BARRACK STREET HISTORICAL FILM

A Film by Mark Power exploring the social history of Barrack Street will be screened on Saturday November 16 at 17.00 in Mount Sion Primary School Hall – Admission Free.
It’s the first screening of the recently made film looking at some of the huge history and stories of Barrack Street. Probably one of the City’s most historical streets, it was captured earlier this year by young filmmaker Mark Power when he interviewed local people, local historians, local businesses and researched archival material to tell this extraordinary story. The film comes in at less then half hour but Mark has nearly ten hours of material to choose from. Talking about the film Mark Power said “I’m hoping that maybe in 2014 we could get some funding to create a website where I could archive all of the material which would be useful for future historians, schools and local people at home and abroad to hear people’s full accounts but for now I hope the film does justice to all who helped with the project”.
Support for the project came when Waterford Youth Arts approached the City Arts officer and explained that where WYA are now based at the Arch (the old military barracks) has huge historical potential and he agreed to support a filmmaker to take on the task of capturing some of the local history. WYA then approached local business people for a small contribution and make it worthwhile for the filmmaker and Thompsons Undertakers, Richard Hannigans Hairdressers, M & D Walsh Bakers, Molloys Butchers and Hickeys Bakery all agreed to support the project. “There was huge goodwill in the area for the film and in fact we could be still interviewing people who came forward but at some point we had to just go with what we had” said Mark.  WYA had earlier interviewed two people who are no longer are with us – ex-GAA president Pat Fanning who spoke about Mount Sion and local historian Jack O’Neill and both are included in the documentary.

Ollie Breslin of WYA also commented on the project “We are very grateful for all the local support and hope the film does justice to the involvement of everyone in the film. Many people gave us time and their knowledge including historians like Dermot Power and Eddie Wymberry but the real stars in the film are the local people and we hope it serves them well and that this small bit of social history is useful for future generations”.

All are welcome to the First Screening which takes place in Mount Sion Primary School Hall on Saturday 16th November at 5pm. For more information ring Waterford Youth Arts at 051-879377.