I suppose it’s the frustrated actor that makes me want to perform to an audience telling stories about the past and the fact that for 35 years this was what I did in the classroom.
Of course it can all go wrong, as it did one afternoon in the Horse & Jockey when I completely lost the plot and the audience. Still on balance it usually goes well. Most people have a keen interest in the past and want to know what happened, how their area has changed and where their family fit into the bigger picture.
So it was when over 40 of us walked down Beech Road and I tried to answer the simple questions, what would it have been like to live here in 1847, what might your ancestor have done for a living and above all who would you have to be polite to?
I guess it is the buzz of performing but also the opportunity to meet people and learn about their experiences. Recently I discovered that one of our history group had discovered a diary of the blitz here in Chorlton in her cellar, written on board and detailing the dates and times when the bombs fell over Chorlton, Stretford and Didsbury.
Then there were the two women who came up to me after a talk and told me how they had been one of the first families from India to settle in Chorlton in the 1960s. Their account was fascinating and opened up new episodes in Chorlton’s history. Sadly I missed the opportunity to get their names but then there will be other talks and who knows I may be able to renew the contact.
This interest in our collective past is what is drawing more and more people to the history group which has now been running for over a year. From a handful we now have regular attendances of over twenty, each with stories to tell.
Picture of the Beech Road walk September 2009 by Bernard Leech
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