Lives of the Lockout: the children’s perspective
This month we’ve been commemorating the centenary of Chopwell Lockout, during which miners were locked out of the mine after they refused the owners’ offer of less pay and worse working conditions. Chopwell, nicknamed ‘Little Moscow’, was already well known for its strong left-leaning politics and had some very vocal union leaders who had been inspired by the revolution in Russia. The Chopwell lockout lasted seventeen months and during that time, the community came together to support one another. Soup kitchens were set up and care packages came from across the world, including from Russian miners.
As part of the commemorations, Digital Voice has been working with young people in the village to bring this important chapter of history to life for themselves and future generations.
Chopwell’s Youth Club worked with artist and illustrator Laura Crow, writer Susan Mulholland and artist Sarah McConkey to create an animation that imagined how children would have felt during the long lockout. The group started with research into the timeline of events, accounts of people who lived through it and even a simple description of Communism using pictures of cows! They were then asked to write a series of diary entries from different children’s perspectives at different points during the lockout. From the diary entries (and a couple of letters to Santa), the young people created a series of images which they then animated, adding voice over too, to create an informative short film.
Pupils from Year 5 at Chopwell Primary used similar starting points but with different creative tools. These children wrote a series of letters to tell the story including a letter from a miner to the mine owners and to Lenin saying thank you for the aid packages. Film-maker Ronnie Johnston then worked with the children who drew images from their stories and then animated them using AI technology.
In both projects, the artists were led by what sparked the young people’s curiosity and imagination rather than telling them what to do.
“When we focus on local history in our projects, we’re ensuring that the stories and experiences of people who were there are preserved for future generations. These aren’t the stories that would usually make it into history books but they are just as important as they tell us the personality of a place and its people. There’s great pride in Chopwell for what those miners and their families endured and I’m proud that we’re able to capture, commemorate and celebrate it in this way.”
- Julie Nicholson, Managing Director, Digital Voice
Huge thanks to Chopwell Youth Club and Chopwell Primary School for working with us on these projects.
Funded by The Heritage Lottery Fund.