WINSFORD youngsters hit the red carpet on Thursday night as a film inspired by their community and produced with support from the creator of Brookside premiered.

Students at Winsford Academy and Wharton Primary have produced How We Live – a play written up following work with the West Cheshire Poverty Truth Commission (PTC) and turned into a short film with the backing of Phil Redmond, who also created Hollyoaks and Grange Hill.

It tells the story of 15-year-old Lucy and her two younger siblings Liam and Lily, whose mum is currently in prison for a ‘mistake that everyone else is paying for’.

Phil told the Guardian: “I think these projects are really important because they are rooted within a local community.

“A local community has found the resources to do it, because they have got the concern about it.

“By doing that they are providing a resource to actually continue the debate and get people discussing it.

“You won’t come up with a silver bullet overnight but if you start the debate you can keep going and try to find solutions.”

While Liam and Lily are living with their nan, there is not enough space for Lucy at the home, and she is forced to stay at her best friend Chloe’s house.

But when Chloe’s family decide Lucy has outstayed her welcome, she is forced to take a risky decision on where to stay next, as a suspicious character looks to take advantage of her.

Phil said: “This could have been in Grange Hill, it could have been in Brookie, it could have been in Hollyoaks because it is about truth and it is about what people can relate to in their own communities.

Northwich Guardian:

“There will always be vulnerable people, there will always be people who need to be looked after and protected, and there will always be people who will take advantage of them.

“So we as a society have to be totally conscious all the time – keep reminding ourselves and keep looking for those solutions.”

A stark on-screen message following the film tells viewers that of an average class of 30 schoolchildren across the country, nine are now living in poverty.

The students who created How We Live worked with the PTC to hear real life stories from people living in poverty from Winsford and across the borough and to share their own experiences.

More than 100 young people living in poverty across the area were also interviewed, with their experiences all inspiring the story.

Following the screening Emily Hulme, who played Lucy in the film, told the audience: “I was quite naïve, I did not realise how much this went on around here.

“It needs to be talked about a lot more – it is much more real than I think any of us realised.”

Renee Hassall, who starred as Lucy in the original play before working on the production of the film, added: “I want people to know that this is not just a film – it is what is actually happening.”

The youngsters develop the characters and script following workshops and discussions, before performing the original play last January and then spending 14 months turning it into a film.

Screenwriter Peter Cox, who penned 227 episodes of Brookside, helped the team to bring the story to life on film.

He told the Guardian: “I think getting young people involved is huge because if they are in that circumstance then it is legitimising who they are in the world – they have suddenly got a voice.

“They might be thinking ‘I am stuck in this rut, I love my family but we have got nothing’ – and suddenly they see a film like this and realise ‘it’s not just about me, there are many more people in that circumstance’.

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“What you should be able to do is get the feeling that you are in that audience – wherever you are watching it – and you are walking in that person’s shoes who is going through that story.

“And I am a great believer that if you walk a mile in someone’s shoes you really know what their life can be like.”