Kettering Lost Mosaic movie team celebrates Amazon Prime Video listing

Movie fans will be able to rent or buy the story of the Kettering Grammar School Mosaic after the film was listed on Amazon’s Prime Video site.

The Lost Mosaic, produced for Kettering Civic Society, documents efforts to preserve the historic ‘lost’ mosaic artwork that once adorned the town’s former Grammar School building.

Telling the story of the battle to save the 1960s artwork from demolition, UKFilm School director Gary Halliday shows the rise, fall and rebirth story of one of Kettering’s most prominent artworks.

Already premiered on the silver screen at the town’s Odeon Cinema in 2023, the listing on Prime Video brings the story to a global audience.

Monica Özdemir, secretary of the Kettering Civic Society, the driving force behind the film and mosaic campaign, said: “It’s like a dream. I know someone in Japan has watched it. Who would have thought we would have the history of the town known to the whole world?”

The campaign by Kettering Civic Society to save the mosaic began in 2005 when Kettering’s former Grammar School building – taken over by Kettering Boys’ School and Tresham College – was set to be demolished.

Attached to the outside wall was the 45ft by 15ft mosaic created by artist Kenneth Budd in 1963 which told the town’s history.

Public funding allowed the original work to be dismantled in 2007 but the mosaic, not made with frost-resistant tiles, disintegrated while in storage.

The film is funded by Historic England and presented by actress Victoria Wicks, literary giant and former Kettering Grammar School boy H E Bates’s eldest granddaughter.

Filming took director Gary and his talented young film makers from Kettering and Corby to Boughton House, The Alfred East Art Gallery, Wicksteed Park and around Kettering.

In 2020, the project to restore the mosaic was given part of the £1.48m for the Kettering High Street Heritage Action Zone funding.

Kettering Civic Society successfully bid to fund a film about the mosaic.

With the original tiles crumbled away, a new smaller facsimile of the mosaic sized at 11ft by 3ft was made by Oliver Budd, now installed in Cornerstone.

Gary said: “It’s great for Kettering – it’s becoming a real centre for film with Napoleon and Saltburn.

"It took me three months of trying to get it accepted (on Prime Video). There was a lot of form filling then both of my films appeared within days.

"The Lost Mosaic really shows the relationship between Oliver and his dad.”

Cast and crew joined members of the Civic Society for a reunion celebration at Boughton House, one of the historic filming locations.

Kettering’s connection to the Boughton Estate is reflected in the mosaic.

Charles Lister, property manager at Boughton House, said: “It’s a fantastic opportunity to back this important heritage event to highlight the wonderful heritage of Boughton, Kettering and Northamptonshire. There are so many people involved. It’s one thread in the great tapestry of heritage that is Northamptonshire.”

Also starring in the film is local author and historian Ian Addis.

He added: “It’s an excellent idea to air the film to more people. It’s an interesting story.”

Go to https://www.amazon.co.uk/ref=nav_logo and search for The Lost Mosaic.