Tea break in the former Courtaulds factory

A documentary charting the history of Preston’s Courtaulds factory has been released.

Made by Gary Cunliffe the 48-minutes film is the culmination of a project to gather the memories of those who worked at the Red Scar factory up to its demolition in the 1980s.

Funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund a number of meetings were held to gather together former workers.

The meetings at the St Matthew’s Mission inspired a song about factory life, plus it unearthed unseen pictures and documents from the Courtaulds vault.

The project was partly inspired by the Alison Boyle novel From Pakistan to Preston which is set in the Courtaulds factory during the 1972 Guild year.

Cunliffe said: “I was very pleased when Dovetail asked me to work on the project.

“I got to know them through my work with Alison. For several years I’ve been making heritage films about our area and working with Preston FM on heritage topics.

“Not having known the factory, I moved to Preston after it was demolished in 1982, I’m amazed just how big it was and how important it was as an employer.

“I find now that I know many people who had family who worked there but just never had a reason to share it.

“It’s important then that this doesn’t become forgotten history.”

You can watch the full documentary below or if you’re on our app click here to watch

Have you watched it? Or taken part in the project? Let us know in the comments below