Bill Peascod documentary begins library tour

A feature-length documentary film about miner, rock climber and artist Bill Peascod begins a tour of libraries this week.

The film was made in Cumbria, New South Wales and Kyoto in 2021, and directed by Steve Wharton and Perrin Walker.

When the centenary festival to celebrate the life of Bill Peascod (1920-1985) was cancelled due to COVID restrictions in 2020, organisers Dolly Daniel and Linda Wyatt decided to ask Lake District performer and media producer Steve Wharton to bring their festival to life on screen.

Drawing on his experience of producing the 28 Dales Later podcasts about northern England with outdoors educator Natalie Wilson, Steve started to research Bill’s life and uncovered a wealth of archive material relating to Bill held by the Wollongong University Library.

The material was not available online but Steve’s friend Perrin Walker had just returned to Australia after living in the Lake District and moved to Wollongong – the very city Bill Peascod had emigrated to in 1952, so he chipped in as a researcher, writer and presenter.

The film charts Bill’s life from a challenging childhood in the Cumberland coalfields and involvement in the Mines Rescue Teams to his pioneering of new rock climbing routes in 1940s Buttermere.

He became an abstract landscape painter after emigrating to Australia in 1952 where he developed a distinctive style of ‘burnt’ paintings. After a time in Japan, he returned to Cumbria in 1980 and drew on Japanese influences to paint his beloved fells, which he had resumed climbing with new friends such as Bill Birkett, Sir Chris Bonington and Don Whillans.

Steve said: “I’m delighted that the libraries are hosting their own screenings of our film.

“As a teenager, Bill used to spend hours in the library in Workington finding distraction from the hard life in the mines and fuelling his taste for adventure. I hope that the audience are similarly inspired by Bill’s experiences. This is a great chance to see the film on a big screen, in a relaxed environment.”

Filmed in England, Australia and Japan, the film is presented by Steve, Natalie Wilson and Perrin.

It features interviews with people who knew Bill, climbing and art specialists, rare material from the artist’s personal archive and scrapbooks, rarely seen artworks from private collections, photographs of early Lake District climbers by the Abraham Brothers and a soundtrack by Cumbrian and Australian musicians, including Mike Willoughby and Dave Camlin.

Some of the screenings will also be accompanied by an exhibition of climbing photos from the Bill Birkett Collection and a Q&A with director Steve Wharton.