Work has pressed ahead, despite the problems caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, on a community film-making project highlighting Wellington.

Twelve residents volunteered two weeks before lockdown to take part in the project led by Actiontrack Performance Company and Somerset Film.

The aim was to produce a film, with a soundtrack intended to be performed live, to open the new Wellington film festival planned for this month but now postponed.

The Wellington On Screen group carried on working despite the lockdown to produce a unique film portrait of their lives and the place they live. Members used the WhatsApp app and Zoom video conferencing to work and continued to produce an original score with Actiontrack.

The film, Wellington Observed, a Glitch in Time, shines a light on Wellington’s built and natural environment, and will be seen through the eyes of a hunkypunk – a grotesque carving on the side of a building – attached to St John’s Church.

The hunkypunk has seen a lot throughout its life – the cycle of the seasons, the Reformation, the major rebuilding of the town after the fire of 1731, the birth of the Grand Western Canal in 1835 and the arrival of the M5 motorway in the 1960s and 70s.

The film was set to be promoted in a five-minute teaser-trailer being premiered on YouTube last Thursday – the link is at https://youtu.be/2HdPXE22iSM.

The film festival was set to take place this month with a programme of activities, short and feature films but it will now be staged in 2021.

It was initiated by the Wellington Town Council Working Group and will be funded by Wellington Town Council.