First Signal TV documentary nears completion as students and miners bring Staffordshire's history to life

Filming is drawing to a close on The Staffordshire Signal's first television documentary, a project pairing T Level Media students with the miners, railway volunteers and museum staff who keep Staffordshire's industrial heritage alive.

The documentary, produced by The Staffordshire Signal TV, tells the story of Foxfield Colliery and the adjoining railway, through the eyes of the people who know it best.

Over recent weeks, T Level Media students from City of Stoke-on-Trent Sixth Form College have been filming on site, interviewing former miners and volunteers about the industry's history and what it still means to those connected to it today.

The students already have camera and production experience through their studies. What this project has asked of them is something different: sitting down with real people, listening properly, and taking the responsibility of telling someone else's story seriously.

The film brings together two very different generations. On one side, students at the start of their careers, learning what it means to hold someone's story with care. On the other, miners and volunteers who spent decades underground or keeping the sites running, given the chance to have their history heard by people genuinely willing to listen.

The Staffordshire Signal TV was set up to give students exactly this kind of opportunity: real cameras, real stories, and real skills, built around the place they call home, rather than one person filming alone.

The Foxfield documentary is the first in what The Staffordshire Signal hopes will become an ongoing series of local documentaries, made in partnership with students across the county. That expansion is part of what the Signal's current crowdfunder is raising funds for, alongside developing the Signal's app and reaching more of Staffordshire with more stories, in more formats.

Filming is expected to be complete within the coming weeks, with the full documentary to follow.

To be the first to know when the documentary is released, subscribe at www.thestaffordshiresignal.co.uk.

The Staffordshire Signal's crowdfunder is currently live, raising funds to make more documentaries like this one possible. Back it here.

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