Marking this week's centenary of Britain’s declaration of war on Germany, a community film-poem project from a deprived estate in Greater Manchester has provided a moving testament to the legacy of the conflict. ‘Middleton Remembers’ has been put together by residents from the Langley estate in Middleton, Rochdale, with the help of REELmcr, a not for profit social enterprise, committed to giving a voice to deprived and vulnerable communities across the north-west, and poet Tony Walsh, aka Longfella.  

The film combines images and names of those who enlisted with moving words such as “young Billy found his courage there, but then he lost his mind”. There is a picture of a goodbye embrace at a station, the story of a lad condemned as a coward, “so they shot him dead at dawn”, lines about women factory workers, “munitionettes, canary girls, our work has turned us yellow … when they return they’ll learn we’ve learned to fight, for women’s votes”.  

There are achingly sad lines of loss: “Me empty bed, me empty heart, so empty all around, his laugher and his whistling, please God bring back those sounds,”  and “I knew, I knew, like mothers do, I knew when he was dead.”

You can find out more about the making of the video here. In the video, made by Kallum Nolan, residents talk about learning about their grandparents’ involvement in the war through the project, visit the Imperial War Museum, North, in Salford, and then start working with Tony Walsh on their poetic contributions, “adding or taking a beat out, making it flow”. On the video Tony talks about “jigsawing” the poems into a ballad of rhyming couplets … “that was our tune, so we got people into that rhythm”. And there are moving testimonies from residents about how much they got from the project.

Tony is poet-in-residence with REELmcr, which led the project. He told Write Out Loud: “I did four two-hour sessions with the group, after they'd done their research, then spent some additional time editing the writing, adding the odd line, and crafting it into a narrative. I hadn't seen the films until the premiere.” The project was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. He added: “It's all about the journey as much as the end product.

“The premiere of both films last week was amazing, a 100% standing ovation from everyone present and lots of people, big tough geezers included, in floods of tears. After the screening, several participants read their own poems which they'd been inspired to write by the project, and it was fantastic to see the progress in both their confidence and skill.

“We've hooked them up with the excellent local Langley Writers group and we're hoping they'll continue on their journey.  I'm very proud to work with REELmcr and it's so important that people learn about and remember the horrors of WW1, and our film certainly brings those home in a very moving way.”