A film about the men who worked in Surrey Docks
The Southwark News Arts Correspondent, Michael Holland, will be having the world premiere of his film about the men who worked in Surrey Docks and the wharves along the riverfront. All mainly Bermondsey men whose ancestors had been dockworkers for over a hundred years.
This is a free screening at Appleby Blue Almshouse in Southwark Park Road.
In ‘All Them Days Are Gone’ the men talk of the hard work and the low pay, the dangers of piece-work, where they were paid for how much they done so worked harder and faster to earn the money but opened themselves up to accidents – some fatal – in the days before Health & Safety.
They talk of why the docks closed and their struggles to cope after they left the docks.
Michael says, ‘This is an important film because all the men who told their stories in the film are now gone and this is the legacy they have left for us.’
Why did you make this film?
‘I was given a project when I was at Greenwich University to make a 15 minute film. My dad was always talking about his time in the Surrey Docks, all his friends were ex-dockworkers, so I knew I could get the information for a film – plus he was dying of cancer at the time, so I knew I had to make this film.
Where did you do the filming?
In the Surdoc Club, which was the dockworkers’ club near the docks; in the dock itself, and in their current places of work – None of which they liked!
That was a long time ago. What happened in between?
The film and all the interviews were all put on DVDs and placed in the Southwark Archives because they are important documents, but recently Michelle Gwynn, who is doing research on the docks for Glasgow University, got in touch to say that she tried to view them and the quality has deteriorated.
I knew I had to go back to the master tapes on VHS, digitalise them again and give new copies to the archive, which is what I have done. While doing that I realised it was the perfect opportunity to use that footage to make the much longer film that the subject warranted all those years ago, and that’s what this is – a true labour of love.
‘Now there is a 70 minute film of those men, all passed away now, talking about their lives in the docks and the wharves along the River Thames.
‘It is a vital part of the area’s history and especially so right now with the Canada Water Master Plan on the table – Who knows, besides this film and the full interviews with the men, will there be anything left of the industry that once made Bermondsey one of London’s richest boroughs?
Micky Tudor, Charlie Kelly, Jimmy Smith, Terry Webb, Peter Moss, John & Joan Davis, Brenda Cottrell, Joanne Cottrell, Ned Curley, Bernie Tucker and Tommy Ash are all remembered and honoured in this never-seen-before film – All Them Days Are Gone.
Appleby Blue Almshouse , 94-116 Southwark Park Rd, Bermondsey, London, SE16 3RD on Tuesday 13th May at 7pm. Doors open at 6.30pm. Admission: Free.
Book your free seats via this link: https://www.eventbrite.com/…/all-them-days-are-gone…
