A first glimpse

A photograph entitled 'Dave Wales c. 1960', given to Margaret Mytton by Dave's old friend John Waughman. 

I looked again at these photographs after Derek sent us a short sequence from the film - a first glimpse of what he has been doing. It consisted of a couple of minutes of John revisiting the old terraced house in Glyn Road, Hackney - what estate agents call 'a quiet residential tree-lined street' - where Dave lived as a school boy and during his early student years. The sequence was lovely, very atmospheric, and John and Derek were able to look inside and see the places where, over 50 years ago, Dave drew his mother and father going about their chores and work. 

The soundtrack has yet to be put down, and so what we saw was a rough cut but it bodes very, very well for the finished film. My colleague Loz Kaye is writing special music for the film and I imagine that it will soon be ready for his input. Very exciting! 

The last weekend of filming

It has been a full-on weekend; Derek Smith capturing the missing pieces of film he needs, plus what he calls the "master interviews", namely interviews with Margaret Mytton and myself. So on Saturday I was filmed moving work around the studio in Haslingden, and reliving the period of time around Dave's death when I filmed the decaying mess of a building that it was at that time, before it had its makeover. In the afternoon I drove Derek around Haslingden; figure-of-eight circuits that enabled him to film from my car. Then, in the evening, I was interviewed at the Boo, talking about a wide range of topics relating to Dave, but feeling very tired and with my voice slowly breaking up...

In between times Derek set up various 'missing' shots - a Rossendale Free Press billboard about the discovery of Dave's paintings at Globe Arts; exterior shots of the buildings; and close-ups of some of Dave's etchings and notebooks. Then on Sunday morning it was the turn of Margaret Mytton, who went with Derek to Bolton Abbey, where they walked to the Valley of Desolation, one of Dave's favourite places. At that spot, Margaret did her interview. Sunday afternoon we held a meeting of the Trust at 54 Manchester Road, discussing finances; the on-going problem with the HMRC/Inland Revenue about the valuation of Dave's Estate; our relationship with the See Gallery (very positive), and how we recompense the many people who help us out from time-to-time. 

So Derek returns to London today, and with the exception of one or two interviews left to film, the filming has been completed. We hope to have the finished film by Easter.

Snowbound update

Well thank you for the comments and support relating to the last two posts. One faithful follower of this blog prints it off and sends the DP Trust a regular laminated hard copy, and has even provided me with a folder to keep the pages in! Thank you so much, David - it's very much appreciated. Tellingly we're about to go into a second volume.

As I mentioned in the previous blog, filming was undertaken at MMU and Derek emailed me that it was both interesting and useful footage. I didn't ask him what final accommodation had been made with the university authorities - I'll find out soon enough when he makes his last filming expedition to Rossendale to record myself and Margaret Mytton.

That trip up from London was cancelled this weekend due to the weather - moving around is a treacherous business right now; Margaret in particular has to cross the Pennines to get over to us and she reported that she spent five and a half hours just traveling to MMU and back during the week. Fingers crossed for next weekend.