feature

Waterlight Film Premiere

Over 50 people crammed into the upper room at the Plough in Shepreth to watch the first showing of the Waterlight film of the river Mel. Expectations were high as many of those present had helped to fund the project. After the excited hum of attendees exchanging experiences of the river and their involvement in the film, all went silent as the lights dimmed and the opening sequence started with gentle sound and evocative images of the river. All was quiet for the 40 odd minutes of the film. When it ended, there was a spontaneous eruption of applause and the lights went up to reveal an audience enraptured by the film.

A brief discussion period elicited only praise for the production but stimulated some discussion on issues of water levels and problems of extraction and potential danger to wild life. The representatives from the River Mel Restoration Group were able to give the audience the benefit of their extensive understanding of the issues and the efforts they were taking to ensure the Environmental Agency was aware of the situation and were taking action.

We were lucky to have representatives from local conservation groups including the Melwood Conservation Group, Cam Valley Forum and the Cambridge Conservation Initiative.

The Melwood representative described the film as “really lovely- actually very moving at times! We thought that the balance between speech, poetry, music and visuals was just right- and the poetry was especially enjoyed”.

The chairman of Cam Valley Forum, an organisation supporting river conservation in the Cam Valley, posted on our website: “Your poetry and the Water Light film were greatly enjoyed by everyone. I thought the eclectic mix of genres in the film was so special and genuinely unique in my experience. It was a wonderful word and picture image of ‘place’ and human belonging, of local history, social history, natural history and much more. The weave of the stream’s images and sounds with your descriptive poetry was technically excellent and deeply memorable. I can’t wait to see it again.”

As similar response greeted the showing in the Community Hall on the 25th July. Despite the heat and thunderstorms about 60 people attended again and responded very positively to the film and the way it captured the character of our beautiful stream.

During the refreshments break people (a mixture of locals and river conservation activists from the surrounding area) mingled and exchanged their memories of the river triggered by the film. Anthony and Sylvia Hopkinson, previous owners of the Bury (the property at the source of

The Fordham family and servants pictured for the 1891 census

the stream) were present and said the film brought back many happy memories and Sylvia was genuinely touched by a photograph of her grandmother included in the film. Another attendee identified a girl in an old photograph (with a jam jar for fishing) as her mother (this picture is on the website).

We were very glad that many of those who had sponsored or helped to fund the film were present. They were unanimous in their appreciation that the money had been well used to provide a community asset. The representative

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from TPP (a major science research company in Melbourn who was a significant sponsor) lived locally and said that the film would encourage him to spend more time with his family exploring the wonderful local environmental resource. He described the film as “very loving, a visual caress”. The company wrote: “it sounds like the perfect piece of history for the village to treasure!” – exactly what we were trying to achieve: a heritage resource as well as something to be enjoyed now.

Others described the content as “captivating”, “mesmerising”.

We were very appreciative of the support given by the owners of the Plough for the first showing. They were very welcoming and supportive and also helped out with ensuring the AV worked OK, etc. An excellent venue with a great range of beer and beverages!

We are delighted that the first step in the film distribution has been so successful and we are now planning exciting further distribution plans including Cambridge venues and film festivals. Watch this space!

Again, there was much discussion of the current problems facing the river, and similar ones in the area. One person mentioned three rivers he had visited recently: Little Willbraham, Cherry Hinton Brook and Potton Brook, all off which had dried up in stretches. He also mentioned a recent talk by a civil engineer on the problems caused to these steams by overextraction and inappropriate design of run offs from housing development.

Chris Thomas

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