Butterfly House

The Butterfly House is here! It's been exciting coming and seeing it being constructed, and finding out more about the reasons behind its construction, and it's great to see it finished and ready for the public to interact with.

As well as the house, old local photographs lined the unit walls. Kelly left notebooks handy for visitors to jot down names and locations if they spotted any familiar places/faces on the photographs. I saw lots of the visitors to the space seeking out old friends and family members, and trying to identify classrooms and schools. There was a photo walk around the mill too, for people to capture modern images of the area.

 

Cath Ford ran a lantern making workshop in the space, and lots of houses and buildings of all shapes were created in the session. The finished ones were filled with battery operated tea light and fairy lights...and placed inside inside Butterfly House.

 

The space inside the Butterfly House acted as a mini cinema, with old film footage projecting onto the inner walls... and it looked really magical in there, especially once the lanterns had been added to the space. 

Kelly held a variety of events over the course of the week which included singing, decorating the house with images, storytelling, performances and even clog dancing! A choir came from the Calico Group to sing in the space, and it was their very first public performance! They sounded fantastic, and received a good welcome from the crowd of residents and mill users. 

Ex Emmerdale actress Ursula Holden-Gill  entertained the crowd with her brilliant storytelling, clog dancing and singing... with funny and engaging local tales.

The space and events were all really enjoyable, and really varied. Kelly did a brilliant job and the audience all seemed to really enjoy themselves too. The house and space feels part of the community, a bringing together of old and new.

You Are Here

It has been a very hot and an interesting week. Walking the streets of Coal Clough, Hargher Clough, Stoops and Bleak House; meeting people and following leads...

Returned to Stoops & Hargher Clough Community Centre to gather school photographs from Chris, then got talking to people on Cog Lane about some of the photos - and the faces and places they recognised.



This led me to return to Coal Clough Lane at the weekend to visit Lilly, an elderly housebound resident who has lived in her terraced house since 1950. Old biscuit tins were brought down from the bedroom and we spent the afternoon going through the contents (photographs) and talking about family. Mary, the next door neighbour called in with a plate of hot, home cooked food for Lilly; and joined in the discussion about history, family and place.

In the next few days I'm off to visit a lovely lady called Irene. Irene's full of stories and a keen family historian. She grew-up on Bleak House then raised her own family on Stoops. She's a grandmother and at the heart of a strong family.

Another Cog Lane resident came forward asking if I'd like to look at his dad's old cine films (Super8) which are stored in the attic. I love old home movies - let's hope this bunch has survived intact and are viewable. Looks like another interesting week ahead!
Kelly

Family, history, photography...

How are the communities of South West Burnley seen? In what ways are they visible?

Media headlines and Government statistics present a particular image, and it's an image that endures. These 'official' sources are preserved, made available and, in time, they become the record - consulted by historians.

Over the past few weeks I've been exploring census records with residents in South West Burnley. Sites like ancestry and find my past can be frustrating, because there are always gaps, people disappear, change their name - there's a lot of guesswork involved. When someone begins to explore their family tree, the strongest starting point is the information they already have - the family stories and half-remembered rumors they carry with them. This oral tradition can be crucial in deciding which 'John Sutcliffe' is the one we're looking for: "I was always told he had something to do with the railway", "He had a lot of family in Colne", "Two of his brothers died in the war"........

Family history is a process of recovery, an attempt to recover meanings and connections from the past, and sometimes this process helps to locate us in the present and carry us forward in some way. We assemble the fragments and pass them on to our children.

If we're lucky this inheritance comes with a collection of photographs. Studio portraits of young men in uniform at the outbreak of war, wedding photos, school photos and family snapshots. Family photographs are an important part of oral culture, oral tradition - they are part of an ongoing conversation about family and community. Many people post treasured family photos on their Facebook page, and they share them on community pages.A single image can generate an avalanche of comments; eliciting memories and forging connections.

There's a wealth of photographs out there - on mantle-pieces, in drawers, in family albums. Collectively, these images provide a record of the way people in South West Burnley have documented their own lives and neighborhoods across time.

Despite the advantages of Facebook, these personal and family archives remain largely invisible. The stories and memories they represent can easily be lost. It's common to find old family photographs for sale on flea markets, fragments of a conversation that has been interrupted or come to an end. These photographs always raise questions; who is the person? where was it taken? when? what was the occasion? When they are shared on Facebook these anonymous photographs generate new threads of conversation; sometimes a building or setting is identified and we try to reintegrate this fragment into a collective conversation. Photographs are the ultimate conversation piece.

We need to bring these photographs together in one place. Make them accessible to more people and keep the conversation going. Family photographs tell stories of life in South West Burnley; stories of families, streets, communities, celebrations, work and traditions. What stories do we want the children of South West Burnley to inherit - what do we want to pass on to them?

As part of my work with Ground Up I want to build a collection of photographs taken in the area and by the people of South West Burnley. The collection will form part of an exhibition held in the local area, entitled You Are Here.


People who want to participate can bring their photographs to scanning days at venues in the area.

Coal Clough Library, Monday 22nd July, 2.30pm to 6.30pm. (more to follow)

It would be great to find photographs of events, gatherings, people outside their homes, schools and places of work.

Photos will be scanned at a high resolution, and the original returned to you in a few minutes. Details about the image will also be recorded.

If you are interested in the project and/or want to be involved please contact me here at the Ground Up blog or the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ground-UP-Burnley/366156833465215

Or, come along to a scanning day and share your photographs.

Kelly

What's in a name?

Workhouse records

Its all been about names this week.
Conversations in SW Burnley lead me to the archives in Preston, tracking the names of grandmothers and grandfathers.

Hapton Valley memorial

I walked through the cemetery on Rossendale Road, where names I'd seen on paper records and databases were now carved on stone or glittered on polished marble. Unlike the records generated by bureaucratic needs (the workhouse lists) these family and community acts of remembrance have a passion about them - they're very personal.

The Hapton Valley Colliery disaster in 1962 claimed the lives of 19 men, and left a further 20 seriously injured. Hapton Valley was known as a 'family pit' and the disaster hit hard at families in SW Burnley - The Stoops and Accrington Road areas.

The names of the men (and boys) lost in 1962 are also commemorated at St Marks Church on Rossendale Road, at Burnley Miners' Club and other sites. Annual services of remembrance are well attended by families and friends; a testament to the strength of community - the pit closed over 30 years ago.

Acts of commemoration are a significant thread in communities like SW Burnley. Honours boards, rolls of honour, plaques and monuments were a familiar presence in schools, factories, clubs and public buildings throughout the area - many listing the names of those lost in the First World War (many of these buildings are now also gone). What remains are the names themselves, carried forward.


Kelly