The Battle of Stockton Campaign was established in 2017, aiming to commemorate a forgotten chapter in the town’s history. On 10th September 1933, two thousand locals came together to drive a rally held by Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists out of Stockton. The campaign hosts gigs and events to celebrate the town’s rejection of fascism on the anniversary of the battle every year, and now they’re releasing a documentary telling the story of the day. Rory Jones spoke to campaign members Sharon Bailey and Dan Smith about the making of the film and its relevance today.
Tell us a bit about the Battle of Stockton Campaign…
Sharon Bailey: We founded it in August 2017. No one we knew had heard about the Battle of Stockton, and we read into it, and it’s massive, really. It happened three years before Cable Street, which most people have heard about, where the British Union of Fascists marched into Cable Street and loads of people in the East End of London pushed them back. We thought it needed to be remembered, so we set up the campaign. The purpose of it was not only to remember a significant event in Stockton’s history, but also to remind us that despite the economic situation and the poverty we were suffering in the North East, people were still willing to push back fascism.
Dan Smith: In terms of documented opposition to the Blackshirts, it is one of the most significant ones, especially in the North East. It’s a massive shame it’s never been made more of on Teesside.
How did the documentary come about?
Dan Smith: Obviously, one of the key aims of the campaign is to raise awareness of the Battle of Stockton. We had quite a few ideas, but first and foremost I wanted something out there in the form of a documentary. This film isn’t really about the campaign, it’s specifically about what happened that day, and it brings it to life. We’ve had some amazing support from Marlene Sidaway who has a really rich history in film and TV, and is providing the voiceover. She’s got some great links to Teesside as well – she’s a Thornaby lass.
How have you approached the production process, given that the film documents an event with no living witnesses or archive footage?
Dan Smith: The style that’s going to run throughout is very art based. There are a lot of artistic interpretations from accounts in the book about the battle, written by local historian Rosie Serdiville. Some of the accounts come from those on the side of the BUF, some come from the police, and some come from local people from Stockton. We’ve had these 2D landscapes created, pencil drawings generally, from our main artist Keith Palmer and some others. It’s almost a Ken Burns style, but we’ve made those landscapes into more of a 3D environment. And we’ve then laid sounds over those — we actually recreated the battle in the Green Dragon Yard with a group of angry people late one night, about two days before lockdown. So we have that, combined with the fantastic narration by Marlene, and then help from the local Gazette with newspaper clippings from the day. So it’s evolved from an informative little piece to quite a rich output, and we’re excited to get it out there.
The Battle of Stockton documentary is due to be released later in the year. You can follow the campaign on Twitter (/BOScampaign) and Facebook (battleofstockton).
