OXFORD'S YOUNG FILMMAKERS GET FINANCIAL BOOST FROM RAILWAY BURSARY

Tuesday 17 May 2011

OXFORD'S YOUNG FILMMAKERS GET FINANCIAL BOOST FROM RAILWAY BURSARY

Region & Route:: | Wales & Western: Western; | Wales & Western

Aspiring young film-makers at Oxford and Cherwell Valley College have received a financial boost thanks to a new bursary fund set up by Network Rail and First Great Western. The £1,000 pot of cash will help kit out the college with new equipment and supports a film-making competition for film studies students.

Over the summer term, students from the Extended Diploma in Creative Media Production class will work to produce three-minute films on the railway and what it means to their local area. Students can be as abstract and creative as they want in their short films. The films will be judged by Network Rail and First Great Western representatives with prizes for the three best films at an awards ceremony in June.

Mark Langman, Network Rail route director, said: “The railway has played a huge role in Oxford’s history, connecting communities, supporting business and helping people get to work, to school, to the shops or to see friends and family.

“We have huge ambitions for the Great Western over the coming years to help meet and support the region’s growth. The biggest beneficiaries of this investment will be the young people of today. This initiative will get the students thinking about the impact the railway has on their lives, offering a chance to explore its past, present and future through their vision and creativity.”

Damien Homer, the Extended Diploma in Creative Media Production teacher at Oxford and Cherwell Valley College, said: “We are thrilled to be working with Network Rail and First Great Western on this. It is such a great opportunity for the students to be involved with. They have free reign to be really creative and as it’s so personal – the films are all guaranteed to be different. I cannot wait to see all of the different interpretations. The equipment that the bursary will provide will be very well received by everyone here at the Oxford and Cherwell Valley College."

Notes to editors

Network Rail has a plan for the future of rail. Recent government funding for improvements on the Great Western heralds the biggest investment in the route since it was built by Brunel. This will deliver a more reliable service, more seats and better station facilities. For more information visit www.networkrail.co.uk/thegreatwestern

First Great Western's services are used by almost 80 million passengers each year. The company’s aim is to provide a comfortable, reliable service to all its customers. For more information visit www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/oxford

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We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.

Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.

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