Putting Places in Place

Further Info

This story was made on a five-day training workshop led by Joe Lambert and Emily Paulos from the Center for Digital Storytelling (www.storycenter.org) in California. Participants were Watershed and Museum staff, freelance practitioners, and staff from community based arts and media organisations who wanted to learn how to deliver future digital storytelling workshops in Bristol.

The course took place at Watershed during March 2005 and was supported by Bristol’s Museums, Galleries & Archives.

Transcript

[Speech from documentary fades in]

“…part of the army was moving down tracks that had been literally upgraded to take tanks and vehicles in front of them. The engineers working…”

[sound of a cine film projector]

Mum and dad moved a year ago. The cabinet was unlocked and I was given my file.

“March 22nd, 1967: Penelope has been a pleasure to teach and I shall be sad to lose her.”

Dad learnt a little Arabic. “Pretty useless when I got out there.” he said to his friends.

[Sound of an air raid siren]

Ice cream under the table. Fast cars driving off. A girl turns her head. The lizards are still waiting to be grabbed and the little man waves a silent goodbye.

Whistling tops were sweets that you could suck but you had to try very hard to get a tune. We used to go to the toy shop. My favourite thing was to sniff the trolls, play with the stuff that felt sticky but never stuck on your hands.

[Sound of the Muslim call to prayer]

“Hey, Jaudat, you got any Bazooka Joes?”

“August 6th, 1970:”

“Today we went off on our jounrey at 6. 16th of August. Thessalonica”. I was very pleased to get to England. We’d stopped at a coffee bar and bought some comics.

[Sound of birdsong]

One of the things I wanted to see were cows and green grass, rushing upstairs looking for the sweets under our pillows, echo barn and granny. Met Sancha Oppenheimer, again. She still wanted to be my friend.

I was the only girl to beat the boys. Well, I might have been helped, and had a head start. Dear Mr Hughes…

“The friendships she’s formed have been of good value and carefully chosen.”

One term, a school in Richmond I think, with my mama and her Imperial Mints.

“Dear mummy and daddy, please please may I give up Latin this term? On Saturday we are playing the Alpha versus Omega match ’cause it was cancelled on Tuesday… I’ve run out of cough sweets. Please could you send some.”

What can I say? It was “Oi, goofy! I’ll meet you outside the school gate.” “Oi, poshy!” But I did get into drama.

“She really is very perceptive, highly critical and a concerned student of the theatre.” - Steve Rawlsthorne.

[fade in from documentary]

“…February 2005. This is a view now of the Arbour[?] bridge over which many escaped coming out of Burma in 1942. Alongside on the right, which we can’t see from here, is a great new…”

Credits

All media not otherwise credited created by the story author, or permission obtained, used under copyright licence.