The Merrie City: Wayne Sables

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2022

The Merrie City is a new mini-documentary created by Wayne Sables, celebrating and shining a light on the music scene of Westgate and the Wakefield area.

Film-maker Wayne Sables has been digging into Wakefield's musical history, interviewing musicians, promoters and venues to find out how the Wakefield Westgate area has been instrumental in generating opportunities and inspiration for bands, gig goers and organisers for decades.

The mini-documentary uncovers stories of venues long-gone, celebrates the musicians that have performed in the many vibrant venues on Westgate and the adjoining yards, and hopefully inspires the next generation to discover and contribute to music in Wakefield. From cultural hubs like the Theatre Royal Wakefield to small independents such as the much missed Escobar and everything in between, the buildings, people and places in the Westgate conservation area have been a key part of Wakefield's musical journey.

The Merrie City is a story of how music has always been at the heart of Westgate. Shining the spotlight on promoters, producers, musicians and venues who have brought international bands to Wakefield audiences, supported and celebrated local musicians with a stage to play on and have together been a key part of the UK's musical heritage with bands hailing from the punk rock and Indie era.

You can watch the full film below -

“Before I came to this project I had absolutely no idea the Westgate music scene was so huge,” Wayne admitted.

“This is a fascinating story that needs to be told and to do it justice, I’ll be talking to everybody from musicians to backstage crew, to independent record labels, and promoters to access the full story of how this cultural hub has grown to be such a strong part of the fabric of Wakefield life.”

Wayne, who lives in Doncaster is the founder of The Wayne Sables Project. “I love making films and I love telling stories, turning compelling stories into beautifully crafted narrative driven film and digital content,” said Wayne.

The Wakefield project is the latest in a critically acclaimed series of Yorkshire productions for Wayne. He has worked with Cannon Hall in Barnsley, created a series of short documentaries across all Barnsley’s heritage sites and also been part of the team that created If These Walls Could Talk, an immersive sound and vision experience at South Yorkshire’s historic Wentworth Woodhouse.

In Rotherham he worked with the Children’s Capital of Culture team and a group of young producers to create a short film around the collections at Clifton Park Museums. He also worked on a major projection mapping project that saw a series of digitally created animations projected onto Rotherham’s historic Minster. In Leeds and Wakefield, he partnered with Dance Action Zone Leeds to create a series of films exploring the links between dance and health.

See Wayne Sables website for more projects.

"This was a particularly exciting and special project for me to produce with Wayne Sables. Firstly, it was fantastic to commission Wayne to work on this project in Wakefield, which was where he firststudied filmmaking. Students from Bretton College were (and still are) instrumental in forming Wakefield's music scene, so it was great to link Wayne with so many ex students to help tell their story and celebrate their successes.

Secondly, music in Wakefield is very close to my heart, so being able to invite friends and colleagues to take part in this project and shine a light on the fantastic work they've done over the years to keep Wakefield's music scene thriving was a real highlight for me. I hope the film helps to inspire future generations to get involved and creates an archive of the history of music in the Merrie city!"

- Amy Lilley, Cultural Programme Producer