Mrs Thatcher's Generation

Whatever your politics, you will not have been able to ignore the death of Margaret Thatcher, a woman we all know something about. Whether through direct experience, or through the stories which have been published over the past weeks, we all know something of the life, work and achievements of this country's first woman Prime Minister.

Mrs Thatcher's generation? The Class of 1949 at Newton Park

I can see many parallels between women like Margaret Thatcher and the generations of former staff and students we have interviewed. These interviewees are predominantly women, as in the past we produced mostly women teachers. And because these women trained to be teachers, they had careers, some long, some short.  Some married, some had children. Most continued to work to some degree or another. They are the generations who grew up in the shadow of war, who attained a certain standard of living, promised in the aftermath of the thirties and forties in Britain. This cultural background coloured their opinions, their upbringing and their education, in a way which we struggle to understand today. 

1948: A student attends an interview with Miss Dawson, accompanied by her parents (and younger sister?) . Newton Park was not ready for use until 1949, so may only have been visited for the interview and annual Commemoration Day in June.

It seems to me that people then got on with things in a different way. Instead of fussing about things, you put your head down and worked hard, since, by contrast to wartime conditions, life was a good deal better. The privations of their youth (wartime restrictions and so on) coloured their future lives. My generation ridiculed this tendency; we certainly didn't understand it.

During the oral history interviews, I've been ready to hear about issues of feminism, of equal rights, and of unfair treatment towards working women. Although on one hand it seems a little disappointing when these things are absent, it also makes me feel humble to know that in the 1950s and 1960s, you proved yourself by simply getting out there and getting on with it. The only 'complaint' was around the firm expectation that a woman teacher should wear a skirt!

Sue, at Wellow Station on her way to teaching practice, early 1960s.
(Photo: S.Tewson)

I myself come from a family of similarly strong women, who ran businesses with their families, and tackled any tasks which happened to need doing. I'm not sure if my feisty grandmother would have described herself as a feminist (or whatever the term would have been for her generation) but she certainly expected people to work hard and make a difference to their lives - the difference being dependent on the amount of hard work one was willing to put in. This attitude, born of a particular time and place, is perhaps now passing from our culture (discuss?!)

Famous people like Margaret Thatcher will have their stories told many times. The history books will be filled with details, opinions and analysis of the part they played in the nation's story. Not so the thousands who got on with the job every day, and lived through the same years. 

Oral History is a way to counteract this. By talking to the people who experienced life here, we hope to bring the nuanced details of history to the archival record.

Commemoration Day choir performance, 1964 (Photo: S. Tewson)

We continue to welcome a host of fascinating people to interview. Next month will be the turn of a former Newton Park student from the 1950s and a music lecturer who saw several decades of change in the same setting. Its always a pleasure to hear their words, and we look forward to sharing their stories.

Digitisation Doctor Conference

Starting off a series of 'guest' blog entries, the Archive (or at least half of it) had an away day today, and attended a digitisation information event in London. Being from London myself, it's always great to get to go back, particularly for educational/academic visits. I've had the pleasure in the last year of being able to visit the British Library for an Oral History Workshop, for example.

Kate and I went to the Wellcome Trust at Euston, a building which I have passed many times on my travels around town but never had the privilege to visit before. It was a great venue and I must say I loved the modern style of the architecture, a great juxtaposition to the great St Pancras Hotel - or St Pancras Station if you believe the Harry Potter franchise - a few hundred yards away.


The Wellcome Trust was a great venue

I think it's fair to say that we were treated to an outstanding day, my first proper conference of sorts, having attended a number of workshops with my secondary school. The papers were varied but all highly applicable to the developments at the Archive.

I could easily highlight any of the presentations but I want to mention specifically William Kilbride (follow him on Twitter @WilliamKilbride) from the Digital Preservation Coalition. His 'Preservation Planning in 12 Questions' was particularly brilliant and I can definitely see myself incorporating this into my MA in the coming two years. On a personal note I am thrilled to have been accepted on that course and look forward immensely to continuing my studies here at Corsham Court.

These are some great questions that preservation projects would do well to keep in mind... 

I also particularly enjoyed Christy Henshaw (@Chenshaw) who spoke about workflows in digitisation projects. Her flow diagrams certainly took me back to the project modules I did on my ICT A-Level. Memories! Finally, I wish to mention Simon Tanner (@SimonTanner) and his talk on Optical Character Recognition (OCR). It has certainly led me to appreciate the systems available via Bath Spa University's Electronic Services. I cannot help but feel a lecture on this to undergraduates would help them to appreciate the enormity of the scope of putting such resources online, and why currently they cannot hope to be 100% accurate.

All of the talks had some resonance with our project, though, and elements of them all will no doubt feature on our work as it progresses in the next couple of years. It really is an exciting time for anyone associated with the BSU Archive!

There was also time for discussion with the rest of the group, and we were fortunate enough to be able to chat with some representatives of the Collections Trust, based at the Natural History Museum, South Kensington. They opened our eyes to some fantastic funding opportunities available through the European Commission, particularly the Europeana project. This looks like it could have the makings of a fantastic portal for materials across Europe. I highly recommend it to any fellow students or those interested in European history in general. Who knows what one might find there?

The day was made even better with the use of Twitter, allowing members of the group to communicate with the speakers once they had finished. They were also able to post up their slides before they spoke so that we could follow on our connected devices as well as on the projector. For those interested, you can have a look through the tweets using the hashtag #digidoctor. For someone involved with IT, it was an excellent use of social media to help add to an already excellent event. In my opinion it really showcased the power of social media.

Today has certainly got my creative juices going and I can already think of directions to take the digitisation of the project forward, particularly in relation to OCR systems, funding, planning and development of a cataloging and online digitisation system. I have really enjoyed today and once again look forward to helping the project to develop in the future. I could write so much more but I think I leave more detailed specifics (for now!) to my own private reflective blog for the project. Good things come to those who wait...

There was even some time to stop by one of my favourite watering holes in the area before heading back to Paddington for the train to the West Country. As I write we are being delayed by signalling problems, some things really never change! Had a beautiful sunset to bid me a fond farewell from the capital, so it's not all bad news.

From the train coming out of London

I would once again like to point a friendly finger towards our own Twitter presence, @BSUArchive. Please do give us a follow to keep up with our latest news.

Richard

Oh...the weather

While we shiver and wait for the spring to arrive, here at the archive office Oral History interviews have continued. We always have to apologise for the coolness of the office itself - but it is an archive after all!

Over the past two years, we have heard from around fifty people, who have either told us, or written down their memories. The majority of these people are former students, and about a quarter were staff members.

Visiting schoolchildren investigate the chicks at Corsham Court. A 1950s  spring scene.

So many people have strong memories associated with the weather, and again and again we have been struck by the way that extremes of weather affect people. Consider our recent experience, and the way that this long, cold winter and late spring has affected those around you. At Bath Spa University, it has certainly played its part, and the third year dissertation students seem to be even more stressed than usual. Normally, by now, they would have been able to shed a few layers of clothes, and perhaps enjoyed that freer feeling that comes alongside spring flowers and birdsong. They are, however, still bundled up, struggling against a bitter wind as they trudge up and down the Newton Park driveway. But the life of the student now is a cold one on the whole; by the time the really good weather arrives, term will have finished and the long summer vacation will have begun.

Outdoor sketching at Monk's Park, Corsham, 1950s

For the former students of Newton Park, or Corsham Court, Sion Hill, or any of the other college venues, there are many memories of long summers, of Commemoration performances in the hot June sun, and of sunlit bicycle journeys along country lanes. This puzzled us at first. Was this the rosy glow of youthful pleasure, seen through the lens of reminiscence?

Then we recalled that in the days of teacher training, before university status, terms were similar to school terms, rather like the PGCE course now. So, happy memories of long warm evenings are very real.

Commemoration Day preparations c 1960s

A staff meeting, on the lawn beside Main House, Newton Park 1960s

It seems that the weather in June was always to be good enough for Commemoration Day at Newton Park  to be held outdoors.  At least this is what the photographic evidence tells us. For the first twenty years of the teacher training college, photographs show the women students dancing in short tunics in the Italian Garden.

Commemoration Day 1958. Local schoolchildren playing in the Primary Garden (which was situated next to Castle at Newton Park)

Dancing display at Newton Park, 1957

Details of Commemoration Day at Newton Park, 1960

That's all for now. I hope the weather improves wherever you are. Here at the BSU Archive office in Corsham, the peacocks are getting extremely noisy, which is a good sign that the warmer weather - and the mating season - is approaching. I interviewed a lady last week, who learned to make a peahen call while she was a student here. She could make the peacocks display their glorious feathers whenever she wanted! What a skill! 

More next week...watch this space!

Kate the Archivist

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