In 1957, BBC film editor John Hall was asked by the warden of St Hilda’s East, the Boundary Estate community centre, to make a film about the centre’s work and life on the estate. John’s documentary, St Hilda’s East, captures this part of the East End at a point of great change and as the buildings of the London County Council estate were becoming badly dilapidated; refurbishment was still years away. Here, John (pictured below) recalls the making of his film.

“I had no knowledge of social work or indeed of Bethnal Green when I first met the warden, Miss Hunt. I asked her a very naive question – namely, why, with the (relatively new) Welfare State, was St Hilda’s East still needed? ‘We are,’ Miss Hunt replied, ‘the oil between the grindstones of the Welfare State and the conditions under which people are living.’ It was clear that I had a lot to learn.

“At the time, I was working in the BBC Television Film Unit based at the Lime Grove Studios at Shepherd’s Bush, so my research into the work of St Hilda’s East took place at the weekends or in the evening. However, I was soon able to build up a picture of the range of activities the centre offered, the people who supervised them and the people who made use of them.

“My memory is of an institution which was in essence a place of calm, providing practical help and assistance to the community around it. This help included the regular club for older people, which brought companionship and often an escape from loneliness. [The picture, below, of the sing-song at the piano shows Miss Hunt, standing, with some of the elderly ladies.] The club for young people provided not only entertainment in the form of discos but also a place to talk about the issues of growing up, finding their way into work and forming relationships. As much as anything, it seemed to me that the community centre was a place where young people were taken seriously. The discussion group was particularly impressive – the gentle comments and questions put by the group leader helped the participants to clearly articulate their ideas and opinions.

“The darker and more difficult side of Bethnal Green was to be found in the old tenement blocks, which housed hundreds of families in squalid accommodation. My film contains a sequence about one such family, who had effectively cut itself off from the community around it. The reason for this isolation was not entirely clear, but the warden felt it was probably a combination of a difficulty in communicating and a sense of shame at the conditions in which they lived. St Hilda’s East had patiently built up a connection with the family through one of their social workers, a lady from Holland, who had managed to gain the trust of the family. She was a remarkable person, with an impressive clarity of expression, and kind and wise. Through her, I was able to gain the family’s agreement to be filmed. The technology of filming in the 1950s was a great deal more cumbersome than it is today and so the intrusion was that much greater. My colleagues and I went to some lengths to try to minimise the intrusion while trying to convey the family situation without destroying the trust which the family had in St Hilda’s East.

“I felt it was important that the filming should show situations as they happened, rather than impose a detailed scenario. Inevitably, the arrival of a film crew with cameras and lights does tend to create an artificial set-up. However, it was good to see that after only a few minutes, and providing there were no interruptions, those being filmed seemed to forget we were there.

“The ability to capture material ‘as it happens’ required a good deal of skill back then, and tribute is due to the two cameramen who gave their services for no payment: Alan Forbes, a young American freelance, and Neville Calderwood, then an assistant cameraman with the BBC Film Unit.

“The short sequences which open and close the film were shot at Cheltenham Ladies’ College [which had founded the original St Hilda’s back in the 1890s] and were filmed one morning at assembly and between lessons later in the morning. The bond was still strong at that point between the College and the community centre. Again, we simply positioned ourselves and filmed events as they happened. .

“St Hilda’s East only had £200 to contribute to the film, which was a fraction of the usual cost of a documentary film. So what could be done to bridge the gap? Most documentary films were still being produced on 35mm cinema film, while more expensive 16mm film, used by amateur film-makers, was relatively new to the professional. The route I took to solving these financial problems was a shameless one of exploiting friends, colleagues and my work situation. A major cost problem, that of purchasing the 16mm film stock, was solved by the generosity of admin staff at BBC Ealing Studios kindly providing quantities of stock free of charge.

“It was an exciting time to be working in television, which had re-started after World War II with a very limited service. When I joined, BBC Television Centre was still on the drawing board, and the studios, production offices and editing rooms were at Lime Grove, the news services were at Alexandra Palace and the BBC Film Unit was at Ealing Studios. The numbers of people employed were not large and there was something of a family atmosphere. I also knew a good many freelance technicians in the documentary film industry. Through all these connections, I was able to build up a team who were prepared to give their services for no payment. In addition to Alan and Neville, film editor Michael Tuchner spent evenings in his cutting room at Lime Grove assembling the footage.

“I delivered the completed film in early 1958. Shortly after that, I went to work in the United States and on my return I joined the Central Office of Information (COI). I stayed there, becoming director of the films and television division, before retiring in 1988. During all that time, and across a couple of house moves (I’ve now settled in Cornwall) I never looked at the documentary; but in 2007 I decided to have it copied on to DVD format, and I sent copies to the present director of St Hilda’s and to the principal of Cheltenham Ladies’ College. They both received it with enthusiasm.”

The black-and-white stills from the film were all shot by Michael Flegg. DVD copies of St Hilda’s East are available to purchase for £10 (inc p&p). Contact St Hilda’s East Community Centre, 18 Club Row, London, E2 7EY for details. email: mail@sthildas.org.uk Tel: 020 7739 8066.