Steelos: Songs of Steel (2010)
Produced and directed by Jon Rosling on behalf of Rotherham Community Arts
The Steelos Project was a community arts-based project in Rotherham that took place between 2009 and 2010. It followed the sudden decline of steel making in the town since the late 1970s and features interviews and recounts of those men and women who worked in the industry during the boom years.
The documentary also charts the success of an arts-based project in Rotherham that used the accounts of these people as inspiration for poetry and music. Unfortunately the website set up as part of the project has not been maintained, largely because Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council decided to abolish it’s funded arts programmes a number of years ago.
The work undertaken to preserve the cultural history of the town has, as a result, fallen by the wayside.
Nevertheless below is an extract from the documentary I managed to retain, reminiscences of steel making in the town featuring former steel worker Ted Thompson.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljeiqn4Vljg?modestbranding=1&title=]
Hi Jon,
This is Sam who worked with you on the Steelos project. It’s great to stumble across your footage with Ted. His interview really stayed with me and I loved his voice so much. I think the archive should still be intact at RMBC in storage somewhere – it’s a shame the website is now only still active via the uk web archive and the audio no longer works: https://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20121101114516/http://www.songsofsteel.com/
There is also the documentary which was made here: https://vimeo.com/20322287 again though I think it can only be accessed if you have a Vimeo account.
Perhaps we can try and get some more of the archive available again or at least the audio clips which were on the website. Get in contact if you’re interested. Hope all well.
Hi Sam!
Great to hear from you! I too was really taken by Ted – the clarity of his memory and his whole manner was fabulous to capture on camera. There are not very many of that generation around now (we sadly buried by grandmother yesterday after 91 years of a full and well lived life).
I’m really saddened to hear the Songs of Steel website isn’t accessible anymore. It ought to be really and not just as an archive. I would be very interested in getting it back on-line. As a working project it would sit nicely alongside a few others things I’m doing/planning.
Hi Jon,
Sorry, I’ve only just seen you replied to this as it didn’t send me an email notification. Also sorry to hear about your grandmother. I hope your dad is doing well. Yes I did speak with RMBC about it a while ago but it fell by the wayside to be honest. I think they are super busy in the archives at the mo. Perhaps we can find a way though if you want to get in touch with me by email. I still have all the clips backed up though so it should be possible. On the plus side the film no longer needs a Vimeo account to be accessed. I asked the film maker to sort the ratings issue out. Cheers.