Michelle Hill, Curator, Tameside Museums & Galleries, reflects on the success of their grant project.
Thanks to a £2000 grant from AMOT, staff at Portland Basin Museum in Ashton-under-Lyne have been able to commission the making of two new films about the Manchester Regiment by Creative Media Practice students from Tameside College.
The grant money was put towards the costs of a projector with multi-button technology which means visitors can choose between different films to watch and also the photography of relevant collections and archive images.
We wanted to undertake the project as the regimental collections have been without a permanent home for 10 years after the closure of the Museum of the Manchester Regiment Museum in Ashton Town Hall. There has been various displays, exhibitions and projects using the collections since the museum’s closure but museum staff wanted to look at new ways of creating access to the regiment, its history and collections. The films would also be more of a permanent feature in the museum and viewable by visitors in our cinema area. The films have also been uploaded to YouTube so they can be accessed more widely.
So why did we choose to work with college students to make the films?
Teenagers are traditionally a ‘hard to reach’ group for museums and may not typically engage much with regimental history. We felt that films would be relevant to the majority of younger visitors who live in a fast-moving digital age, and also accessible to the majority of our visitors.
We had worked with Creative Media Practice students from the College previously so knew the films would be of a high standard. It was an ideal opportunity to engage with young people about the regiment. The students themselves were near enough the same age as some of the soldiers when they signed up and we felt that would resonate with them
The course leader asked us to complete a brief as if we were professional clients and the students subsequently presented their proposals to us. We requested two films, one about the Manchester Regiment’s links to the local area and the second one to explore the lives of a small number of Manchester Regiment soldiers in more depth.
There were several meetings at the museum and the students also visited Tameside Local Studies and Archives to access material.
The museum provided background contextual information for the students to use, and we encouraged some general research into the history of the regiment and the two World Wars. The tutor was pleased that there were additional elements of history and research which would provide a broader experience for the group.
After some editing and tweaks we had the final films by the 23rd June.
We are very pleased with the films and they are being well-received.
However I felt it was also important to gather some feedback from the students and the tutor with regard to their views on the project. Please see below:
I found the project really interesting, because as a group we all got to work together and experience that industry standard teamwork. In addition, I really enjoyed researching into the Manchester’s and having the archive at my fingertips. Layton Matthews
I found the project fun and interesting as it’s something I’ve never done before. I liked that I was doing a film for a museum that was a main part of my childhood. Blake Lee
Working on this project I found it interesting as we got to look more into the history of Tameside. We got to delve into the history of local soldiers and found out how their life worked around the war. This project let us work in a group and understand the concept of a team and how it’s effective. Although we had some struggles and had to re tweak some things we were able to understand how it would be to work in a proper industry environment. Overall to see the end project in its full form was the best part as we knew it was all worth it. Ella Cooper
Finally, some words from the course leader..
Overseeing my students as they created two short documentaries for The Portland Basin Museum was a rewarding experience. Though they faced challenges, the excellent material provided by the museum allowed them to engage deeply with the project. This opportunity closely mirrored working for an industry client and equipped the students with vital skills in research, storytelling, and professional collaboration. Thank you to Michelle, Alex and all of the staff at Portland Basin for this opportunity. Amy Sheldon, Course Leader – Creative Media Practice, Tameside College
Thank you AMOT for giving us this opportunity to work with a fantastic group of young people with positive outcomes all round.