The fifth of six programmes produced by Merlin Films for Tyne Tees Television that looks at the arts scene around the region. In this programme a look at the arts scene in the South Tyneside area around South Shields including a textile artist working with school children to install art inside a local factory and a photographer who captured images of the closure of Westoe Colliery and a poet who writes about the River Tyne. The programme also looks at the early development of the Customs...

The fifth of six programmes produced by Merlin Films for Tyne Tees Television that looks at the arts scene around the region. In this programme a look at the arts scene in the South Tyneside area around South Shields including a textile artist working with school children to install art inside a local factory and a photographer who captured images of the closure of Westoe Colliery and a poet who writes about the River Tyne. The programme also looks at the early development of the Customs Houses as an arts and cultural venue. Title: In A City Art Art in an Urban World South Tyneside A montage of the River Tyne featuring the Customs House at South Shields and across the water the North Sheid Fish Quay and Lighthouses. Along both banks several shipyards and quaysides with a number of large ships docked there. As the Tyne Ferry Shieldsman departs South Shields it passes the other Tyne Ferry Freda Cunniningham moored nearby. As it continues its journey across the Tyne between South and North Shields, poet Kevin Cadwallender begins to read a poem he has written about both the service and about how South Shields and its people have changed. A weathervane atop the clock tower of South Shields Town Hall with writer Alex Ferguson explaining that you can’t escape the town if you were born here. As Kevin Cadwallender continues to read his poem an additional montage featuring the Shieldsman crossing back towards South Shields, passengers disembarking and shoppers walking along the pedestrianised King Street while at the closed Ocean Beach Pleasure Park worker painting. As Alex Ferguson watches a Color Line cruise ferry arrive into the River Tyne, he talks about there not being enough time in the day to put down all the words. As he continues to look out at small fishing boats moored nearby, he reads one of his poems ‘Coming Home’ featuring local fishermen. As a man paints a metal archway, in the background Westoe Colliery Tower. Two small children play in a nearby terraced street changes to photographer Steve Conlan standing beside the National Coal Board (NCB) Westoe Colliery entrance sign. Over a montage of his black and white photographs taken of the miners at the colliery as well as those in the surrounding community, Steve talks about how he was able to get the support of the community for his art. Former Westoe Colliery miner Dave Kenrick explains why he likes these black and white images as they appear more lived in. Following Dave standing beside the NCB sign a 360-degree panoramic of the centre of South Shields from the corner of King Street and Mile end Road. In voiceover Dave talks about the devastating effect the closure of Westoe will have on the town. As an artist in residence works with children in a school classroom, Jen Scott Co-ordinator for Arts Project for Education Business Partnership talks in voiceover about her job which is to bring together education and industry. Inside the LG Goldstar factory examples of textile artist Alison Wood’s large wall pieces installed there. She explains in voiceover that they have been produced to enhance the environment of the production line. As Alison watches as men and women work to produce microwave ovens, she talks about working with children from St Bede’s Roman Catholic Mixed Infants School who came into the factory and were able to capture the essence of the production line. Back at St Bede’s Alison walks into a classroom in which a large textile frame has been constructed, she talks in voiceover about the pattens and drawing made by the children which will be incorporated into this large textile artwork. Back at the Goldstar factory Operations Manager Ray Couch talks about how the children are producing something that gives a new angle on visually displaying some of things that go on in a factory. Back in the school Alison watches over the children as they work on the large textile mosaic intercut with some of the drawings they made following the factory visit. Back in the factory a montage of some of Alison’s commissioned works on display. A couple onboard the Shieldsman ferry crossing the Tyne passing three men fishing on the far bank. Over views of the Customs House near the banks of the Tyne Sally Thomas Assistant Director of the Tyne and Wear Development Corporation talks about how the corporation is developing and refurbishing the site converting it into an arts and cultural centre for the borough of South Tyneside. Standing in what appears to be a ditch beside the Customs House, Sally talks about how the centre will bring jobs and training opportunities at this unique facilities. Walking around the exterior of the centre is Margaret Cooney Assistant Art Development Officer for South Tyneside Council who talks about how the Customs house will significantly alter the arts environment on South Tyneside being a focus for people in the borough. Local animator Sheila Graber explains that South Shields needs a heart, a visible centre where everything can come together. A clip from her film ‘My River Tyne’ is followed by her talking about her memories of South Shields. At home in her studio Sheila works with computers to create her animations, on a screen the drawing of a man’s face morphing back and forth with that of cat. Sitting nearby Sheila’s real cat napping. She talks about moving to use computers from film and how the experience of her art hasn’t changed as she is still ‘making marks’ and is expressing things that she feels. At Ashley Road Infants School as children play happily in the playground, Sheila talks about the huge energy of the area of the North of England waiting to be tapped. As Richard Harris walks around his sculpture in the grounds of the school, he follows one of two pathways over a man-made hill he talks about the features of this sculpture which will eventually include a canopy of trees which will form a tunnel through which the children can walk or run through. Back in the playground Richard talks about the project being a collaborative work between himself and the children which he sees as refreshing. As Richard speaks about the support he received from the Groundwork Trust, Cate Hooper Project Development Manager for the Groundwork Trust provides details on another project they are supporting at Harton Infants School. In a classroom Cate works alongside Raku potter Andrea King to help the children paint and prepare clay tiles which will be used to make a sundial garden. Sitting outside Andrea provides details on how she worked with the children who have little experience of working with clay. As Andrea works to build a small kiln in the grounds of the school, she talks about the history of Raku pottery. With the kiln now operational four children standing nearby watching as their tiles are fired. As she provides details Cate assists the children to lift one of the tiles from the kiln dropping it into a bucket of sawdust, part of the part of the post-firing reduction process which give the tiles its particular colour and surface effects. Taking the tiles from the buckets they are dropped into water after which the children wipe the tiles down revealing their designs. Laid out on the grass the finished tiles changes to the now finished sundial garden with the tiles produced by the children incorporated into it. In a room at Phoenix House South Shields poet Kevin Cadwallender holds a poetry session with a group of addicts at this national rehabilitation centre. Intercut with two of the residents reading their works, Kevin talks about how he believes that for many here poetry is the only way to communicate their feelings of repression. Out on the centres stairs Kevin performs one of his humous poems for the group who laugh at the right moments. Credit: Electricians Alan Robinson, Alan Sharp, John Mason Consultant Marshall Hall Production Co-ordinator Jennifer Chapman Sound Ken Davison, Gail Westwood, Paul Graham Graphics Dave Richardson Executive Producer for Tyne Tees Trevor Hearing Production Assistant Pauline Grant Research Catherine Hearne Music John Cook Editor Bernard Helm Camera Dave Dixon Directed and Produced by Peter Chapman Title: A Merlin Films Production for Tyne Tees Television End Title: Copyright Tyne Tees Television 1993