A community film produced with the assistance of Swingbridge Video about regeneration work that took place in and around East Gateshead between 1997 and 2000. The film features extensive demolition work of much of the local housing stock as well as the refurbishment of the remaining properties. New facilities for children also feature. Residents are interviewed about these changing, most are generally positive about what is being done. The music used in this film was produced by several local...

A community film produced with the assistance of Swingbridge Video about regeneration work that took place in and around East Gateshead between 1997 and 2000. The film features extensive demolition work of much of the local housing stock as well as the refurbishment of the remaining properties. New facilities for children also feature. Residents are interviewed about these changing, most are generally positive about what is being done. The music used in this film was produced by several local bands including The Alf Garnetts who feature prominently in the film. A montage of images and voices from some of the people featured in this production. Title: Documenting the Changes in East Gateshead A man on a ladder painting a set of iron railings morphs into a series of historical photographs of the same view heading back in time. More archive images of industry and slum areas around the Gateshead quayside at Pipewellgate and Hillgate areas. From a hill overlooking it, an estate of council houses below changes to a parade of adults and children marching past the Bede Centre in Gateshead, some bang drums while others carry banner that reads ‘The Bede Cavaliers’. A man takes a photograph of a group of children outside the centre. A montage of contemporary photographs featuring children working in a hall making things. Four boys walking along a road is followed by a man standing in a field, he says his name is Joe and he lives at Old Fold in Gateshead. An excavator loads the rubble from a partly demolished house into a tipper, another lorry drives away with a full load of rubble and masonry. Inside the Bede Centre the camera is given a guided tour by a man called Lindsay, he points out the various offices and facilities as well as some of its users. Another tipper truck drives along Clover Avenue, an estate of council houses many of which are boarded up with some missing part of their roofs. A man in a beanie hat talks about both the demolition work that is going on as well as provide details on the area’s history and his connections to it. As he speaks demolition work continues on one of the nearby houses. Filmed in 1990 two boy swinging along a zipline inside Bede Community Park. The film changes to contemporary views of houses near a nearby football stadium and Joe and a friend walking across a piece of waste ground towards a parade of derelict shops where are to be demolished. Joe tells his friends about some of the shops that use to be there. Archive images showing the changes to the area with an emphasis on the council housing, now being demolished, being built in the 1920s and 30s. More archive images of the Clarke Chapman engineering work’s plus of the men who worked there. The final image morph into the same factory site today with the Bede Community Park built nearby. Inside the Bede Centre a woman is critical of the decision to demolish the streets in her area. Outside another woman saying goodbye to friends or family standing in the doorway of their council house before walking away. In another residential street a man speaks to the camera about the proposed plans to demolish the houses, he is worried about other residents who don’t know if or when this will happen. A boy walks up the back door of a house and knocks. His friend Stephen comes to the door and is asked if he wants to come out and play. Stephen says no. On a street corner four teenage girls stand chatting, in voiceover a mother complains about the lack of facilities for young people. The ghostly image of Stephen and his friend appears attempting to attract the attention of the girls, they don’t see them and walks away. A montage of photographs showing children taking part in a juggling class inside the Bede Centre changes to other children taking part in an arts project where they make their own puppets or masks. In another part of the centre a group of residents taking part in a discussion or meeting. One of the women in the group talks about the improvements she has seen on the estate and the hopes for the future and the next five years. A large group of residents come together for a group discussion about becoming a strong community. In the New Gateshead Social Club at Saltmeadows a woman sings the Jimmy Cliff hit ‘I Can See Clearly Now’. Around her two men play pool while other men and women sit around tables drinking and chatting. A cheque for £700 is presented to a woman by a member of the social club to help fund research into cot deaths. As the woman singing karaoke now performs the Fugees hit ‘Killing Me Softly With his Song’ views of demolition work continuing on a row of houses. The song ends and the images changes to the same street sometime later with the area now cleared, in the near distance along the Tyne the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art. In a corridor, a recreation of Miami Airport, a man taking a call on his mobile phone. The film changes to show the Tyne Bridge in the distance followed by several boarded-up buildings within the Gateshead borough. Cars travel along Hill Street in Gateshead with the High Level Bridge in the background. At this point the film morphs into another montage of archival photographs taken from the same spot. More images of the surrounding area and quayside from the early 20th century including the building of the Tyne Bridge. The final image featuring the bridge morphs again into the bridge today with traffic crossing the Swing Bridge and heading up Hill Street. Traffic approaching another junction morphs into another montage of archival images of the area from the early 20th century. Inside a television studio at Redheugh Studios the punk band The Alf Garnetts are interviewed for an edition of Unfold TV changing to them performing at The Soundroom recording studio. Back at the interview the group are asked what made them so popular? On a piece of derelict land group perform their internet hit ‘Restless Existence’ cutting back to the studio and their television interview. Back at The Soundroom they rehearse for the recording of a new track. Two young men in high-vis jackets are asked about The Alf Garnetts, one calls them ‘total class’. Back at Unfold TV the band are asked what they’ve been doing since the band slit, they provide tongue-in-cheek responses. The Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art covered in scaffolding changes to a group of school children taking a boat ride along the Tyne to see work being done to build the new Millennium Bridge. Back on dryland the children watch as a man fills a hole or block with cement, a girl and a boy are asked about the visit. A representative of Harbour and General, the company building the Millennium Bridge, takes questions from the children about the bridge and what it will be like when it if finished and why it is important for Gateshead. Two young apprentices help to build a brick wall in the front garden of a house on the estate, as they work, they talk about getting the job and what they believe their future prospects are. Their day over both boys leave carrying their tools with them. The boy seen earlier knocking on his friend Stephens door knocks again, this time his friend agrees to go with him and both boys walk away. In a classroom a woman helps a boy read from a book, he finishes and those around him begin to applaud. In another room the class work on various craft project with the assistance of several adults one of whom explains in voiceover that is known as The Happy Group. At the Bridge Hotel in Newcastle the Alf Garnetts perform, back in the studio of Unfold TV the band members as asked about their reunion. Two of the group argue over football. Back on the estate a new basketball court has been build and local children play on it. They chat with a man who is possibly a professional basketball player. Inside The Bede Centre residents and the press watch the film of Bede Community Park made in 1990, several recognise themselves. A woman speaks to the group proving a background to the park and the work done by locals then and now to renovate it. A man presents awards to two young girls, they are photographed as they accept them. Back outside children run onto the new community playground and begins playing with some of the apparatus watched over by their parents. Some of the children who are taking part in a visit to the Millennium Bridge give their opinions on the new park inter-cut with children playing basketball on the new court. As the children continue the new facilities one of the residents features in this film says the estate isn’t about houses, it’s about people. A group of children are led through the estate, some wave at the camera as they pass. In voice-over residents old and young talk about their hopes for the future. Back in the studio of Unfold TV the interview with the Alf Garnetts comes to an end, one of the members jumps on another and everyone begins to laugh. The film end with the group performing again on the piece of derelict land seen earlier. Title: Thanks to all the people of East Gateshead who have been part of this project. Thanks to the Bede Centre, Streets Ahead, The Soundroom. Archive images from Gateshead Libraries and Arts. 1990 photograph by Trevor Ermel. 1997 to 2000 photographs by Community Photography Group Title: Produced by Swingbridge Video Title: Local Music by Chyro, Fondue Set, The Mothmen,m Ella’s Dust and a special thanks to The Alf Garnetts Title: Documenting the Changes is an initiative run by East Gateshead Partnership and Gateshead Libraries and Arts End title: Funded by East Gateshead Partnership with the support from the Government’s S.R.B. Challenge Fund