Why I want to make a film? I think that you don't often see
positive films about Middlesbrough, it's a lot of, like, poverty porn and
I want to be able to show the good side of Middlesbrough, that there are good people.
There's always plenty going on.
There's all kinds of people from all walks of life here in Middlesbrough.
Which one am I pressing? – The red button for your record and then ...
We can just talk to random people on the street, that's great and
I'm getting the opportunity to capture that on camera.
Nice and mixed culture and all that. A bit of diversity, it's all about diversity now and everything.
So I'll start with a bit of my story.
This is the first house that I lived in.
I don't think I've got the best memories of it but ...
My mum used to get £5 a day.
She came here from India and she wasn't eligible for benefits.
What did you think of Middlesbrough when you first came here, mum?
It was pretty rough, everything was quite hard.
Not many people were used to seeing darker people.
That's my dad asleep on the sofa.
He's a night shift worker, he works for Amazon.
I don't think I'll be able to get anything out of him now.
Hello?
George? Are you asleep?
Yeah, leave him then.
Well, me and your dad were homeless for a while.
You were about a few months old.
Later on someone in council helped us out to get a nicer house and
we never had too much but we just slowly and modestly built our life.
It takes a village to raise a child but even with my own upbringing in Whinney Banks,
like, in Middlesbrough, feels like we've lost that.
My mum used to call me 'little Matilda' because I go get books from the community centre up the road
every single day and that's gone now.
That community centre was so important to us, like, bringing people together and
just giving people a bit of purpose.
Yeah, I guess I've just been thinking,
it takes a village to raise a child but who raises the village?
All the shops are a community so at the end of the day
that's what it's about, it's about us all being part of a good
community that we can work together to keep North Ormesby alive.
So what are we making here money wise ...
This is Mark, one of those people trying to raise the village.
It all started under lockdown, we were delivering hot meals to people
and then I decided that I couldn't let it go.
I needed something to carry on because there was that many people within the
North Ormesby area who needed help.
Since this has happened,
it's been helping a lot of people as well.
Just things like that, isn't it?
People on benefits like ... not everything's cheap these days.
It would have been a bit of a struggle.
That's why I'm so glad we've got this around the corner, you know?
If we need anything, we come and have a chat and he's glad to help us out.
I could come up to Mark and say, 'look I'm really stuck for ...'
but I don't get paid until next week, Mark. No worries.'
It's one of the poorest areas in Middlesbrough and in the country so it's really
important work that they do for families.
Just a short film about Middlesbrough.
We all know about Middlesbrough.
Just always hope, like, that you can change a place like this
and it will become a place where people can, like, work and live and enjoy
and it can have that, like, I don't know,
I don't want to have to move to like a big city to be able to, like,
feel like it's a place that I want to be. That's why it's interesting to follow,
like, notable people like Mark that do want to change this place.
Everyone's got a fair shot at, like, being happy.
I recognise you, I haven't seen you in ages.
I barely see anyone from school or sixth form or anything.
I don't even know where any of them are.
I bet your mum and dad is really proud of you. You got to uni though.
Yeah.
I mean, I never expected to get this far, never.
You never do when you're from here though, do you?
A report came out, like, maybe two days ago and said that
young people in the north-east, like children in the north-east, are among
like the loneliest and, like, we have the worst opportunities in the country.
Deprivation. A lot of people that live up here, look for example, the steel
industry's gone, a lot of people in this area, the parents would have worked there.
That's gone, there's not as many jobs around.
You're looking for jobs and it's not there so ... like, money does play a part into it.
What do you think that the area needs? What needs improving and what are the issues?
A lot of things.
Like, just for example, education, things like, the library's gone.
I think our nearest library is in town, there's the Neptune Centre ...
Anyone in North Ormesby with kids, they're not going to want to pull their
two, three-year-old kids all that way just to get a book.
Then you look at the housing,
it's not in the best condition,
the streets are not in the best condition, you don't see the police, you don't see
anyone looking around ...
People in an area like Middlesbrough,
they struggle to believe in politicians when they don't see change on their own doorstep.
We saw, like, community centres, libraries being taken away,
our industry, things that matter, that gave us an identity.
Just feel let down.
'A Middlesbrough councillor criticised for spending time in France while renovating a chateau has quit.
Middlesbrough council says a by-election will be held.'
I was joking with him and I said, you should totally run to be councillor
he's like, 'no, no, no, no, not me, I could never run to be councillor'.
And now here we are.
Yeah, well, here we are.
I've been talked into it and I'm a candidate for North Ormesby ward.
Are you alright, Mark?
I'll vote for him, this is the top man in North Ormesby.
Great for the community.
What I intend doing is getting rid of things like this.
What do you think you're going to try to do to make people feel comfortable
opening their doors?
We want more police on the streets, don't we? Want more.
Can I give you one of those?
What do you think needs doing?
The alleys.
Have a read at my leaflet, see what you think.
Middlesbrough is losing a little bit of community spirit
because people are sick of hearing the same
things, you know, from central government.
'Oh, we're going to do this, we're going to do that' and it doesn't happen.
They've got a Labour candidate but I think the area that we're in
wants someone that cares about them not just cares about what party they're in
or anything else, you know, so that's the way I'm looking at it.
Around here, like a lot of the north, the Labour party has struggled in recent years.
They've picked a local resident as their candidate who's totally new to politics.
You were saying earlier how you felt when the
poll cards came through.
It just made me laugh because I thought I've got a polling card and it's to vote for myself.
How do you feel seeing your name on there?
I said, 'I don't think I can do it'.
And I thought, 'Well, if I'd done uni, why couldn't I do it?' And I live here,
and I'm a mum and I'm a nan and I know what ...
I've been unemployed, all them problems that everybody has, I've had them.
Like, it used to be such, like, a gorgeous area but it can come back to it
and I still think that it is like that, it just needs some ...
What would you say? Love and care, I think that's what it needs.
Just some love and care and people coming together.
But I'd love them to see and, like, younger people as well,
I'd love them to see that there's Labour councillors at the ground
doing stuff and it would just
make them believe that not all politicians are liars.
'A rise in the cost of living which is now increasing at its
fastest rate ...'
Yeah, the mood just really dropped.
You can see it in our people, people are carrying themselves and everything.
Have you done much more ...
I've been really busy getting things done.
If it happens, it happens, if I get it, I get it.
See, the thing is with the election,
it came at a bad time for us because
we are too busy doing these.
We are not open, mate, it's closed.
See you then.
He just doesn't sound as keen as when I first approached him
he seemed really keen.
I don't know, like, some sort of spirit or something
has gone out of him.
Covid and lockdowns have hit the whole country
somehow it feels more stark.
In an area like North Ormesby, they're resilient people but they don't have the
resources and the support networks to get through this as easily.
It takes a bigger toll on an area like this.
Can you move further down just from the building? As people are coming in.
With the camera ...
I was told to move away.
So, I guess now we just video from a distance.
Are you voting in the council byelections?
Is it just, like, your trust in politicians?
There's no one like ...
We really don't.
Do you not think that like councillors can change anything in North Ormesby?
Yeah, they could, but in the past we've asked the council for help
and we didn't get the help.
Does that put you off wanting to vote?
Yeah.
I want to move out of North Ormesby because it's that bad.
What's it been like raising your kids in this area?
Not very nice.
There's nothing for kids no more.
What about, like, that's a community hub
and stuff, do they put anything on that you can do with the kids?
Not that I've heard of.
Like, they put down for courses and stuff but with Covid ...
You can't do nothing really, can you?
Thanks for talking to us.
No worries. – See you later.
What's it about?
It's a documentary for the Guardian and we've just been covering
the North Ormesby byelection that's going on.
We just voted now. – Oh, you did?
It's for the good of the people in your area, the development in the area.
The impression I got when I came to North Ormesby, that was in last year,
2020,
that North Ormesby is a very rough environment, yeah?
But I believe in change.
It was once a good name, before they gave it a bad name which they can
change the narrative about North Ormesby.
And I strongly believe that if everybody come upon I said let's change,
North Ormesby for good,
it can turn for good, the name is going to change again,
I keep telling people ... See, that's why I'm here,
this place is going to change.
It was very nice to talk to you both.
See you later, bye.
I think it's rare to meet people like that here, that want
to make real change and that aren't haven't got like that pessimistic
mindset, especially when it comes to politics.
I feel like it's something we've really struggled to see so far as well.
Yeah it's even changed how I'm feeling, I think,
to have met them two.
I'm feeling more optimistic and more positive weirdly, like, I just want to smile for no reason.
It's weird.
They're wonderful, aren't they?
I'm just in a rush because the parade is on at the market.
I feel like we should come.
Do you know the White Feather?
The shop is for people who are struggling and that, and for homeless people,
and they do it for the community.
It's like a family shop and it's really good.
Do you ever use their ...?
Yeah.
The kids love it.
They gave out free packs lunches for the kids.
About time the community come together and started helping families who struggle because this time,
yeah, everyone does struggle.
Has it been hard for you as well, like, this winter?
It has for me but you just go by, don't you?
Because I'm a single mum with two kids who live on my own so
you only get what you get on universal and after you pay, like, your bills
and what spare money you have, you put away for these.
It's been hard, you know, because the £20 uplift's been taken away.
It's like a big chunk out your money, you know, gutted but there's nothing you can do about it.
You don't know where to go for the help and if it wasn't for White Feather ...
I'm sure you're doing a great job with the kids. – Thank you.
It's polling day, it's election day. Mark who's the independent candidate
is currently over there dressed as Harry Potter.
You could do something, like, every year somewhere like this.
Well, there's nothing like this is, is there really?
What I remember as a kid, it's just like, I don't know what's happened.
Do you know? It's just like, over the years, I think the heart of North Ormesby is gone a bit.
I've lived in North Ormesby all my life and we've had carnivals and all sorts of things like that
and we start to get back to it.
If there's something like this can be like every year, it would be brilliant.
For the kids and that.
It feels like it's taking its toll on Mark, it feels like he's not going
to speak to me again, he's shut down and it feels like we're
hitting the wall.
Mark, are we all right to ask you a few questions?
It's just, I've been inundated, I've been working nights.
We've been inundated with care packs and everything else so,
I've been really busy, OK?
Unlike Mark, the Labour party have got a proper on-the-ground operation going,
they're out, they are leafleting, they're talking to people on their doorsteps.
I think there was an extremely low turnout ... Mid-afternoon there were 70 odd votes cast.
What do you think it means to Labour to get this?
This is the sort of seat we need to win if we want to be serious.
Hi, is your mum in?
We've got a total number of votes cast of 232.
Representing 13.26% turnout.
OK, election of a borough councillor for North Ormesby, I Tony Parkinson,
being the returning officer at the above election, do hereby give notice that the
number of votes recorded for each candidate at the said election is as follows ...
It's like a weird atmosphere.
Obviously it's a big moment but at the same time everyone's got masks on ...
And I do hereby declare that Nicola Jean Gascoigne is duly elected.
Do you know what? You're making me wanna cry just looking at you.
Because I know that I'm going to do what I said.
I'm working class through and through, and I believe in Labour coming back as well
and I'm going to do the best for my community and it's not me, it's about everybody else
and like I said, that's what it'll be, I'll just be the voice and I've been
through such a bad couple years personally
and I've had to fight everything.
You know, you wanted to make a film that's positive, didn't you?
Do I think it's a positive film? I'm not sure if I do.
Just given, like, just the time that we're in.
Do I think that I've made a film
that brings to light, like, some of the issues that we have
nationally on a local level? Yeah.
Do I think that I showed some positive
people that are making positive change in the area? Yeah.
But they're facing massive struggles.
If we're going to get through this next year,
politics has to deliver for people in places like this.