| Description | DOB: Unknown
DOD: Unknown
Many contributors seem to have grown up in working-class environments in Manchester.
Varied occupations including shirtmaker, (swettenham), bookbinder (May Edge), social security clerk (Loftus), Newspaper worker (collinge at the Daily Express), Nursing Sister (Owen), Machinists, Clerks, binders, and homemakers also feature.
Many enriched their lives through the writing class.
Activities including Yoga, Tupperware parties, exploring groups, reading, and attending university lectures (like Professor Reason’s talk on memory).
Some, like Heather Parkin, showed a passion for homemaking and aesthetic refinement.
Writing and storytelling appeared therapeutic and revelatory for many.
The production of Collyhurst Then and its academic recognition.
Participation in WEA (Workers’ Educational Association) classes.
Engagement in local history documentation.
Attendance at University open days.
Some life-altering medical diagnoses and personal insights were discovered via class involvement.
Original was handwritten, but final pieces were typed and printed via Banda machine.
Some contributors’ pieces required spelling and punctuation edits (though grammar remained untouched).
Collyhurst, Manchester, WEA class, working-class, oral history, adult education, social change, shirtmaker, bookbinder, autobiographical writing, community memory, spiritualism, personal growth, post-war Britain. |