VIDEO: Film casts troubled town in new light

Cllr Steve Fritchley and chief executive Dan Swaine with film maker Martyn Harris at the launch of the Shirebrook film

Last year, Shirebrook Town Council tasked its then chairman, Councillor Stephen Fritchley, with dispelling its ‘image problem’.

He then commissioned film-maker Martyn Harris to make a ten-minute short which premiered at the town’s Tangent business centre last night.

He said: “As many people will know, we had some problems in Shirebrook at the beginning of last year.

“There was a lot of bad press that came about as a result of the BBC’s Inside Out programme, which many thought portrayed Shirebrook in a negative way.

“We had a few boisterous meetings at the time but what came from the meetings is that as a town council we wanted to keep people better informed.

“We have not been good at the presentational and technology side of things - websites and the like.

“I was chairman at the time and the town council told me that they wanted to do something about it.”

Local business leaders networking before the first showing of the Shirebrook film

As a result, last year the council produced a glossy brochure and has now followed this up with a new website and video, called Outside In.

Coun Fritchley - who serves on Bolsover District Council as well as Shirebrook Town Council - points to a flight simulator located in the Tangent business centre as evidence of the town’s hidden depths.

This supremely high-tech kit is owned by an ex-airline pilot who trains and gives refresher courses to Boeing 737 pilots.

“People say there’s nowt in Shirebrook but there is - we have got all sorts of things and we want to portray it in a positive way,” he says.

“There are hundreds of different firms and lots of stuff going on - its not just Sports Direct.”

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