Countdown to Sanctuary Wood
On Friday, June 2, 2017 the Genesis Theatre, an excellent civic facility connected to Delta Senior Secondary in Ladner, BC was the venue for the premiere of Cliff Caprani’s new full length documentary, “Countdown to Sanctuary Wood”.
Cliff and his partner Nicky are currently parishioners at All Saints’, Ladner but have been active members of other parishes in the Diocese of New Westminster for the better part of 4 decades. Cliff has also been a huge support of diocesan communications and has been the principal videography/editor on numerous diocesan film projects over the past 8 years.
The June 2nd crowd of approximately 250 were all invited guests and they were treated to a mix and mingle prior to the screening, the showing of the film, some background information about the film and how it came to be made and to finish things off, a reception facilitated by members of All Saints’, Ladner.
The film is very much a “passion project”. When Cliff and Nicky began attending All Saints’, Ladner several years ago Cliff found himself drawn to a memorial plaque on the church wall commemorating the World War I death of Sidney Norris Rich on June 3, 1916. Cliff wondered what his life had been like, and become curious about the young man’s transition from Ladner boy to soldier.
After doing some initial research Cliff learned that Sidney was born in Ladner and had grown up in Ladner, been educated in Victoria, became a surveyor and worked for a Victoria firm. Based on conversations with Claudette Hayward, ODNW a parishioner at All Saints who died in 2015, he discovered that Sidney had family in the Lower Mainland. Claudette gave Cliff information about the family and put him in touch with Kathy Cuthbert. Kathy who lives in North Delta was quite surprised to receive a phone call from a complete stranger who wanted to talk about her long dead great-uncle.
Kathy, a retired teacher who lives with her husband Garth in North Delta became heavily involved in the film, and according to Cliff the film would not have been made without “her enthusiasm, and her hands-off approach.” Kathy set up an interview with her mother, who lives in Vernon and worked at gathering memorabilia to be used in the film. Kathy and Garth with another of Sidney’s great-nieces, Barb Wadey who lives in Revelstoke went to Europe with Cliff and the filmmaking team to shoot the location sections in Great Britain and Belgium. Barb was present at the June 2 premiere. Another great-niece, Sue Legault of White Rock got as far as London but slipped and severely fractured her arm soon after arrival so she was not in the film or present for the European location shooting having returned home to recover. Sue was also present at the premiere. Kathy was the principal organizer of the June 2nd event.
So, what’s the film about? Well we don’t want to give too much away but I think it’s safe to say that the principal focus is a countdown of the days (440+) from Sidney’s enlistment until his death in Belgium in Sanctuary Wood. The film includes visits to specific places in England and Belgium where Sidney spent time during his fairly brief time as a soldier and interviews with historians and other persons of interest who supply fascinating information about the time period.
There are numerous screening planned for the film including hopefully as an entry in an Irish film festival.
There is a screening scheduled for Saturday, June 17, 7pm at All Saints’, Ladner.
IMAGE
Cliff Caprani, Kathy Cuthbert, Sue Legault and Barb Wadey pose with the poster, Friday, June 2, 2017 at the Genesis Theatre in Ladner. PHOTO: Wayne Chose
Cliff's podcast reporting on the June 2 premiere is included below.