Hebburn Comprehensive School, have been long-standing supporters of Amber and Side Gallery. They are also one of the few secondary schools in the region to offer pupils the opportunity to study photography at GCSE level. 

Out of this relationship and their awareness of the work of Amber Education, we were commissioned to develop a project, which would allow a group of Year 11 pupils the opportunity to create and produce their own documentary film.

Over 5 sessions, Bryan Dixon worked with filmmaker Danielle Giddins to deliver skills training and develop a viable project idea. Pupils settled on the subject of ‘The Four Lakes’, created locally during the 19th Century that went on to become a distinctive local landmark and leisure destination for decades until they were drained in the late 1950s. Hebburn Secondary School is now located on part of the redeveloped site. 

Pupils were fascinated by the story of the lakes following the revelation that Vikki Holt, a parent of one of the pupils, had been researching the subject for years and planned to self-publish a book, featuring the terrible incidence of drownings that were also associated with the lakes.

Bryan conducted further research, of archive resources available from the local library, and was able to piece together details of the tragic drowning of four infant boys in 1956, which led eventually to the draining of the lakes following a vociferous campaign and petition by local people.

Through the local history society, Bryan met resident Cicely Horspool, who was the cousin of Denis Symonds (aged 4), one of the boys who tragically drowned in the incident. Ciclely along with Vikki Holt, became an integral part of the project, with filming taking place on the school’s grounds, then later at a nearby nature reserve and lake - the former site of Hebburn Quarry.

The film was publicly screened at Hebburn Library in March 2023.