Memories of Spode

Memories of Spode, is the result of a 2 year exploration of the now closed Spode site in Stoke upon Trent. In 2009 I decided to go along to the site for an official urban exploration due to my interest for the buildings within the city. Upon the first visit of the Spode site I instantly felt something for the site and upon having many conversations with the site security; I felt that the site had a story to tell. After many visits exploring the site I accidently came across an ex-employee of Spode called Keith Myatt on a music video shoot, I mentioned that I am known the city for exploring buildings and documenting them as part of my independent archive of works and spoke of my excitement of Spode of which he told me that he had worked there as a Kiln man for over 30 years.
In 2010 after a similar presentation I made at an event called Pecha Kucha where I presented a series of images alongside audio extracts of conversations I had with people around the city asking them to talk about their memories of where and when they grew up and worked, I then came up with the idea of asking ex-employees of the Spode site to come along and be filmed talking about their experiences on site to put a human connection to the Spode site and the people that worked within it. It took a lot of work to find people but through the support of the security Staff Alan Shenton and Mick Bosworth I managed to track down people for the film.
Upon the process of the Documentary I met Ray Elks of which used to be the visitor centre manager at Spode and was the chairman of tourism in Stoke on Trent and still has much respect within the industry. We spoke about the presentation of the memories of Spode film and Ray very kindly helped to arrange the venue of which to present the work.