An update from the Sillitoe frontline

thinkamigo have been engaging the creative community for almost three months; combining essays, oral-history, graphic and archive pictures to reinterpret the themes and spaces of Alan’s influential 1958 novel ‘Saturday Night and Sunday Morning’

Edited highlights are available on the BBC and Arts Council England’s experimental digital arts platform; The Space until October 2012 while further content is being collated for the forthcoming ‘Cycle Maintenance’ booklet, Sillitoe Trail iPhone App and digital archive.

Content editor James Walker continues to uncover hidden gems, such as veteran author Derrick Buttress with his accounts of post-war Nottingham, Christy Fearn’s frame-breaking luddites and Al Needham talking about the demise of the British pub.

Al’s video piece went live on The Space last week to much acclaim by the BBC editorial team. The video features photographic work by David Sillitoe, Aly Stoneman and Paul Fillingham. Digital editing and motion graphics were undertaken by thinkamigo.

Last week the Sillitoe Committee shot a video with Nottingham’s Mulletproof Poet around the streets of Radford, where Alan grew up. We have interviewed several Raleigh Cycle Factory workers including ex-Marketing Manager Michael Breckon – also former head of the Canadian Olympic Cycle team who survived the terrorist hostage crisis at the Munich Olympics in 1972 and went on to take Alan Sillitoe on a guided tour around the Raleigh factory in the late 1980s.

thinkamigo’s Paul Fillingham and Ian Lawrence both worked with Michael during the 90′s, pioneering interactive point-of-sale kiosks in Raleigh dealerships and launching Raleigh’s very first website in 1996.

The cultural connections keep on growing

“It’s been a wonderful journey, exploring public and private archives and developing creative treatments combining digital imagery with textures derived from vintage photographs and the fuzzy imprints of mechanical typewriters.”

“We are learning a great deal working with the BBC – developing the kind of editorial skills and production processes that will be necessary in the future as Digital TV and internet services come together.”

Paul Fillingham – Creative Director: Cultural and Digital Business

The thinkamigo production team plan to finalise structure of the iPhone App within a couple of weeks, then commence design and coding. The Sillitoe Trail iPhone App will be launched at a day of talks, readings and live music at Nottingham Contemporary on 27th October 2012.

Digital content has been extending into the real world too, with ‘Then and Now’ montages dominating the cover of Nottingham’s LeftLion magazine and talks at Nottingham Writers Studio, University of Notttingham and BBC Radio Nottingham. And we are currently working on banner artwork that will soon adorn the front of Nottingham Council House itself.

Have pictures or stories connected with the Sillitoe Trail?

Did you ever meet Alan? Have you read his books? Are you familiar with scenes and locations in and around Nottingham that formed the backdrop to his characters and stories?

Visit: www.sillitoetrail.com
Share: www.facebook.com/sillitoetrail
Follow: www.twitter.com/sillitoetrail
Pictures: www.flickr.com/groups/sillitoetrail/

Your photos, opinions and ideas may be selected for our book/iPhone App to be published in October.