Brassington
bellringers and friends haven’t felt quite the same since their
surreal sortie into the world of film on 17 and 18 February 2011.
They had never dreamt they would ever have the opportunity to be film
stars.
A couple
of weeks earlier Tina Pawlik of Anthem Films, a small independent
film company based in Nottingham, contacted tower captain, Frances
Haynes, about shooting one sequence of a six-part film, Ataraxia, in
Wirksworth and Brassington. An eight bell team was to ring on Friday
in Wirksworth and a more local band was to ring in Brassington on
Thursday.
Ataraxia
is the brainchild of Dutch director, Sander Blom, a man of great
charm and enthusiasm, who later visited the area himself and
pronounced it perfect. Ataraxia is a “lucid state characterised by
freedom from worry or any other preoccupations”. The film shows
activities typical of the traditions of the country concerned.
England gave bell-ringing, pubs, and pie and chips. Local inhabitants
of Papua New Guinea, the next stopping-off point, were to re-enact
the cargo cult. One wonders what their local food is.Thursday
saw the six members of the local band breakfasting at 8.30 am in
their usual haunt, the Miners Arms, Brassington. They were plied with
coffee and pains au chocolat and visited at frequent intervals by the
crew, half of whom were from Holland. Tina and her team worked with
them and one or two other members of the crew had come from elsewhere
in England.
Sander
was busy filming an earthworm on the church steps, but at around
11.00 am the ringers were escorted to the ringing chamber, lights in
place, director of photography at the ready and did their best to
ring up in peal. They rang some changes, did some intentional firing,
and after an enjoyable lunch at the Miners Arms the next part of the
film was shot in the bell tower.
Each
bellringer was asked to repeat the same tongue-twister
Pretty
Kitty Creighton had a cotton batten cat
The
cotton batten cat was bitten by a rat
The
kitten that was bitten had a button for an eye
And
biting off the button made the cotton batten fly
after
which a local amateur actor took a blood pressure reading and
pronounced it satisfactory or even perfect! They rang some more
changes and rang down, finishing at around 5.00 pm.
Some of
the crew had never met before, but they all knew exactly what was
required of them and went about their work with great
professionalism, friendliness and calmness.
The next
day Frances arrived at Wirksworth bell tower at 8.30 am to let the
lighting engineer in. She had invited eight experienced ringers from
Ashford-in-the-Water, Bakewell, Youlgreave, Matlock and Wetton to
ring in Wirksworth. It was difficult to find fourteen bell-ringers
who were all available for a full weekday, so the Gold Card brigade
won out.
Frances
took Sander to see the bells and after helping the lighting and sound
engineers, went to join everyone else breakfasting in the Red Lion,
where the crew were staying.
At around
10.00 am they assembled in the bell tower and filming commenced. The
team rang up and did some touches. Ringing lasted until 1.00 pm,
whereupon the ringers’ efforts were congratulated by local
supporting artistes (who might in the days prior to political
correctness have been referred to as extras) as they exited the
tower.
Other
supporting artistes were an earthworm, perhaps the same earthworm
that starred on Thursday, and a kitten acquired for the day.
A very
convivial lunch was enjoyed at the Red Lion after which the ringers
recited the tongue twister outside church. A healthy bunch obviously,
as they did not have to have blood pressure readings!
Sander
hopes the film, which has received funding from various sources, will
be ready in May and intends to return to the Wirksworth area to
arrange a public showing of it for the local community.
We look
forward to this event and in the meantime keep visiting his website.
Sander wanted to convey how change-ringing looks to outsiders and we
had a wonderful experience of how film-making looks to outsiders.
We look
forward to welcoming him and Tina and team in Wirksworth later this
year and are so glad they didn’t opt for Morris dancing
Some of
us, who have recently visited The Quad in Derby have been pleased to
see shorts made by Anthem Films (Tina Pawlik) prior to the “big
film”, in our case “True Grit”. It’s good to know of local
producers and we hope that they will enjoy continuing and ever
greater success.
text written by Christine Windsor. Photography (c) Roger Lawson.
