Celebrating 25 years in Hackney
Welcome to the WORLDwrite show
On Saturday 23rd May as part of the Hackney History Festival WORLDwrite is Celebrating 25 years in the borough at the WORLDwrite Centre, 201 Millfields Road, E5 0AL
12.00 onwards stalls, £1 book bonanza, bric a brac and barbecue
2pm-3pm A presentation on the education charity WORLDwrite’s Hackney history in the former Superintendent’s lodge of Hackney’s historic disinfecting station. With film clips of numerous Views on the Streets from the past 25 years, interviews from the borough and an inside look at some of the controversies surrounding its work by Director and founder Ceri Dingle.
4pm-6.30pm Film screening in the WORLDwrite garden (under gazebos if rain) Every Cook Can Govern: the life, impact & works of C.L.R. James Crowd, funded, filmed and produced by over 200 volunteers in Hackney. The award-winning film interweaves rare footage of the Trinidad-born revolutionary himself with testimony from those who knew him alongside leading scholars of his works. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the Director.
7.30-9pm- Film screening in the WORLDwrite garden (under gazebos if rain) Sylvia Pankhurst: Everything is Possible. Filmed in the East End of London and beyond by young Hackney volunteers, the film traces the context, campaigns and political impact of suffragette and revolutionary Sylvia Pankhurst. With unique testimony from Sylvia’s son Richard Pankhurst and his wife Rita we learn of her imprisonment, opposition to war, internationalism and why she’s so inspiring.
9pm Party on, barbecue & drinks (bring your favourite tipple)
All Free to attend, Donations encouraged
Date
23rd May 2026
Time
12.00 onwards
Theatre, Talks & TV 2026 – Free Film Training
Applications are now open for our spring 'Train & Shoot' package
If developing filmmaking skills or testing your existing skills while making an impact is of interest, this Festival TV maker package could be just what you are looking for.
This volunteering package will result in over 30 videos, for which everyone is credited and in the media world credits are currency.
All the details, sessions and a simple application form to complete are here. We take all who apply, but don’t leave it too long as places fill up fast!
If you have queries or questions do email us at world.write@btconnect.com
The UK Solidarity Story
Awards keep coming!
WORLDwrite’s latest documentary has now won numerous awards and been selected by more than twenty festivals. This epic feature film covers over 160 years of inspiring tales. From the Lancashire millworkers in the 1860’s who supported the abolition of slavery to volunteers in the Spanish civil war to the Battle of Bamber Bridge, Gay liberation and the showdown that was the 1984 miners’ strike. With expert witness testimony interwoven with compelling archive, this is a visual essay for our time. One that challenges cultural silos and sets the record straight on lesser-known tales of bravery, which at times changed the course of history. Today’s virtue signalling can never replace the powerful impact made by taking action in support of our peers, and that’s solidarity.
Check out the trailer and full details of the film in the press kit here
This film was supported with a small grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The ten individual chapters and the full film are now available on Worldwrite’s YouTube Channel.
Help us keep our volunteer centre open!
Support our Waistland Challenge
At the moment our priority is raising funds to pay our volunteer centre rent and bills, so that we can afford to stay open! Some of our volunteers are doing a ‘Waistland challenge’ to lose pounds and raise many more to help keep the charity’s volunteer centre afloat. They’d be delighted to have your sponsorship here. Have you got books you can donate to our second-hand bookshop, could you run in a marathon for us? Just email us. Keep us posted on jobs you hear about too, as our volunteers also have bills to pay.
The Sadhvi Sharma Memorial Scholarship Fund
This scholarship fund was set up by WORLDwrite in honour of Sadhvi Sharma who died in March 2021 aged just 39. The fund will provide annual paid internships for young people interested in working with the charity and using film, TV and journalism to promote the best for humanity. Sadhvi’s husband Fredrik match funded all we innitially raised. The fund will make a huge difference and enable more young people to take up an internship who don’t have the financial means or parental support to do so otherwise.
STOP PRESS In the first instance, the charity used this fund to help two young people from Ukraine, Hleb (25) & Vladlena (22) to come to the UK and be supported to work with us in 2022. They now have jobs in the media. In 2023 the charity was able to provide paid internships four more young people. Your donations will really help further aspiring young people.
We know Sadhvi would approve!
In her early 20’s, Sadhvi Sharma became a WORLDwrite volunteer. She helped develop and launch its film facility, worked on films in Ghana, the UK and India, became part of the staff team as volunteer coordinator and remained a vital member of the charity’s management committee until her untimely death. Sadhvi’s unfailing courage and commitment to the advancement of our common humanity saw her speaking up for modernization in Mumbai, challenging population control policies globally and campaigning for unfettered free speech and freedom in the UK. As an advocate of the most direct democracy possible Sadhvi believed in the capacity of us all to improve our lot.
This scholarship fund will assist young people interested in following a similarly inspiring and fearless path by developing media skills as Sadhvi did, to share ideas with the world that will make it a better place for us all.
Help Us Edit the Work of Our Brilliant Volunteers
See some fascinating debates on issues that affect us all.
Our Citizen TV volunteers filmed fifty debates at the Battle of Ideas Festival in 2025
Most people maybe don’t know what it takes to get a completed video out, even a simple 1.5 hour debate. To capture, sync, (2 cameras) edit, sound clean, colour correct, add titles, straps & end credits, transcode, export, compress and upload takes a minimum of 2 days for each debate.
Fifty debates, one hundred days that’s £10,000 we need to raise to keep the edit suites and lights on, without paying anyone. All the debates we have edited so far are on our WORLDwrite Youtube channel.
Please chip in what you can on our Justgiving page by clicking on the button below. Thank you.
Well Done to the WORLDwrite Battle of Ideas Festival Crew
Check out some great debates filmed by our crew
An interesting venue from a filmmaker’s point of view, the historic Church House in Westminster was taken over by the Battle of Ideas Festival.
Our stalwart crew of young volunteers filmed 50 live debates over two days! A truly epic task.
This was the first-ever live shoot for most of our volunteers and they got up early, held their nerve, remembered their training, worked very hard and went to bed very late to produce professional-quality films with no ‘do overs’.
Well done to everyone who took part.
Promoting great videos and ideas
Volunteer call out
The charity is always looking for volunteers to help ensure our videos are well watched, the website is well known and our films screen globally. Whether you are a social media guru or digital marketing aficionado or have never tried anything of the kind, your help will be invaluable. From targeting free listing sites to Facebook groups to creating memes, there is plenty to do and we’ll show you how. Just email us from where ever you are in the world and we’d be delighted to rope you in.
Jack Petchey Award Winners
Well Earned Awards
Congratulations to, from left to right: Chiara; Lily; Emma; Maria; Bushra; Shuangqing; Max; Nicky and Krista for being voted WORLDwrite Jack Petchey Young Achievers.
Each one of them earned their votes in different but equally inspiring ways and deserve this recognition from their peers.
Special thanks to the Jack Petchey Foundation for their continued support. The foundation kept the charity’s young Citizen TV maker project afloat with a Covid Recovery grant. The whole team is hugely grateful.
Ghana Appeal
Support our peers in Ghana
IF ANYONE ELSE CAN CHIP IN, PLEASE DO.
As many of you know, WORLDwrite provides at least £1500 every year to share between families in villages in some of the poorest parts of Ghana. We met them when we were filming over 15 years ago and money is handed over in cash with no strings. A few key donors who have met family members chip in and the charity provides the rest.
With the cost of living crisis, a lot of people have had a hard year here but rest assured it’s been far harder for our peers in Ghana.
We have always believed in putting our money where our mouth is and we hope everyone who believes in real freedom will do the same. We hope you will have a heart and dig deep again this year.
You can make a donation directly into the charity’s account and reference it ‘For Ghana’. The account details are Account name: Worldwrite RC 1060869, Account number: 50071380, Sort code: 089001. Thank you.
Congratulations
Achievement Award winners
Congratulations to Janith, Marianne & Anisa who were nominated and won the vote to receive Jack Petchey Foundation Youth Achievement Awards.
The Freedom Babbleon
100 liberty lovers hold forth
“Won’t you help to sing Another song of freedom” -Bob Marley
WORLDwrite’s big event for the festive season was developed with a crew of young volunteers. It was a continuous 8 hour festival of freedom online, with 100 high level speakers, top comedians, singers, writers, actors, activists and volunteers providing 4 minutes apiece on freedom and free speech. Given all the frustrations and fear that blight our lives due to Covid-19, it served to remind the world why freedom and democracy are so important for humanity to thrive. The event has been hailed as a major success and many of the inspiring 4 minute contributions are now available to watch as videos here and the full line up is here. The event raised enough to pay all the charity’s Centre bills in December too, checkout the Freedom Babbleon JustGiving page here.