Leith based health and wellbeing charity The Junction was lucky enough to be invited to the world premiere of T2: Trainspotting. The charity's Alice Heywood reflects on a great night rubbing shoulders with Ewan McGregor.
We were thrilled to be invited to the T2 Trainspotting premiere on Sunday in Edinburgh.
Our team thoroughly enjoyed the film and with a number of us lucky enough to attend the after party too, there was lots for us to talk about in the office Monday morning. Many experienced a range of emotions while watching it as despite the light hearted moments, Trainspotting highlights issues such as anger, substance use, isolation and difficult family dynamics which are issues we see regularly in society and when providing support to young people. Trainspotting has always highlighted areas of society which some would rather ignore, but it is important that these stories are told.
As young people are always at the heart of what we do, we felt it was fitting to invite some of them to the premiere with us. We also invited volunteers and staff members to thank them for all their hard work. As we arrived, we were asked to walk down the ‘orange carpet’ where interviews were being held. As expected, this time was spent looking around frantically trying to catch a glimpse of cast members. Some of The Junction team were lucky enough to bump into them before they went into the screening to introduce the film.
A highlight of the night was when Director Danny Boyle gave a talk before the screening providing some of his own reflections on the production of the much anticipated Trainspotting sequel. He then went on to introduce screen writer John Hodge, author Irvine Welsh and cast members Angela Nedyalkova, Kelly Macdonald, Ewan McGregor, Jonny Lee Miller, Robert Carlyle and Ewen Bremner. It was clear from the cast members that it was a special experience for them to all be reunited in Edinburgh and there was a lot of excitement in the air as the screening was their first glimpse of the sequel also.
We have been following the progress of the sequel closely due to our appreciation of the original. As a charity based in Leith which provides health and well-being services to young people aged 12-21 in the North East Edinburgh area – delivering essential services such as counselling, one-to-one support and sexual health services – we are well aware of the themes of the film. We had also been enjoying being able to spot film crews shooting scenes just minutes away from our offices for the sequel.
Irvine Welsh, is also our patron, and he was kind enough to visit us last year with Trainspotting 2 producer Andrew Macdonald to chat with our director Sam Anderson about changes to The Junction's services in recent years. Irvine commented that it was great to see everybody and witness all the terrific work we have been doing for 10 years.
The excitement from the sequel is not over yet though as preparations are currently underway for a T2 memorabilia auction which is to take place in April, coinciding with the film's US release. The Junction will benefit from the proceeds of the auction along with Glasgow charity Calton Athletic. Andrew said that he was so impressed by what he had seen when he visited us with Irvine that the Junction was an obvious choice when it came to choosing us as a beneficiary of the auction.
He also kindly said it felt really apt to be supporting The Junction in this way as we work with young people to reach their potential on the very streets Trainspotting grew out of.
We also received two tickets to the premiere to give away at auction which raised £3,000 for our charity so the night won’t just live long in our memories but also in our work.
If you would like more information on The Junction’s services or to support the project, you can visit the-junction.org.
