Alice Block Guelph

Except you are not supposed to ride your bicycle on the Town Bridge. You are supposed to dismount and walk across...

What's going to happen to the factory on our street?

Maybe this - http://momentumdevelopments.ca

Posted Nov 21, 2017

And this photo taken by Kenneth Armstrong, in Guelph Today.  July 5, 2021

There's A Factory On Our Street

The movie is finished!!

Here's the movie

Northern Rubber in The Ward, Guelph Ontario

Alison has lived up to her end of the bargain, rendering this picture of Northern Rubber in pastels as part of our documentary project.

Now we just have to put the movie together.

She's good at what she does eh?!

Northern Rubber (now Chemtura) by Alison Walton

While Alison has been creating this picture, I have been filming and trying to figure out editing.

I have also been reading "The Massey Murder" by Charlotte Gray. Interestingly it talks about 'The Ward' in Toronto: a working class neighbourhood of the early 1900's, that was neglected, often had issues with clean water and disease, and was considered the seedy or dangerous part of town.

Ward Kids Toronto

The Ward Walking Tour

Welcome to The Ward Documentary blog. Throughout these pages I will document the making of a documentary film about something in The Ward.

You can read about the Hidden History Documentary Project HERE. You can even make your own documentary!

The Guelph Arts Council leads historic walks through Guelph and here we are at Toronto and Short Street enjoying a tidbit about a charming home from the 1860's

May Warren and Chris Seto of the Guelph Mercury have done a bang-up job of reporting on the walk. See HERE

Now, that the walks are done for the time being, it is time to focus on the movie making. Stay Tuned.

Guelph Carpet and Spinning Mills

I am a camera

I guess I wont be strapping this to my bicycle helmet 

OK, now this is getting really scary. Now we have to produce something. This week we're learning how to use the camera AND learning a ton about movie making to the point where we're asking ourselves "who the heck wants to do this stuff?"

The concept for the movie keeps changing minute by minute. The project has just started and all ready I feel completely lost. HEY maybe that's it?!

"Lost in the Ward" a documentary.

The Ward Doc

Welcome to the St. Patrick's Ward documentary blog.

Here is where we'll document the making of a documentary. Another example of the information age on steroids, documenting documentary making...sheesh.

The Project:
Make a 2-3 minute documentary about a person, interesting story, place or point of interest stemming from The Ward in Guelph Ontario. Enter the documentary in "Hidden Histories" a component of the Guelph Film Festival. Details HERE

Now, Jay, that's me, and Alison have never made a movie before.

The good folks at Ed Video, have said they will hold our hand every step of the way, BUT, we still have to come up with the concept, shoot it, add audio, and edit.

So, to begin: the concept.

I've been gathering some stories, interviewing residents and reading up on The Ward because I lead historic walks through the place in the summer and fall.

There's lots of history, starting with Sir John A MacDonald buying up the land because he heard a rumour there might be a train coming through Guelph.

The train is a prominent feature of the Ward, as is the Speed River, several foundries, textile and rubber manufacturing, market gardens, small business and lots of exceptional people,

We're going to try and bring as much of that to this documentary as possible (2-3 minutes remember) BUT the documentary will focus on an activity - rendering a building in pastels, (making a picture) all the while discovering what we can about its location, when it was built, who lived in it, what did they do, what was going on in the ward when the house was built and so on.

How will we select which building? Well oddly enough it will having nothing to do with its history, architecture, materials or owners. Alison, the artist is just going to pick out a building that she likes and wants to create in pastels. In fact, you see, the documentary about the documentary has already begun...