Posts

Posted on

Redemption has Arrived

You may remember two or three months ago I said that I had been working on a project with the living dead. Well eventually after a great deal of editing and polishing here is the film in all it glory.

The film is a culmination of months of planning and hard work, which a team of thirty three Students and Industry professionals carried out during a two month period this summer.

Now many people who watch this epic with think its just another student film, but I can assure you that its not the finished film that makes this project amazing. Its the fact that a group of students given the right amount of support can achieve great things. Not only to arrange the locations, costumes and actors but also up to that point the only two sunny days we had witnessed up to that point in the year.

It is also testament to Oldham Councils Parks Department who were trusting enough to let us loose in Alexandra Park which is arguably the best location for a film I have ever worked in. Not to mension the Staff at the Boathouse Cafe for the endless cups of Coffee that kept everyone going.

So thats another year of grey hair making production over with, and I enjoyed every minute of it. So all that remains for me to say it thanks to those really nice people at Baker Media in particular Andrew Corrie, Ben Mann the Director for making two days filming with a rookie crew seem easy (which it wasn’t), to Fatima for allowing us to trample all over her story with the calm and grace that most professional writers could learn from and finally to the student crew who make every day an adventure, which makes it all worthwhile.

So after months of waiting it is here, ‘Redemption’. This years film by Oldham College Media Students which by any measure is a great effort.

Posted on

Hooray a time to celebrate

Norfolk Broads

Hooray a time to celebrate, (no not the Birth of Prince George). Its the fact I have made it to my annual summer holiday in one piece and with no bits having fallen of since the last one, apart from one tooth that broke earlier in the year but Im not counting that because its one I didn’t use that often.

Now Summer holidays at Eccles towers is a bit of a hit and miss affair due to Ann’s continuing health issues, having cancelled at least two holidays in the past five years getting insurance is a challenge.

So we now tend to go when she is well and only travel to mainland Europe, so fingers crossed we may actually get going this year. With that in mind we have organised a few days in Norfolk next week with friends.

Now I know that going away with friends can be a risky business in the fact that you may not return quite as close, but we have done this before and we have a great time. Now I know Norfolk has a reputation for being a bit dull, but I love it, I think its all to do with the big skies and the light which seems a little brighter than here in Saddleworth. But then again apart from the last three weeks I can’t remember seeing that much blue sky for so long.

So why am I celebrating arriving at this event with such enthusiasm. Its quite simple really, it’s been a tough year, people who I have worked with for years have decided that retirement has become a reality and other people have left to pursue careers in other sectors.

Now I am old enough to remember going through these types of changes in my working life several times over the years and it can be very waring on the nerves, even if its only the fact that some very nice and highly experienced people leave your circle of support.

To all these people I wish them all the best for the future and that they have a long and happy retirement.

That is all but one of my friends who we happen to be going away with. On his first day of retirement he stood on his balcony in his dressing gown and a cup of coffee in hand waving to all us working types as we left for work. If I could have driven across the garden to were he was I would have run him over.

This is the man who texted me the memorable message “Sat here overlooking the hills around Sienna watching the swifts darting in and out of the Olive groves drinking very nice Italian Wine.” whilst I was on the shoot from hell which did little to lift my mood.

He was quite taken back when I texted back “F**k off!”.

These friends however are brilliant company, They are funny, smart and have a sense of adventure that would leave a thirty something couple gasping for breath. So with that in mind I think I deserve a rest so I can do it all again next year.

I hope you all get a great summer break, even if its only to prepare you for Christmas!

Posted on

The Fascinating World of the Digital Economy

IMG_1297

This week has been tough, firstly after last weeks holiday it does take some time to get to the bottom of your in tray and thats as other projects come through the door thick and fast. I was lucky enough to cover a conference this week at Manchester Town Hall that placed new digital companies in the same location as teachers and lecturers from various schools around Manchester.

Now many of you will think that this type of activity happens on a regular basis but I can tell you it doesn’t happen enough. It was an eye opener on many levels and even though I consider myself to be up to date with the latest technological innovations and practices even I was amazed at how fast the world of digital business is changing.

It is changing so fast that these cutting edge companies don’t have time to worry about training and formal qualification, they need people now and they will employ anyone who will deliver what they need, qualifications or not.

This came as a shock to some of the Teachers listening to these people who explained how the industry they worked. The fact that they often survive on a project by project model and that forward planning was all about covering costs and making a profit whilst ensuring that the quality of work was fantastic.

Most College Principals will tell you that the most challenging activity they face is trying to predict what skills people will need in the next five years and design a curriculum that is both relevant and appealing to potential students and employers. The biggest difficulty arises from the fact that these companies can’t even predict what the technology will look like next month let alone next year.

When employers are asked what qualities do you want students to have when they leave college or university? The answer of course is subject knowledge and work experience in the sector they are going to work in. In other words someone who can walk through the door and hit the ground running with minimum of supervision.

Most employers recognise that this is a panacea, an unrealistic expectation, so they then have a fall back position which is, we need people who can communicate, be computer literate and have a strong work ethic. The expectation is that they can train them in almost every other aspect of the business they will be operating in.

Now I am old enough to have been given that type of education, I was an apprentice for British Gas, who sent me to various colleges to gain the theoretical knowledge I needed but then surrounded me with mentors who had years of experience in all kinds of disciplines who then passed on all sorts of experience which has served me well during the past 30 odd years.

I am glad I attended this conference, it was an eye opener and at least these two groups of people who have the opportunity to shaping our economy more than any other collective group of people are at least starting the discussion around how do we fashion the workforce of the future.

One thing is for sure it will not look like any workforce of today!

Posted on

Keep Calm and Whit Friday in Diggle

Keep-Calm

Saddleworth and Whit Friday will always be special to me. I first moved to Saddleworth when Sarah my daughter was two, and whilst walking today we collectively worked out we have walked on Whit Friday every year since.

We have lived in saddleworth now for thirty one years. We didn’t walk the first year because I didn’t know what it was. But I learned the hard way. Ann woke me up and said she had heard a shuffling sound in our front garden.

Now being a virile twenty odd year old (wishful thinking) I sprung out of bed naked and I can assure you it was not a pretty sight. I threw the curtains back just in time for the conductor who was stood on my garden wall to strike up the band and the rest of the village in a hymn to welcome us to the village.

Now there is not many people who can say they have flashed the entire village were they live, but unfortunately I can. I still go red when certain women in the village give you a certain look that makes you feel very inadequate.

Now this year I must confess Whit Friday was a bit of an emotional roller coaster, It was not the fact that the brood assemble at Eccles towers and hoover up most of the natural resources that our planet has to offer, Its not the fact that the weather was dreadful, (I experienced four seasons in one hour on the march down to Uppermill). Its the fact that I have got to an age were I remember what I have lost.

I don’t mean my mobile phone or my car keys, which I do on a regular basis, I mean all the people who I have known throughout my years here. The place were I call home. people who I have laughed and cried with, people who I would love to be here.

Many of these people from my past have gone but I can assure you that they are not forgotten. I always get a lump in my throat on the way into Uppermill, I find myself looking for them in the crowd. I remember where I saw them in years gone by and that hurts a little.

I don’t care that it may be raining, I don’t care that my shoes may give me sore feet on the way back from our communal service in Uppermill. I am here and I celebrate that fact. Life is short and it is what you make it and I love the fact that I am still here.

So with another whit Friday under my belt I think I am very lucky. So with that thought in mind I wish everyone who took part in “the greatest free show on earth” a healthy, safe and prosperous year and hopefully we can do it all again next year.

Posted on

Working with the Living Dead

Image

Making films is a painstaking slow business which takes a small army of people with various skills a great deal of time. You start with a story, which in itself is getting increasingly hard to find. It should be original, entertaining and when read through should be thought provoking.

I have been lucky this week to be part of this process which has seen very inexperienced young people produce a piece of work which they should be proud of. Our script was developed from a story by a young writer called Fatima Al-Kassem, a second year media student from the college which I work at.

Many writers quite rightly are very protective of the story they are telling but to Fatima’s credit she allowed us to use her story and embellish it a little to help us enter this years round of film festivals.

So armed with a great script and a cast and crew of twenty eight people we embarked on a challenging two day shooting schedule nearly all of which was outside in the beautiful Alexandra Park in Oldham.

Now living on the edge of the pennines its a brave producer who envisages that it won’t rain at some point across the production window but we decided it was worth the risk. We had tried to arrange shooting at the start of March but we were beaten by snowdrifts, fog and Ice, so we postponed it until this week.

To enable our band of inexperienced students we added experienced seasoned production professionals who helped our guys to produce something quite magical.

Even the weather was more than kind, although I did get my head sunburned and I can do a great impersonation of a very red person. Now to those of you who are saying I should wear a hat, I did have one in the car boot but I inadvertently dropped the Camera Case and Tripod on it this morning making it into a a heap of shattered straw.

Now the aim of this exercise isn’t to make the students experts in camera work, make up or even directing actors. Its about them learning how to behave, respect each other’s abilities and work together as a team.

On the first day it is always like what could be described as a schoolyard football game, twenty two people running around after a ball with everyone expelling a lot of energy with little progress being made.

By lunchtime on the first day something magical happens, they start to delegate and get involved and that is what is needed. These young people worked relentlessly for eleven hours a day during this period and they enjoyed every minute of it.

The Director Ben Mann who is highly experienced and very patient gave them the confidence to make suggestions and was courteous enough to listen and explain the process and why maybe things might not work rather than dismissing ideas out of hand.

The Cameraman Chris Stonnal also allowed them space to get involved and explained what makes a great shot and the highly experienced Andrew Corrie the Production Manager gave them the opportunity to make decisions that helped deliver a great production.

What I mainly remember about the last two days is the youthful enthusiasm that young people bring to any project, The sheer bravery to try things that any seasoned professional would  think twice about doing,

The understanding of the Actors when we had to pour buckets of water over them (that was more preferable than throwing them in the lake) and the young Actress who in full suicide corpse makeup caught the bus home because she thought it was a cool look.

IMG_1238

I am very fortunate to work at a college that offers young people these types of experiences, who are visionary enough to think we should be developing character as well as promoting academic study. But one thing I am sure of is that our students will probably be the only students at an FE college doing this exercise this week, or for that matter any week.

The production will be ready in around three weeks and I will post it here for your perusal. So look out for our film ‘Redemption’ and see if you can spot the living dead.

Posted on

Moving in Circles that Party in the Afternoon

 

IMG_1213

 

Its that time of the week when all good Bloggers, (and some not so good bloggers) have to commit to writing something which should be entertaining and a little though provoking. Now some people I know can sit down and knock out an article in twenty minutes, which makes sense and has just the right amount of Irony in it to make it a joy to read.

I on the other hand write in a dialect which comes from living in the northwest of England, as one voiceover guy once asked “do you want this script reading in English or with an Oldham accent”?

So to this weeks literary masterpiece. As most of you are aware my long suffering other half figures fairly large in my life because unlike most couples we know we don’t have a great deal in common. This means that we spend a great deal of time doing stuff the other one likes to do.

For example we went to watch the Jersey Boys and I found it more entertaining watching Ann sing along rather than the event itself. Equally there have been times when she has been on very long boring film shoots just so we could spend time together.  However having said that we muddle along together very well and life is very comfortable at our place.

We have now been married 34 years in June and it has flown past in the blink of an eye and when people ask us what is the secret of our longevity we jokingly respond by explaining we were that busy trying to pay the mortgage for the first twenty years we hardly saw each other.

More seriously though I put it down to the fact we learned fairly early on that we had to compromise in order to make life tolerable and it seems to have worked.

So what got me thinking about this was this afternoon we were lucky enough to be invited to a 40th Anniversary Party being thrown by some very close friends of ours. Now I have now reached the age were most parties we are invited to are in the afternoon, the reasoning I think has something to do with the fact we can keep awake and enjoy ourselves without dozing in a chair and dribbling.

To make the party entertaining they produced the wedding photographs and quite a few people at the gathering were actually at the wedding. We all had a Laugh at various dodgy 1970s hairstyles and fashions but on the whole the people who are now in there sixties didn’t look quite as old as my parents did when they were that age.

I urge you all to look at your family photographs and look at your mothers and fathers and look at them carefully and see if you can spot the hint of them having a hard working life. I am sure that I am in better shape than my parents were at my age.

My Dad worked Sixty hours a week all his working life and I never heard him complain once, even when he was leaving for work at six in the morning. So next time I start complaining about my 35 hour working week and my daily commute of around Ten miles, I think I need to get a grip.

I just need to cast my mind back to 1970 the year I started work when I worked five and a half days a week, from 8.00 in the morning till 6.00 at night and 8.00 till 12.00 on Saturdays and travelled an hour each way on a bus. By comparison even though my job can be stressful at times my working days are marginally shorter and I very rarely work weekends.

Posted on

You Can’t Beat a Bit of Live Music to Make You Feel Good!

IMG_1199

Let me set the scene. After what seems like months of being housebound and almost at the point of becoming stir crazy, tonight I have been lucky enough to go to a place that not only serve alcoholic beverages but they also have an almost unique sales proposition.

They are mad enough to put on very good live music acts. Maybe its only once a month but its keeping something alive which is on the brink of becoming extinct.

To add to my spring like insanity we decided to invite our grandkids along to see what they thought of it. I was surprised on several levels because one, they agreed to come and two they actually looked like they enjoyed it. Apart from one complaint that they couldn’t hear what each other were talking about.

So here is my question to all of you thirty / forty somethings out in suburbia when did your kids last go to a live band playing live music. Now I am not counting Karaoke, I mean real people playing real instruments and singing without the aid of auto tuning. I suspect not many.

Now I am not trying to sound righteous or superior and I admit at your age I was that busy paying the mortgage that I didn’t have the time or money to partake in such activities. But to watching young people’s faces whilst listening to a band who are playing songs they have only heard on the radio is magical. Its an expression which is a mixture of recognition and the fact that it doesn’t quite sound the same but in the words of my 10 year old granddaughter, “its very loud but brilliant”.

Whilst in-between sets I now realise I am now beginning to sound like my Dad, I was remonstrating with another grumpy northern bloke that when we were young you could go out any night of the week and listen to a live band and it was nothing special.

How little did we know that in the space of thirty years it would no longer be the norm but a treat to be savoured whenever the opportunity arose.

So here is my request to everyone. Just think what activities you enjoyed when you were young. Try to give your children or grandchildren the chance to have the experiences you enjoyed as a kid. Mine include running down a beach trying to fly a kite, the magic of listening to a band who for that moment in time gave you a feeling like nothing you have ever felt before, the magic feeling that sends shivers down your spine.

Putting it simply give them a chance to live in the moment, experience what we have taken for granted and unfortunately let disappear from our lives, because one thing I have learned is that once it has gone, it has gone forever.

Posted on

Ice Station Diggle

Photo by Oldham Mountain Rescue
Diggle – Photo by Oldham Mountain Rescue
There are various advantages to living in Saddleworth the great friendly people who still think its important to put something back into the community they live in, the beautiful countryside and on hot sunny days the quietness of the moorlands that give you a time to mentally recover from what life throws at you in this hectic 21st century way of life.

This time last year it was warm enough for our first BBQ of the summer, this year on the other hand It would take me twenty minutes to dig it out of the snowdrift it is lodged in.

Having said all that on Saturday evening we had tickets to see Jersey Nights at the Opera House in Manchester. We left Saddleworth around five looking like a pair of Arctic explorers prepared for every eventuality and set out by car.

By the time we had got down to Ashton there was little in the way of snow and by the time we reached Manchester there was non at all. Now this is good news in one way but the strange looks you get from people when you arrive in Manchester dressed like trainee mountaineers is a little disconcerting.

I can also say that the Opera House gets very warm when you are wearing thermals and several layers of clothing, I think I lost a stone in weight by the time the show ended. (which was very good considering I don’t do musical theatre).

When we came to return home the temperature in Manchester was two degrees. By the time we reached Ice Station Diggle it was minus two, that is some temperature drop in the space of ten miles.

The weather this weekend up here on the top of the world has been challenging to say the least. Snow has come down in bucket loads and what has made it worse is the wind has gathered it up and put it in places that are far better off without it.

So to the point I am trying to make. If you live in Saddleworth you dress according to the weather and you know when to try and travel and when not to. I have a stick in the front garden and if the snow covers it I know to get back in bed until the first bus passes through.

This comes from the collective experience that says trying with hundreds of other commuters to get over the hilltops that surround us is a fruitless exercise which prevents the snowploughs from clearing the roads in an efficient manner.

I suppose we all take for granted that someone will come and rescue us should we find ourselves in trouble. But I always think that if you do not put yourself in the position in the first place then the emergency services will be free to help people who really need help.

This weekend our intrepid Mountain Rescue Team have been incredibly busy working in conditions that would give every Health and Safety person palpitations.

What makes me appreciate these individuals is not the unquestioned bravery or the obvious expertise, it is that these dedicated professionals do it because they care about the environment they live in and they feel they make it safe for less experienced individuals to take advantage of our beautiful moorlands.

So I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all the volunteers and fundraisers of the Mountain Rescue Team that help make Saddleworth a safer place to live in.

Posted on

Park Life

emma

I have been on a location recce (reconnaissance) for a film that will be in production the first week of Easter. Most of the film is set in a park that needs to have a secret garden feel but with enough features to make filming scenes interesting.

After much racking of brains and ringing of hands someone in the production team suggested Alexander Park in Oldham. So for an hour this afternoon in the freezing cold we embarked on our location spotting exercise.

Now I personally have not been in the park in years and what a pleasant surprise I had. Even in the cold blue light of this wintery March weather it still was fantastic. On a warm sunny day I can image it would be great for a walk through the grounds littered with very interesting statues and bridges.

I was told that one statue in particular is the only one in the country who wears a top hat, how true that is, I am not sure. The whole place has a great gothic feel about it and should make the film look fantastic.

It only goes to show that you don’t have to travel too far in our wonderful country to find hidden gems, how lucky we are.

Posted on

The Perils of High Street Shopping

IMG_1139

I think I need the Phone number of George Osbourne, I think I have found the solution to the downturn in retail sales on the high street.

This weekend we decided (or should I say Ann Decided) that we haven’t seen much of the grandkids recently and we should take them out for a treat into our local town centre on a shopping expedition, buying things they want rather than things they need.

So at Six Thirty on Saturday morning I was woken by my very excited grandson James (who for some unfathomable reason has been awarded the nickname of Jim Bob. I think its a Walton’s reference) who is six, on his mothers mobile asking what time we were due to pick him up and take him to buy, in his case a one eyed piece of plastic which cost Twenty Quid. I did what all good grandfathers do and immediately handed the phone to Ann who was the instigator of this day of blatant extravagance to make the necessary arrangements for the day ahead.

Arrangements were made and cutting a long story short, four hours later I am in the Town Centre with Ann, two teenagers of the female variety and JIm Bob, the nearest person I have as a male companion on this intrepid expedition.

It used to be in the past that whilst our women folk went clothes shopping us guys would go into guy type shops, perusing white goods and gadgets we could ill afford, but it gave us the opportunity to press buttons and check boy stuff out. without having to assist women in choosing whatever they decided to buy.

Since the advent of the internet and the fact that we guys are essentially lazy and can’t be bothered with shopping we have managed to shut down most of the guy type shops within a very short timeframe. The only solace that Jim Bob and myself found in the whole experience was in the Costa Coffee shop which offered us the chance to escape the clutches of women shopping.

Now there is only so long that you can sit in a coffee shop with a six year old, even though he was playing with his one eyed piece of plastic and was very well behaved. But when a woman who was berating a teenager in her charge by calling her Bonkers (a great word) he immediately wanted an explanation as to what it meant. I tried to explain in politically correct terms but was failing miserably but was rescued by our women folk arriving chattering about dresses and shoes and shops, with arms full of bags.

The only light in this very dim tunnel was when Ann asked James about his Skylander (the one eyed piece of plastic that cost twenty quid). His answer although very eloquent left Ann with an expression that said I know what you are saying but i don’t understand the words, are you sure its english? She got lost at the point of the relationship between the black dragon and the boy who became the King.

Poor Ann’s expression was pure defeat and immediately she did was most people do in that position, change the subject and turned back to the girls discussing dresses and such girly things that us men do not understand.

At this point it hadn’t been to bad, after all I was now full of caffeine and biscuits, so I was ready for anything, or so I thought. Primark is an experience I had not encountered before and I can tell you it will be some time and I will need a great deal of therapy before I do it again.

Three women wanting dresses for a party is a recipe for driving a man to the edge of insanity. After forty five minutes of looking at the choice of dresses we eventually arrived at the changing rooms. Now for women this is a normal experience, but for the poor bloke who is with them this becomes a nightmare.

If you are a bloke you are aware that most women’s changing rooms are situated in the ladies lingerie department and no matter were you stand, as a bloke on his own you feel like a fish out of water. So me and James stood dutifully whilst the ladies went to try stuff on. I was pretending to look at my phone to keep busy and not make eye contact with anyone in case I was mistaken for a stalker or something.

I was doing really well for the first ten minutes but then it started to go pear shaped. I noticed a young women who was shall we say a little on the large side looking at thongs. Whilst I was trying to work out what must she be thinking to even consider such a proposition, she noticed I was watching and she gave me a very black look.

She put the thong back on the rack she started walking towards me, I had visions of her shouting at the top of her voice “pervert”. As she arrived at where I was stood she said, “Isn’t your little boys hair a great colour”. Surprised at this I explained that he was my grandson and I was waiting for my wife. She left leaving me a shivering wreck.

For the next three hours of shopping for shoes handbags and accessories I kept my eyes under control and avoided eye contact with anyone and after three very stressful hours was relieved to be back in the car and on our way home.

So back to my cure for the High Street Mr Osbourne, fill all the empty shops with big boys toys and gadgets that us guys can play with whilst our women go and shop till they drop. It would take the strain out of shopping for every bloke and you never know we might even buy something we like without going to look at eBay first.