Family hears fisherman's voice after 46 years

Offcuts from a 1978 documentary about oyster fishing in Cornwall have given family members a chance to hear their father and brother's voice again after 46 years.

Oyster fisherman Paul Laity died just after filming ended and the production team gave his brother Dennis a tin filled with scraps of 16mm film from the editing floor as a memento.

The offcuts from remained unwatched and untouched in Mr Laity's airing cupboard until filmmaker Paul Mulraney moved in next door to him in Flushing, Falmouth, more than 45 years later.

Mr Mulraney wove the film clips together with Mr Laity's spoken memories about dredging the Fal estuary around St Mawes aboard the George Glasson working boat, to create the film From the Coulch.

Listen to Dennis Laity and Paul Mulraney speak to BBC Radio Cornwall about their film From the Coulch.

Mr Mulraney completed the film last year and said: "A collaboration with my 82-year-old neighbour emerged in which we recorded his reminiscences and reshaped the 30 minutes of random footage into a story that is now 17 minutes long.

"We composed a score for it and cut together a very slow, warm and elegiacal film about love, loss, oysters and sideburns."

The film gave Paul Laity's children and his brother a uniquely emotional experience.

Mr Mulraney said: "Wonderfully, I was able to show it to Dennis himself and to Paul's children, who heard their brother and father speak for the first time in nearly 50 years, which was really moving."

Dennis Laity died aged 84 in August 2024, but had watched the film and said: "I've got a bad memory - so thank you all."

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