Local school children at the Bevington Primary School make a short film alongside company, Digital Works, about the history and development of Golborne Road. 

 

On the 8th May a short film made by Year 5 students at Bevington Primary School premiered at the Flyover on Thorpe Close. It featured stories of the resistance and struggle that past and present residents of Golborne had to tolerate from its development from farmland to multicultural hotspot.

 

Interviewees included MP Alan Johnson – former Home Secretary, who also attended Bevington Primary School – and recalls memories of his childhood in Goblborne. “There used to be a van that came around and would stop in Southam Street and all the kids would come and watch the films, cartoons, Walt Disney and that kind of stuff”. Former resident, Alan Richie, remembers the “feeling of rebellion” when he resided in Golborne. Alan Johnson supports Richie’s view, stating the difference between the past and present; “people of different ethnicity are very safe and secure – when I lived here it wasn’t like that at all”. Other residents recall the enormous upset many of them went through during the seventies when there was a housing crisis. “Landlords were literally throwing families out on the street with nowhere to go, it was brutal” Gloria Daniel, resident of Hambrook terrace states.

 

Throughout the film there is a clear message that comes through from all the interviewees, that being the huge sense of cimmunity spirit that has been present for centuries. The People’s Association was formed initially as a result of the housing crisis, which allowed residents to become aware of their rights. If their rights weren’t valid, it gave them a place to stay for a short time until they had suitable accommodation. The People’s Group (now Residents Association) campaigned for the Golborne Children’s Centre to be erected as mothers barely had anywhere safe to take their children during the day. They were also granted the rights for a playground to be built, which involved years of conflict with with council members as it would be constructed under a motorway.

 

The film captivates the moving accounts from the residents of Golborne who witnessed its change over time. The work of the Year 5 pupils and their collaboration with Digital Works is quite astonishing. The film portrays excellent memorabilia from residents and council members who all live in Golborne. It chronicles the history of the community perfectly and allows an onlooker a very clear picture of the kind of place Golborne was and has now turned into.

 

Sophie Chapman