![\"Jigna](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/7f12f19e-599e-411d-99be-3b2b0d271d21.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nJigna, who runs the local shop in the village, shared her story of moving to the area for the exhibition<\/p>\n
Having spent the past several years visiting the village to see his partner, Patel used 35mm film for his project called Our Neighbours, Our Stories.<\/p>\n
“I feel like it’s very interesting because social history is interesting, but also it’s a way for all these people to reconnect,” he said. “The whole point of the project was to ignite cross-generational social connections.” <\/p>\n
His hopes to reconnect older generations with younger people which is also reflected in his choice to shoot on 35mm film. <\/p>\n
More from Wiltshire<\/p>\n
“I think it’s a medium that is seen [by] young people as aesthetic for Instagram, but older people will remember it as the texture of their memory of their wedding or their kids growing up,” he said. <\/p>\n
Shirley Hansen, 69, left Great Bedwyn for Swindon at 16, but returns to the village every week to visit an elderly relative. <\/p>\n
She was contacted by Patel online through a local community page and asked if she would consider being photographed.<\/p>\n
Shirley said getting involved in the project “brought back a lot of memories”<\/p>\n “I was a bit wary at first, I thought, ‘why does some stranger want to take a picture of me?'” she said. <\/p>\n But after meeting, and showing Patel the house she grew up in and the housing estate that was once the farmland she spent her childhood on, she said the experience “brought back a lot of memories”. <\/p>\n “It’s nice to see a younger generation interested in a neighbourhood because most of them aren’t really,” she added. “He’s obviously very passionate about it.” <\/p>\n The exhibition is open to the public from Friday until Monday during opening hours at Bedwyn Baristas. <\/p>\n Follow BBC Wiltshire on Facebook<\/a>, X<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630<\/a>.<\/p>\n More on this story<\/a><\/p>\n
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