I always enjoy Sally's history posts.
This one I particularly like because it gets to the heart of what recording the past is all about
"In my work with older people one of the things I do a lot of is talking to them about their past lives.
It is something I have always enjoyed from being a young girl when I would sit holding my nana's knitting wool while she wound it, and listening to her stories as a distraction from my aching arms .
Because most of the people I work with have grown up in Manchester, I find their stories fascinating.
Often they will have crystal clear memories of a childhood that happened seventy or eighty years ago.
They are able to tell me more than I could ever have got from any book about a Manchester that was well before my time, but still seems very familiar.
Several years ago, we decided to set up a "reminiscence room" at our centre.
Some of the people who attend the centre brought me things to include in the room.
Often these things came with an apology “it’s only rubbish “or "if you don't want it, throw it away, they will only be thrown out when I die."
The things we were given were wonderful, not worth anything in monetary terms, but pieces of the Manchester jigsaw, giving us a wonderful glimpse into the past.
As an example, here are two rent books, from the years 1924 and 1925.
The rent to be paid to a Mr William Ratcliffe, with offices at 41 Fountain Street, Manchester.
The property in question "9 Higher Ardwick”.
The lady who gave me the rent books said that 9 Higher Ardwick was her family's Tobacconist and sweet shop for a number of years.
She also gave me a very faded photo of the shop, a black and white building, and I can just make out the adverts for Fry's Chocolate on the front boards.
The shop has gent’s hairdressers on one side of it and shop advertising “Battery Service “on the other.
The rent, paid regularly and marked in the book with a pencil was 9s 11d per week.
The amount stayed exactly the same over the full two years I have the rent books for.
Mr Ratcliffe required one week’s notice if you wanted to leave and respectfully requested that “No pigeons or fowls be kept on the premises"
The lady who gave me these precious items was a long standing resident of Wythenshawe, her family having moved there in the 1940s, probably to get away from the smokers of smoky old Ardwick.
These items had stayed with her through all of those years of change and they will remain at our centre to inform people and to spark off other people's memories.
Without these items I would probably never have peeped inside 9 Higher Ardwick, but the documents give a sense of what it was like to be the tenant of such a property and I imagine the family felt a pride in being shop keepers and in paying their rent on time.
These little snippets from history help to fill in the gaps and bring the past back to life.
I mean to say, how I would ever have known you couldn't keep chickens in a tobacconists shop in Ardwick if the memories and the bits and pieces hadn't been valued and recalled!"
© Sally Dervan, 2014
Pictures; from the collection of Sally Dervan
 |
| 9 Higher Ardwick, circa 1920s |
"In my work with older people one of the things I do a lot of is talking to them about their past lives.
It is something I have always enjoyed from being a young girl when I would sit holding my nana's knitting wool while she wound it, and listening to her stories as a distraction from my aching arms .
Because most of the people I work with have grown up in Manchester, I find their stories fascinating.
 |
| The shop circa 1920s |
They are able to tell me more than I could ever have got from any book about a Manchester that was well before my time, but still seems very familiar.
Several years ago, we decided to set up a "reminiscence room" at our centre.
Some of the people who attend the centre brought me things to include in the room.
Often these things came with an apology “it’s only rubbish “or "if you don't want it, throw it away, they will only be thrown out when I die."
The things we were given were wonderful, not worth anything in monetary terms, but pieces of the Manchester jigsaw, giving us a wonderful glimpse into the past.
 |
| The Rent Book, 1924 |
The rent to be paid to a Mr William Ratcliffe, with offices at 41 Fountain Street, Manchester.
The property in question "9 Higher Ardwick”.
The lady who gave me the rent books said that 9 Higher Ardwick was her family's Tobacconist and sweet shop for a number of years.
She also gave me a very faded photo of the shop, a black and white building, and I can just make out the adverts for Fry's Chocolate on the front boards.
The shop has gent’s hairdressers on one side of it and shop advertising “Battery Service “on the other.
The rent, paid regularly and marked in the book with a pencil was 9s 11d per week.
 |
| Mr Ratcliffe'e rent, 1924 |
Mr Ratcliffe required one week’s notice if you wanted to leave and respectfully requested that “No pigeons or fowls be kept on the premises"
The lady who gave me these precious items was a long standing resident of Wythenshawe, her family having moved there in the 1940s, probably to get away from the smokers of smoky old Ardwick.
These items had stayed with her through all of those years of change and they will remain at our centre to inform people and to spark off other people's memories.
 |
| Found in a cupboard |
These little snippets from history help to fill in the gaps and bring the past back to life.
I mean to say, how I would ever have known you couldn't keep chickens in a tobacconists shop in Ardwick if the memories and the bits and pieces hadn't been valued and recalled!"
© Sally Dervan, 2014
Pictures; from the collection of Sally Dervan
No comments:
Post a Comment