Oral History with children of Local Primary School at Dunham Massey.

In addition to the performance, children of Oldfield Brow School also had a chat to Ron Hutchinson (who was born in Dunham Massey) about how he and other children used to harvest potatoes at the local farms in the school holidays.

Gina and Ron Hutchinson enthral the children with fascinating tales of  'the privvy'

Ron was born at Brook Cottage and told horrifying (!) tales of having to go to the privvy on cold wet, black nights!
We will transcribe the tales and put them here as soon as possible.

Gina's wonderful collection and display of

agricultural life in Dunham Massey

Many thanks too to Gina who brought along her collection of local photos...which help put the stories into perspective.

Local Primary School children perform their very particular Food Heritage Story

Year 6 children from the local Primary School have worked hard to produce a play in a day!
Children travelled to the  wonderful Dunham Massey Village Hall to work on the history of nightsoil and vegetables travelling 'to and fro' along the canal that runs as the end of their school playground.

Drawing a victorian potato seller from Potato Wharf

The pupils learned about the story of nightsoil collection from Salford and Manchester, its transportation out to the local fields as fertiliser, and the return on the same boat (!) of local crops to Potato Wharf and the City's markets.

Artist Rory Lynch works with the children

The children created the story for  'Remembering the Food Cycle' with reference to the Forgotten Fields research.
Using stories of local people and places they created characters, props and the set for the play.

The nightsoil cart...props cut out for the production

Characters include the Lord Mayor of Manchester, his maid, the nightsoil man and unhappy co-workers, Mr Jackson (market gardener, Lime Tree House)
and the potato dealer at Castlefield.
Props include 'the privvy, the night-soil horse and cart, the canal-boat, the heap of night-soil, the potato dealer's barrow, the toilet bucket, and the Manchester Times, 14th April, 1849.
The set included a Potato Wharf Warehouse and the Oxnoble Pub at Castlefield (named after a potato).

Dress rehearsal!

The children wrote their own scripts and practiced crab like moves across the stage to keep their 'characters' facing the audience!

 Mrs T created a wonderful rhythmn piece in costume with children not on the stage.

The whole performance was filmed by Rory and we hope to be able to show this soon...
Watch this space!

Night-soil Information shared at Abbey Leys Farmer's Market

On Sunday we had an interesting morning talking to people at the Abbey Leys Farmer's Market about the availability of locally grown food for the City's markets. 

There was lots of interest in the role of the canal and a good deal of disgust at the thought of using the returning night-soil boat for the transport of farm food to the city!

A busy Sunday morning at the Market

We would like to know more about the locally grown vegetables that were carried via the Bridgewater Canal from market gardeners such as Mr Jackson at Lime Tree House at Dunham Massey whose field backed onto the waterside. I'm told that his vegetables were loaded from the wooden pier there for transport into Castlefield.

Not really directly related... but amusing nonetheless: a resident of Stockton Heath retold his childhood story: 

Making the connection with Kindling's current growing initiatives.

''My grandmother, Marjorie Coombes, (born around about 1916) lived at Greenhalls Avenue, Stockton Heath...told me that in some of the houses, (I don't know if it was hers or her neighbours).... that didn't have ginnels, the night-soil men, to get through to the back to the night soil, had to come through the house to empty the pan, to carry it back through to empty it into the cart!

The other story that I remember, she told me when I was very young...when she was a little girl just after the first world war...the night soil man who drove the cart, he had one arm - he lost one arm in the first world war she said that one day the horse got startled by...and I think she said it was the swing bridge in Stockton Heath...I don't know what startled her but the horse either reared or bolted and the night soil men in the front of the cart ended up in the back of the cart covered in whatever was in the back!''

 

Copyright Training

Concentartion in Copyright training - there's a lot to take in!

Jan Hicks, Archives & Information Manager from MOSI (Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester), has given ten of us an enjoyable, clear and thought-provoking training on understanding copyright.
The trainees have come from all backgrounds: volunteers for Kindling, the National Trust, and the NW Heritage Seed Library at Ordsall Hall as well as representatives from organisations such as Cheshire Garden's Trust, Dunham WI and the Wooden Canal Boat Society.
Topics covered:
What is copyright?
How does it come into existence?
Who owns copyright?
How long does it last?
How does copyright apply to paintings, drawings, photographs, maps, works of architecture and artistic craftsmanship?
Management of copyright including Documentation, Licenses vs full transfer of rights, Explaining copyright to interviewees and caring for the documents,images and sound recordings.

Phew!...all explained clearly by Jan
flapjacks - homemade apple and raspberry from the allotment 
Some useful unexpected contacts were made between previously unconnected groups in the brief networking catchup at the end.

Comments: ''Such a useful session - Thanks!''

''We're not just Potato Pickers - we're Archeologists!''

Victorian Potato Pickers

Volunteers picked the last few rows of  potatoes at the  National Trust's Little Heath Farm, Dunham Massey.

What an enjoyable and worthwhile day! 

Fantastic company,

really helpful and hardworking, 

the volunteers were wonderful....

Their enthusiasm for the historical context, support and engagement with the task in hand was much appreciated.

Night-soil treasures were uncovered as we dug into the soil with a real sense of wonder at making the connection with this grubby but productive part of our heritage.

All volunteers getting stuck in!

All enjoying a day of   November sunshine in beautiful surroundings.

Castlefield Event - the boat arrives at Potato Wharf

The eagerly awaited crop  of Dunham new potatoes arrive at Castlefield

The event captures the attention of  passing crowds

A display on the Arena steps showed the historical research and had activities for children and adults alike including dressing-up and a self-led food heritage trail

Cardboard cutouts in period costume were created for interactive posing and storytelling.

The  boat arrives in Castlefield from Dunham, on the Bridgewater Canal

 

The crop of potatoes is transported by historic narrowboat past the  Potato Wharf, at Castlefield

 

Standing back as Charlotte films the unloading of the cargo

Backbreaking work as the boat is unloaded

At last, after an early start and a morning of hard work, volunteers are fed Soup or Lancashire Hotpot made by the Oxnoble with our own Dunham grown potatoes

Castlefield Event - 26th Oct 2013 - The Barrow

Potatoes would have been unloaded from the boat and transported by barrow to the potato markets. This rare street trader's barrow is thought to be similar to those used but we have yet to find out...any information gratefully received....

Cllr Carmine Grimshaw gets his barrow out of storage - recently repaired for this event

Back on the road - Carmine pushes the barrow past the eerily empty  old market trader's site on Church Street

Calling in at McCalls - the last traders on Church Street, now housed with a more permanent stall

Carmine with a photo of his former self  (back right) Lovely photos of street traders are displayed at McCalls

Collecting the produce that Alex King, of the Oxnoble, has kindly stored for the event

Nona and Carmine display the produce on the barrow under the arches at Castlefield

Displaying the art of the market barrow street-trader