Press Clippings and Responses
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"Why the slums of St Ann’s had to go" Historian Sarah Seaton takes a personal look at the clearance of the St Ann's in the late 1960s and 1970s. "I have always had a fascination with housing and of how people lived in the past.
My late great uncle, Malcolm Campbell Lee used to be the director of housing for Nottingham City Council's then housing department, and was described a "visionary who cleared the city's slums" So when I came across a television programme from 1969 called: 'St Ann's' directed by Stephen Frears, I was enthralled when I watched it. The documentary made by Thames TV looks at the people of St Ann's and what life was like for them living in the slum housing before it was demolished to make way for the St Ann's housing estate that we know today. It centres on the poverty of the people who lived there and the dire conditions of their homes, an experience that many people throughout Nottingham shared. Opening at the Hero of Waterloo public house on Hutchinson Street, one of around 50 pubs in the area, many of which were demolished along with the houses in the slum clearances of the 1960s and 70s, the film shows a lively but basic interior with many of its inhabitants having a singsong alongside a man on a piano; hard to imagine nowadays, when even the most local of pubs plays Sky Sports events or background music on a loop. Gone are the old songs and the camaraderie that they invoked, today people now tend to sit in their own groups, keeping to themselves. Here is a real community, of people sharing time together before technology took it all away from us in the form of mobile phones, gaming consoles and round the clock television. The residents talk of having no inside lavatory or bathroom, no running hot water, nowhere to store food properly without it getting mildew on it due to the damp (meaning it had to be bought fresh everyday which cost more money). Many of the children who lived within these walls had poor health; bronchial asthma and ear infections were almost commonplace. The children's clothes had to be aired every time they were to be worn as they became damp straightaway – and all this in a house owned by the council. I had watched the whole film (approximately 47 minutes) before I realised that I knew one of the children in the film; he was a boy who was in my class at school. The film may appear to show dire conditions, but how wonderful to have a film memento of your early childhood; not many of us could boast that. For me the most fascinating aspect of the film was the communal wash house where women got together over the hot tubs and drying racks, they worked with a certain precision that indicated the years of practice they had carrying out this exerting task. The film typifies the realities of the time, a woman, cigarette hanging out of the side of her mouth hanging her head over a steamy tub, washing, steaming, ponching and drying as part of her day's work; and although Nottingham had a good supply of modern launderettes, many housewives – ever mindful of the household budget – still preferred the communal wash house, as it cost only 1 shilling per hour compared with 3 shillings at the launderette. The film also looks at what a day might entail; one word used to describe work carried out by stay-at-home mums and elderly women was very 'dree', separating lace from petticoats and other such material drawing out the thread or warp and supplementing the family income by up to £4 per week. Looking at one family, the husband's wages for the week after deductions was £11; and 50 shillings went in rent for a house with no bath and an outdoor lavatory. Schools in the area were overcrowded; there was not enough room inside to accommodate all of the children at lunchtime and only the very needy cases, those on assistance, got to have their children stay for school meals. Much has been said about the loss of community when the old back-to-back homes of St Ann's and other areas were knocked down. In some ways I'm torn about what to think about it. You go to other places with a huge amount of heritage left, but in Nottingham you can't really go anywhere where you feel you are stepping back in time. The only place where you can feel this to a certain extent is in the Lace Market where the factories were, but even there newer buildings have been thrown up in between. However, I think the houses had to go. They were poorly built, the facilities were poor, and the council was not prepared to spend more money on them." Source: Nottingham Evening Post online article - link no longer available. |
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Nottingham Evening Post February 2016
Michelle Luniw
1959 Nottingham Post, that's my mum there Margaret Sims she rang the fire brigade
Jean Taylor sad about the factory. but good memorabilia regarding your mum.
Michelle Luniw yeah 1959, 55 years ago!! Glad I’ve got it. It was amongst my grans things when she died
Beryl Roy Morris was the factory Corbet Davis /john beals I remember working at Davisella on Manvers St and going in my lunch hour to find but couldn’t. Then years later went to work there and the back stairs were still black with smoke damage
Michelle Luniw it was Corbett and Davis, yes.
Marissa Dimilta The head Fire Fighter was a wonderful man named Geoff Lowe - he gave me away when I got married in 1991 he will always be sadly missed.
Geoff Jackson I remember this when I was 8 years old and lived on Flewitt Street. There were no mobile phones in them days but word soon spread and thousands of people went to have a nosey including me.
Geoff Jackson Something else that I noticed, the fire started at 10.20 am and it was reported in the Evening Post the same day complete with photos. These days the post is printed in Birmingham the day before it is published so things that happen today do not appear in the paper until tomorrow or the day after. Not much progress there.
Hazel Budworth I lived on Mowbray St., which was parallel between Ferrers St and Lamartine St. Corbett and Davis was at the top of Ferrers St. I remember the fire so well. My Mum worked there also.
Beryl Roy Morris After the fire the factory went on producing outer wear/underwear for many more years I worked for them from 1965 until 1996 but it became Marathon knitwear I first worked on Plantagenet St then in 1968 with all the underwear dept moved to Radford Blvd it eventually sold out to another firm in 1994 from Beryl
1959 Nottingham Post, that's my mum there Margaret Sims she rang the fire brigade
Jean Taylor sad about the factory. but good memorabilia regarding your mum.
Michelle Luniw yeah 1959, 55 years ago!! Glad I’ve got it. It was amongst my grans things when she died
Beryl Roy Morris was the factory Corbet Davis /john beals I remember working at Davisella on Manvers St and going in my lunch hour to find but couldn’t. Then years later went to work there and the back stairs were still black with smoke damage
Michelle Luniw it was Corbett and Davis, yes.
Marissa Dimilta The head Fire Fighter was a wonderful man named Geoff Lowe - he gave me away when I got married in 1991 he will always be sadly missed.
Geoff Jackson I remember this when I was 8 years old and lived on Flewitt Street. There were no mobile phones in them days but word soon spread and thousands of people went to have a nosey including me.
Geoff Jackson Something else that I noticed, the fire started at 10.20 am and it was reported in the Evening Post the same day complete with photos. These days the post is printed in Birmingham the day before it is published so things that happen today do not appear in the paper until tomorrow or the day after. Not much progress there.
Hazel Budworth I lived on Mowbray St., which was parallel between Ferrers St and Lamartine St. Corbett and Davis was at the top of Ferrers St. I remember the fire so well. My Mum worked there also.
Beryl Roy Morris After the fire the factory went on producing outer wear/underwear for many more years I worked for them from 1965 until 1996 but it became Marathon knitwear I first worked on Plantagenet St then in 1968 with all the underwear dept moved to Radford Blvd it eventually sold out to another firm in 1994 from Beryl
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Harvest Festival at St Anns School...see more
NOTTINGHAM POST - BYGONE LETTERS
THE BOYS BRIGADE
Bygones letters: Peashill Road memories Posted: September 13, 2008
A recent Bygones letter from Val Rose, regarding Peashill Road, brought back so many happy memories.
I was born and brought up, to the age of 10, on Ash Street. My dad, Harry Bryan, worked for the East Midlands Electricity Board, my mum Lizzie Bryan worked from home doing lacework and we lived there until 1960 when the houses were pulled down.
I remember Val but I think she will remember my late sister Mavis more than me.
Next door to our house was a little shop run by Eliza and Sid.
I can remember going there for food which you would pay for at the end of each week.
You could get a glass of pop for a penny. On Friday nights me and my sister would go down to 'Gants' the butchers for faggots in gravy, we took our own basins.
We didn't have much but it was a lovely time, no one was better than anyone else.
When we had to leave my mum hated being out of the area. So in 1963 we moved back to Comyn Street, just off Alfred Street Central. We didn't need to go into town, as there were always lots of little shops nearby, it was lovely.
I wish it was like that today. Thanks Val for bringing so many happy memories back.
ANN HENDERSON (nee Bryan) Crompton Court Top Valley
A recent Bygones letter from Val Rose, regarding Peashill Road, brought back so many happy memories.
I was born and brought up, to the age of 10, on Ash Street. My dad, Harry Bryan, worked for the East Midlands Electricity Board, my mum Lizzie Bryan worked from home doing lacework and we lived there until 1960 when the houses were pulled down.
I remember Val but I think she will remember my late sister Mavis more than me.
Next door to our house was a little shop run by Eliza and Sid.
I can remember going there for food which you would pay for at the end of each week.
You could get a glass of pop for a penny. On Friday nights me and my sister would go down to 'Gants' the butchers for faggots in gravy, we took our own basins.
We didn't have much but it was a lovely time, no one was better than anyone else.
When we had to leave my mum hated being out of the area. So in 1963 we moved back to Comyn Street, just off Alfred Street Central. We didn't need to go into town, as there were always lots of little shops nearby, it was lovely.
I wish it was like that today. Thanks Val for bringing so many happy memories back.
ANN HENDERSON (nee Bryan) Crompton Court Top Valley