Marcia’s life and work win her a taste of TV fame

Jan 31 2008 by Hazel Ettienne, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

THE founder of Huddersfield-based community publishing and learning development company Primary Colours is to feature in a TV documentary next week.

Marcia Hutchinson’s life and work will be featured as part of the My Yorkshire series to be screened at 7.30pm next Thursday on YTV.

The producers shadowed Marcia for a number of days, filming her in various situations to gain an insight into her life.

Viewers find out about her childhood in Bradford, her move to Oxford to study law and her years as a solicitor in London and Leeds before becoming a photographer and writer.

The programme also explores why Marcia set up Primary Colours and her mission to embed cultural diversity within the curriculum.

Since the company was formed it has published over 20 books and teaching packs.

It has also developed a theatre-in-education department which has performed shows for more than 60,000 children in over 200 schools.

Viewers will see Marcia and Pete Tidy, the company’s creative director, performing one of the shows, Olivia’s Journey, at Fairfield Primary School in Grimsby.

The performance tells the story of Marcia’s mum and others who travelled from the Caribbean to settle and work in post-war Britain.

Pupils find out how these people felt about leaving their homes and families, how they fared on the journey itself and how they often met difficulties on their arrival in England.

Marcia said: “It was a great experience working with the My Yorkshire team. We visited all my childhood haunts in Bradford.

“It was strange going back to the library on Carlisle Road where I used to stop off on the way home from school to immerse myself in Greek mythology, of all things!

“Having performed our theatre-in-education shows for over five years, and to over 60,000 children, it’s great to get a wider audience to see that education for diversity can be such a lot of fun.”

My Yorkshire looks at the different people who live in the county, whether they were born and bred in the county or have moved here and made it their home.