Pauline Rowe: Uncovering the Northwood Community
The first evidence of people settling in Kirkby can be found in the Doomsday book when, in 1086, it had a population of about 70. So it’s a place that carries over ten centuries of human habitation; a place that knows many ghosts.
It’s been a privilege to listen to the Golden Years group recently – women discussing their lives (and experiences of this much changed place) at the Northwood Community Centre. They are women who know and share the great gift of friendship. They have been working with Kirkby-born photographic artist, Tony Mallon on Culture Shifts, a project organised through the Open Eye Gallery.*
Culture Shifts in Kirkby is focussed on listening to and recording the women’s responses to their home town through photography, including conversations about their lives prompted by photographic images of Kirkby. This collaboration will lead to an Autumn exhibition that will aim to show the strength of Kirkby through some of its most dedicated citizens. .
I was struck by the collective stories the women share of escaping from the slum housing of post-war city-centre Liverpool to the countryside. How Kirkby meant fresh air and beautiful new houses but also a move away from old, established communities; people being displaced by peace yet hopeful of a new start.
There are other tales here too of silenced voices and economic uncertainty, ageing and frailties of health. Stories about how land farmed by tenants of Lord Sefton was reclaimed for government purposes to become the Kirkby Royal Ordnance Factory (ROF) where 10% of UK munitions were produced during the war. Tales of the breaking of families – how generations working together in the local factories such as Birdseye were disrupted and dispersed because of their closure. How meadows full of birds have been transformed into wastelands and now parklands. How politicians have done deals and kept silent. How high rises (associated in the womens’ experiences with suicides) were pulled down. How the ROF land was transformed in the 60s into an industrial estate that later came to house the ill-fated Sonae factory, a place where two men died in an horrific industrial accident; a place that poured its fumes into the local air, a place that burned and left more than a bitter taste in the mouths of local residents.
I’ve found that Kirkby is rich with ghosts, proud of its people and never silent about the trials those people have learned to face. I am looking forward to learning more on my next visit to the Northwood Community Centre.
All images C. Tony Mallon & Northwood Golden Year’s community group 2017
