This is the first visit to Phoenix Court where we are working with a group of participants who are mixture of both ‘drop in’ and residents of the sheltered housing centre.
We spent our first session introducing ourselves by taking a portrait photo of each of the elders and printing a copy for them to keep. The session went really well, and everyone loved their prints - all of them were surprised that they could have them for free!
Whilst I was taking and printing the photos Sally and Brendan were busy chatting with the participants to find more about them. Here is just a snapshot of some of the lives behind the images.
Photo 1: Val Bryan is 81 years old and as well as having 6 children, she fostered a total of 89 children from the 1970s onwards. The first child she fostered was Rachel Woods, given the surname because she was found in a bag abandoned in some woods.
In her youth Val performed on the stage with music hall stars Dorothy Ward and Shaun Glenville, who regularly appeared as Principal Boy and Principal Girl in panto!
Photo 2: Irene and Roy Preedy. They got married on 6th July 1958, when they were only 17 and 20 years old respectively, and continue to be the happiest of couples. They have 6 children (4 boys and 2 girls), 40 grandchildren and 55 great-grandchildren. Irene has had a couple of serious accidents in her lifetime, including falling down a well when she was 7 years old, from which she was rescued by a man who took her home on his donkey.
Ron was an accomplished player of the drums, saxophone, clarinet and accordion – an all round musician.
Photo 9: Phyllis Lloyd lives in Erdington has a tip for tomato growers whose tomatoes persistently stay green! Wrap them in squares of newspaper and pack them in a shoebox and put them in the airing cupboard. (Or somewhere warm and dark, for those who don’t have an airing cupboard)!
Photo 15: Florence Sarah Mason is 92 and lives at Phoenix Court, was telling us about her job at Chilwell Ordnance Depot in Nottinghamshire where tanks and other arms were made for during World War II. She said it was such a friendly place, everyone would say hello to you; but she also remembered soldiers going off to war from there, giving them a hug and sometimes they would start to cry because they didn’t know if they would be coming back.
The elders in the remaining photos are:
Photo3: Nellie; Photo4: Val and Jean; Photo5: Edith; Photo6: Elsie; Photo7; Rose Law; Photo8: Rose Crosby; Photo10:Maureen; Photo11: Nancy; Photo12: Francis; Photo13: Gladdis; Photo14: Margaret; Photo16:Bill; Photo17: Eileen; Photo18: May.
