The Huts (1985, documentary) - Wester Hailes (Edinburgh) - Part 1/4

The huts a film from Wester Hailes (1985)
Director: Des Bradley
In collaboration with the Wester Hailes Representative Council:
Liz Whitecross, Anne Milne, Angus Hardie, Jackie Cameron, Lorna Gratton, Margaret McDonald, Colin Bartie, sheila Hamilton, Maureen Woytozgo
Production Trevor Davies (Skyline Productions, Edinburgh)
"The time was right for the emergence of an overall Wester Hailes coordinating body which people trusted enough to lend their authority. I spent a lot of time in people's houses talking and talking- trying to build concensus. Local activists were determined that their representative body should be as independent as possible from outside influences- like the remoteness of local government officialdom- or the partisan interests of professional politicians. The achievement of a unified independent voice was the Wester Hailes community's most telling achievement. This voice found its fullest expression in what eventually became the Wester Hailes Representative Council." (Laurence Demarco, Reflections on my time in Wester Hailes 1976-1990, 2009, www.senscot.net...)
From There… To Here - The social history of Wester Hailes
hailesmatters....
"Wester Hailes - The Huts (52 mins Bradley 1985) is a single film documentary about community organisations in the Wester Hailes housing estate on the outskirts of Edinburgh. The huts are the temporary porta-cabin style buildings, for which local groups have secured modest funding, to provide a base for community development in the area. Directed by Des Bradley, it was produced by Trevor Davies, community activist and local councillor, by the independent production company Skyline Film and TV for the Channel 4 series People to People. During its early years, Channel 4’s commissioning policy encouraged experimentation in form, as well as content, across the programme genres (Stoneman, 1992, 2005). The Huts is an example of a film which attempts a radical alternative structure combining several different modes of documentary. Shot on 16 millimetre colour film the film interweaves a number of different approaches and uses reflexive, performative and participatory modes of documentary production. There are several recurring sequences which feature various local tenants’ organisations, such as a community arts circus workshop, which provides the device by which the landscape and buildings are shown with the camera following a teenage boy, in clown costume make-up and walking on stilts, as he makes his way around the estate. Members of a local drama group are filmed re-enacting role plays which depict aspects of life on this estate such as, the isolation of single parents, problems dealing with housing administrators, and the powerlessness felt by the long-term unemployed. These sequences are delivered by amateur actors, filmed on stylised sets with expressionistic lighting, as direct to camera monologues, or short dramatised scenes. This is intercut with interview material and documentary sequences which follow meetings of a tenants group and editorial discussions about the production and publication of the Sentinel, the local community newspaper. The background music, which features throughout, is a specially-composed jazz score by young saxophonist Tommy Smith, who grew up in Wester Hailes. This range of different elements combine to produce an impressionistic portrait, devised and expressed through a mix of community arts activities by local residents, focusing on the participation of residents in initiatives set up to change and improve the quality of their lives. The film engages with local people to produce a portrait of a community which is far from the outsider’s view of the journalistic reportage of Lilybank." (Alistair James Scott, Raploch Stories: continuity and innovation for television documentary production, 2013, Phd-Thesis, Edinburgh Napier University)

[@Girl-101]

Omg these little programs brought back memories, I’ve never personally lived in Westerhailes but my Uncle & Aunty did, along with my 3 wee cousins and I’d go to my Dads, in Dalry, every weekend and he’d always take me to see my wee cousins & we’d always go to the pool with the wee mushroom chute, I loved it and was too little to see that it was an awful area aesthetically, my cousins used to live in those awful flats, the ones that are similar to the banana flats in Leith with the long balcony type things, you know all along the landing where the doors were, and they also lived in the 6 in a block stairs that are still there now, you know Murrayburn Gardens, Grove, etc, etc, and I think they also lived in the multi-storey flats that are green & yellow today, they finally got a main door in Westburn many years later. My Aunty passed away in 1998 though, and my Uncle lives there alone, (I think) and my cousins are all grown up now and live in various parts of Edinburgh. This program brought back many memories, thanks for the upload x

[@73whitezz]

MY mum used to run the Murrayburn hut for a few years back in the 80s! Wester hails was a tough area, but a great place to grow up. There were so many kids who lived in the stairs around the carpark in Dumbryden, where I lived, that we used to play about 20 a side at times! So many great memories

[@AirBallers31]

Thank you for uploading!

[@lindamillar2505]

I moved into block 70 whd in January 1973 with 3 small children We lived there for 17years good and bad memories 😢

[@mariadickson9774]

I was about 9/10 when my mum dad & 3 brother,s & 1 sister moved into W.H. My dad John Dickson was the caretaker in block 74 W.H. Drive into the Student Accommodation block & we were the 1st family to move into block. It was a great place to be brought up in. Mando the bro above me eventually came to stay with us as we had come from Niddrie before that Gilmerton Dyked where we lost our Italian Mama from Cancer & my dad met a beautiful , caring loving step - mum named Margaret ( Peggy ). Mando stayed on @ school in Niddrie with my older sister Marzia to finish his O’levels & came to see us @ w.end with his friend Mo Morwood from Niddrie . I loved living in W.H. as everybody new each other & we all cared for the Community . Dad opened up a School Club for the OAP,s on a Sunday in Hailes Hotel in Parrots Cage. It was the local disco. for the Community & organise a trip to Burntisland once every year for the members children to get couple coaches to take us & always threw a Christmas. Party for all the members. Kids to receive a present upto age of 12. Any older children. received an envelope with £ 5 inside & I loved being involved helping my dad fill out all the names for the Christmas Party & for the annual day out. I went to Hailesland Primary then to Forrester Annexe then to the WHEC. It was my year who opened up WHEC with a pantomime. named Joseph & the Technicolor Dream Coat . Always Jim Rankin was Joseph & what a voice that guy had. Alexia’s Cardonnie, Grant Murray, Valerie Smith, Karen Bowie , Paul Crawford, John Girdwood , Isa iRendall Hay brothers & Craven brothers fi Calders, Fiona Cunningham , Cammie Frazer & Butlers

[@mariadickson9774]

Oh I forgot Stuart Gauls & the infamous Laing brothers Lesley Gilzean & many more … I left school & had my daughter Carla Brown to Harry Brown & we all lived in Calder Grove until he suddenly. died & Carla & I left Calder to move to Saughton Mains. I LOVED W. H & loved the way we all come together as a Community . Thanks for the lovely memories back to Wester Hailes. It made me the woman I am today. Wester Hailes Y’a Bass 😂😂😂♥️✌🏽😀🙏🙏🙏🇮🇹🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿💚💙💘🌈 Maria x

[@Veronacelt]

Ciao Maria, come stai? I'm Scott, you might remember me and my brothers Shaun & Steven, you stayed next door to my Aunty Helen (my mum is her sister Barbara) who was also a caretaker and your sister Marzia was one of her best friends along with Lorraine Munro. I too remember the trips to Burntisland and the Parrot Cage. Wester Hailes whilst being classed as deprived provided far more for it's citizens thanks to the volunteers than any government did, and the WHEC was one of the most modern schools in the UK in it's time.

[@noelliam4011]

Grew up there early 90s was extremely violent place I was 11 years old carrying a knife I’m glad we moved away around 94 otherwise I’d be dead or in the jail I was a regular shop lifter at 11 years old in the Center

[@brucemilne9576]

Where did you move to?

[@bignick0011]

I was born in wester hailes 1981 my ma moved oot about 84/85

[@keithwills3790]

Ah wester hailes .. Moved to the park in mid 70s.... Was a great place to live.. Then they moved all the junkies, drunks and single mothers in!!. Doonhill from there!!. Some great characters though!!.

[@KingColomonsdisciple]

And now they've moved the polaks and Africans in

[@rain7bow437]

Omg did she actually just slap that woman?? Twice?? And pulling her around by the arms.

[@fiphuket2010]

Are u being serious? They were acting, it's a drama class 😅

[@StirlingVoid]

I have friends in wester hailes, I was brought up in Bradford Yorkshire and we have a few schemes like this in Bradford but much bigger, the main thing is community spirit, I'm afraid nowadays this attitude has gone 😔

[@5eviexe466]

It's not much bigger in Bradford u nut, Wester Hailes is bigger than anything in a shitty little town like Bradford.

[@g-plan9future204]

Im in theyr somewhere

[@David-fr9ve]

Strange video, but apart from all the weird clown crap, for many, this was the REAL Edinburgh, the Edinburgh I grew up in..not castles and gray friars Boabie 🤷 I lived in Broomhouse then Clovenstone most of my childhood..no glamour there, it wasn't all bad tho, lots of fond memories 👍