On a hilltop not too far from Newcastle, Durham and Sunderland, the former mining town of Stanley overlooks rolling countryside all the way to the North sea in the east and to the Pennines in the west. With the decline of traditional industries in the North East as a whole, as well as in this town, much of the supporting infrastructure has fallen into decline: empty buildings, a struggling high street, lack of investment by big business or local government until very recently, reputation for crime and deprivation, a town that according to both insiders and outsiders should be bulldozed.

Over a period of six months I photographed and filmed inhabitants in Stanley and the surrounding areas. When I first started this project, I tried to approach it with an open mind. I arrived in Stanley, with little knowledge of the place and a barrage of rhetoric behind me, a town that is a huge part of my own family's ancestry, but which I had only visited on a few occasions.

I was treated from the start with incredible friendliness, without exception all those that I approached were willing to tell me their story, to talk (often for hours) about the past, present and future of the town. The older generations remember the mining town, a vibrant and thriving place with something for everyone: shops, cafes, dance halls. They remember it as a place that was forgotten about once the mines closed.

The younger people remember a town that had little for them as they were growing up, but see it slowly improving thanks in part to the town's excellent sporting facilities. Stanley has a long history of sporting prowess, boxers, runners, swimmers and the town is still producing successful athletes.

Overall though the impression I got was of a town that whatever happens to it, the people continue on regardless.