Weaving the Community Back Together in Braunton

A collaboration between community film making organisation North Devon Moving Image (NDMI) and local artist Jo Bushell has brought together a group of Braunton residents to talk about life in the North Devon village. The Brauntonians, whose ages span from 7 to 90, came together at St Brannock's Church Rooms on Tuesday 29 July 2014 to create a collaborative art work inspired by their memories of the bulb farm and maritime heritage of the area. With the help of Jo the group wove a large Carrick Bend knot representing the local landscape of land meeting sea and the youngsters decorated it to represent the colours of the bulb farm at the Great Field in Braunton. Prompted by the intergenerational conversations on the day they then printed individual words on cloth to attach to the knot. Creative Director of NDMI, Amanda McCormack says the event was a great success "It was fascinating to hear what life was like in Braunton in the past and really touching to see the older and younger members of the group interacting and learning from each other. There was an immense positive energy in the room on the day and we have produced a short film of the event as a way of sharing that with others." Jo Bushell agrees "It was very moving day in many ways ... weaving the community back together. As an artist this what it's about - creating spaces for people to dialogue and share their stories so that we can reshape our communities and make them stronger. For me the art is the process of enabling this to happen. A great big thanks to NDMI for asking me to be part of this. It has been an inspiring journey working with you to bring this together. It clearly had a huge impact on the older members of our group who came along. Much more of this is needed." Ninety year old Les Neville, a relative newcomer to Braunton having lived there only 20 years said "It's made a break for me, sitting at home on my own every day. I've really enjoyed the day meeting so many young people and happy people and talking about our past lives." Brian Clarke added "I've learned a lot of things about Braunton I ought to have known I suppose ... having lived here for eighty odd years, I've learned a lot!" Eight year old Iola said "Luckily one of the people that we had in our group, his family had been living in Braunton a long time so he told us what's been going on in the past so now we know more about it." This project was made possible with a grant from Fullabrook CIC and the help of Braunton Museum, an Aladdin's cave of fascinating facts and artefacts.

To watch the film visit the North Devon Moving Image website http://www.northdevonmovingimage.org.uk/films.html