Sponsored by
Video: Leeds woman making movies at 90
Meet Doreen Wood, the shooting star who may well be the oldest movie-maker in Leeds.
Doreen, from Meanwood, started producing her own short films back in 1978 after buying a Super 8 camera to capture the early years of a newly-arrived grandchild.
* Click here to view the YEP picture galleries of Leeds nostalgia.
And, even though she turned 90 at the start of this week, the retired clerical worker has no intention of hanging up her director's clapperboard just yet.
* Click here for latest YEP movie reviews.
Doreen, who is now a great-grandmother, said: "I think making films is a wonderful hobby, really fascinating.
"I like the way you can create something from nothing and see it on the screen in front of you.
"It's also good for keeping the grey matter ticking over."
Doreen, who today uses a modern camcorder and computer editing equipment, has made more than 50 films.
They include documentaries on Meanwood's history, animated versions of children's classics like Hansel and Gretel and even her own fictional 'shorts'.
Her most popular movie, however, has proved to be the very first one she shot.
"A squirrel started coming into my garden and he would do anything for a nut," said Doreen, who is a widow.
"You could put them on top of a pole or on a clothes line but he'd always get to them, so I filmed him scurrying around doing exactly that.
"It became very well known. One lady even began calling me Mrs Squirrel."
Doreen's films have in the past been screened for a wide range of societies and also in churches and schools. Nowadays, though, her work is mostly shown at meetings of the Leeds Movie Makers club, where she is secretary.
The amateur movie club's press officer, Doris Lythe, said: "Doreen is a very special lady, an inspiration to everyone."
Leeds Movie Makers meets each Friday at 7.30pm at Stainbeck United Reform Church, on Stainbeck Lane in Meanwood. For more details, visit the www.leedsmovie makers.co.uk website.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Leeds
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 8 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: East
