When The National Garden Festival Came Up ‘Anley Duck

For Stoke on Trent College digital and creative student George Smith-Briggs, the visit of the National Garden Festival in 1986 to what is now Festival Park in the City Centre of Stoke-on-Trent, holds an air of fascination.

George has taken this curiosity to a new creative level, by writing and directing a short documentary all about the National Garden Festival’s 1986 appearance in the city as part of the brand new Stoke Connected exhibition, which is open to the general public at The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery from 4 July until 1 September 2024.

We caught up with George to ask him all about the project -

Can you tell us where the idea came from for the documentary?

The idea for this documentary started in early 2023, I was talking to an old colleague of mine who was around during the event (he was 17 at the time of the event). We were discussing on a miserable day how nice old photographs of places looked, and he mentioned some old fountains he used to look after and maintain. I did not know anything about fountains so when I got home and researched it, they were from an event called The National Garden Festival. I had no idea this event even happened, and it took me down a rabbit hole, that is where the idea for the documentary came from as I love my local history.

How much did you know about the National Garden Festival coming to Stoke-on-Trent beforehand?

I had no idea the event ever happened, it was the colleague who got me sent into this rabbit hole and from doing research and talking to people about this event I learned what I needed to know for this documentary.

How long did it take to film?

The entire process of the documentary was done over 10 weeks (about 2 and a half months), throughout that we had various stages of planning, experimentation, and filming. My plan for the documentary was that it was to be based on people's memories, which made the production quite difficult as I contacted various people and companies on the subject to no response, causing parts to be delayed. This meant that there was not a plan for the documentary when filming it.

What was the research process like?

I really do not like sitting at a computer and typing all day unless it's editing or something else along those lines., so to help with this I took research at a different approach. I spoke to various people in person and visited the festival site itself which I like to walk around anyways as it is a beautiful space. With my concentration levels being low sitting at a computer does not really help with that so to help myself that was the way to approach it, by word of mouth.

How did you source guests to interview in the documentary?

Word of mouth was a big was I connected with various people about the festival, the colleges Claire Williams and Calvin Austin who you do see in this documentary. I emailed different companies too for information and articles on the event so I could widen my own knowledge on this event. Like I said this was a passion project of mine and I am not finished yet!

What was the best part of the production process?

The best part of the production process was finally seeing this come together and being happy with how it turned out. Not to mention the Connected Exhibition where it was shown off. This filled me with a lot of confidence and networking opportunities.

Are there any other historical events from Stoke-on-Trent that you’d like to film a documentary about in the future?

There are lots of historical events/parts of Stoke-on-Trent which I would love to make a documentary on just to name a few, one around the history of Alton Abby and the Potteries Loop Line. Stoke-on-Trent has so much history, and little is known about our own history, and that is a shame. I'm not done making documentaries, so you have just got to wait and see what I do next!

The documentary on the National Garden Festival 1986, will screened as part of Stoke Connected, a brand-new temporary exhibition created by students of Stoke on Trent College.

The Stoke Connected exhibition focuses around the theme of Connections and covers 7 topics:

•             Connections

•             Speed, Randomness, and Time

•             History

•             Plastic Ocean

•             Surfaces

•             Creating Work for An Audience

•             Homage

The exhibition will see work across 4 levels of 11 different courses from students who study in the Digital & Creative Hub, based at the College’s Cauldon campus.

For more information on Stoke Connected please visit - https://stokecoll.ac.uk/event/stoke-connected/