This film is part of Free

Time for Heroes

Staffordshire councillor Ian Wise is an idealist. He believes that politicians don't hold the power, the people do, but they let the politicians ride roughshod over them.

Documentary 1985 26 mins

From the collection of:

Logo for Media Archive for Central England

Overview

Halmer End is a village on the edge of Newcastle under Lyme in Staffordshire. Labour councillor Ian Wise works full time in the local tea factory but also works tirelessly in representing the people of his ward. Those people and Wise's optimistic views on society, which go against the grain of the then ruling Conservative government, are the focus of this film shot in an area where entrenched feelings about the Labour movement stretch back to the General Strike of 1926.