A chance to see “Historic Lymm in Colour” is coming to the big screen – over twenty years since local history enthusiast Alan Williams produced the first Lymm Film.
“It was a very different time” explained Alan who with co-author Alan Taylor of the book is set to stage a free big screen showing of pictures from the book at Lymm Heritage Centre.
Reflecting on his first Lymm film Alan Williams said:“It was all put together with the help of a cine-film enthusiast and was produced on VHS for video players. The success took us all by surprise. We sold well over 1,000 copies as well as showing it to large audiences on at least six occasions. It was all a first indication to me of people’s appetite for learning more about Lymm’s story.”
The world has certainly moved on since then. Technology has advanced so quickly that the software to create films is now within everyone’s reach. And in Lymm’s case the village has its own Heritage Centre where film can be watched on-demand, as well as having a heritage website, www.lymmhic.co.uk and photoarchive, www.thelymmarchive.co.uk.
As a result the team behind the new and highly successful book, “Historic Lymm in Colour” have gone one step further and translated it into a movie that can be shown on the 100-inch video wall in the Heritage Centre.
The film will be the focal point of a temporary “Historic Lymm in Colour” exhibition that will also feature large and even supersize images, a digital kiosk and themed collages.
In one case a ninety-year-old black and white postcard has been transformed into an eight-foot wide full-colour image that feels as if it was taken yesterday.
“We couldn’t possibly include all the photos in a single film” explained co-author of the book, Alan Taylor.
“But using the many colourised images we had produced for the book we have been able to create a virtual walk through the village centre as it would have looked 100 years ago before heading up the Dingle to the Dam. The ability to zoom in and see the faces up close, in colour, is particularly poignant.”
The film also explores Booths Hill at a time when it was the centre of Lymm industry before dipping into the huge collection of images of Lymm’s traditional annual events like May Queen.
It concludes with a wistful look at some of the key sites that have been lost to demolition in an age of constant change.
The new temporary “Historic Lymm in Colour” exhibition, which is FREE, opens at Lymm Heritage Centre on Thursday February 24th. The centre is open from Thursday to Sunday 12-4 every week.
