PARWICH.ORG

Although a bit of a distance from our area and not on a direct transport link from Parwich, the following press release from the Peak Park Authority might be of interest to some of our teens:

11 August 2011 – Keen teens needed to bring moorland lore to life

Young people are invited to act out scenes from moorland history to help create a short film in a free five-day drama workshop (August 22-26).

The Moor Memories Project has been recording the recollections of people who lived, worked or walked on the Peak District moors as far back as the 1930s to create a unique archive of moorland life.

Now young people aged 11-16 are invited to re-enact those stories in drama and film-making sessions with professionals from the Point Blank Theatre Company.

The drama workshops will brings scenes like this to life – Peak District National Park warden Ken Drabble and a friend rescuing a sheep in 1955.

Moor Memories Project officer Julia Shergold explained:

The workshops will dramatise stories from our archive, ranging from farmers rescuing sheep from the snow to walkers getting lost on the moors; decoy fires to protect Sheffield during the blitz and conflicts between ramblers and gamekeepers during campaigns for access to the moors.

We are immensely grateful to local people who have told their stories, including farmers and their wives, gamekeepers, ramblers, Home Guard members, foresters and rangers.

Local people have also helped record them, and now we’d like young people to get involved and bring historical characters to life. The film will be a lasting record for our archive.

The workshops are from August 22-26 (Mon-Fri), 10am-4pm, at the Moorland Discovery Centre, on the National Trust’s Longshaw estate, between Hathersage and Sheffield (postcode S11 7TZ).

Booking is essential – contact Marianne Bolton at Point Blank Theatre, 0114 249 3651, or marianne@pointblank.org.uk

Buses from Buxton, the Hope Valley and Sheffield stop nearby at the Fox House inn (service 65 from Buxton via Tideswell, and 272 from Hope Valley/Sheffield).

The Moor Memories Project is run by the Moors for the Future Partnership and funded by: English Heritage, the Heritage Lottery Fund, Peak District National Park Authority, East Peak Innovation Partnership, South Pennine LEADER, National Trust, United Utilities and the Sheffield Ramblers.