Women's Work - Stanhill Village

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Women’s Work is a National Lottery Heritage Funded project, highlighting Hyndburn women’s workplace experiences in the early days of equality.

It was run by History In Action CIC, who specialise in bringing community heritage to life through performance. Oral historian Trizia Wells recorded interviews which were then dramatized by playwright Mick Martin and brought to life by actors from Oswaldtwistle Arts Centre and students from Burnley College in the film you see here.

Over 20 women aged between 60 and 92 shared their stories of life in male dominated workplaces during the 50s, 60s and 70s. These were different times. Girls left school at 15 and worked a 40 hour week. They didn’t have the same opportunities for education or careers that women enjoy now. Life was hard and a sense of humour certainly helped, as these women’s stories show.

This is a generation of women which is often overlooked, especially working class women, and we are proud to bring their stories to a wider audience. Some of the women worked at Stanhill mills and we are grateful to Stanhill Village Heritage for hosting the project on their website. We hope that Women’s Work helps today’s young women to understand what their mums and grandmas experienced and to see that generation in a new light. To hear the interviews and find out more about the women, simply click on their photos. You can read transcripts, hear recordings of their interviews and see more photos. Later in 2021 you will be able to hear extracts from the interviews in a talking chair at Accrington Library. And in early 2022, the National Museum of Football will be including Elizabeth Taylor’s story in their exhibition to mark the WEUROs centenary.

To find out more about History In Action CIC or share ideas for future projects, please visit www.historyinaction.net

Some of the interview recordings contain views and or statements which some people may find either offensive and or controversial.

They are the interviewees’ own personal testimony and form important parts of their lived experience of events which happened to them during the mid-20^th century.

HIA exists to record the stories and histories of those whose voices would otherwise not be heard.

It is not our place to censor them and therefore the testimony is unedited.

Women’s Work is a National Lottery Heritage Funded project, highlighting Hyndburn women’s workplace experiences in the early days of equality.

Some of the interview recordings contain views and or statements which some people may find either offensive and or controversial.

They are the interviewees’ own personal testimony and form important parts of their lived experience of events which happened to them during the mid-20^th century.

HIA exists to record the stories and histories of those whose voices would otherwise not be heard.

It is not our place to censor them and therefore the testimony is unedited.

Mrs.Aziz Fatima – b. 1952

Bernadette Hadfield – B. 1942

Doreen Pollard – B. 1938

Eileen Prior – B. 1951

Elizabeth “Betty” Taylor – B. 1942

Fazal Jan Awan – B. 1940

Kathleen Blackledge – B. 1928

Margaret Baldwin – B. 1925

Margaret Taylor – B. 1944

MM – B. 1943

Marlene Heap – B. 1954

Mercy Matthews – B. 1934

Ruqyia Bhutti – B. 1937

Saeeda Farooq – B. 1953

Sharon Varley – B. 1963

SM – B. 1940

Susan Freeman – B. 1950

Tracey Bentham – B. 1959

Women’s Work is a National Lottery Heritage Funded project, highlighting Hyndburn women’s workplace experiences in the early days of equality.

Some of the interview recordings contain views and or statements which some people may find either offensive and or controversial.

They are the interviewees’ own personal testimony and form important parts of their lived experience of events which happened to them during the mid-20th century.

HIA exists to record the stories and histories of those whose voices would otherwise not be heard.

It is not our place to censor them and therefore the testimony is unedited.

They are the interviewees’ own personal testimony and form important parts of their lived experience of events which happened to them during the mid-20^th century.