Workshop at Broughton Parsonage Room

A poster distributed to local residents advertising the first in a series of workshops sessions for the project. The workshop will be held this Thursday (14/08/08) at the Parsonage Room, Market St., Broughton between 5pm and 7pm and is open to all.

Sue Halsey's Museum of Broughton's Industries

Sue Halsey of New Street is a mine of information. After spending two minutes in her cottage she had ran up the stairs several times bringing down with her gems from Broughtons past. The most moving was her grandfather's pocket watch that he was awarded for forty seven years of service as the "engine driver" on the Broughton to Coniston railway. This, together with his lapel pin, proved a inspiring starting point for Sue to describe to me how useful the service was in terms of jobs in the village.

Sue explained that she actually lived in Coniston and once a week she would board the train that her grandfather drove and alight in Broughton to assist her grandmother, who had a grocers shop on Princess St (still called Grocer's Cottage), in bringing heavy bags of flour and sugar up from the cellar for the shop.

It's interesting to think that the now disused railway was central in Broughton's industries - getting people to and from work, carrying the slate from the various quarries, the swill baskets to the mines at Millom and the Lancashire factories. I wonder if there were protests when is was closed like the protests at last weeks Charter Day when a group expressed palpable anger at the cutting of several important bus routes from Broughton to Ulverston. In this rurally isolated town these routes have a direct impact on the jobs people of Broughton can do, as the bus, for many young residents in particular, is their only form of transport. It also was pointed out that the students at Victoria High School in Ulverston, are not able to stay for the extra curricula activities on offer because there is now no public transport available later than 3.30pm. This is an interesting time because it is these factors that continue to shape the town's identity and professions accessible to the residents.

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Sue also showed me a group of objects she has saved from the old shops and workrooms of Broughton, including a wonderful potato weight, a clog last and a beautiful and fully functional whisk from the old bakery. Recording the sounds these objects make including the ticking of Sue's grandfather's watch have produced some really evocative sound sketches which are helping to build ideas of an historical Broughton Soundscape.

Historical sound is an interesting and difficult concept to explore. Sound is specific to time and place and until the late 19th century impossible to record. Images through photography and film were available and accepted long before sound. In fact the Victorians were frightened to hear recorded conversations between people who were no longer alive, imagining they were listening to ghosts.

With this project we are hoping to re-create a tour full of rich layered sounds that explore the industrious nooks and crannies of the ancient town over the centuries.

Vera's tour of the forgotton shops

Today I had the pleasure of a tour of Broughton's old shops by the lovely Vera Fugler, who is often referred to as "the longest living resident". Born in Broughton in 1926 Vera painted an evocative picture of Broughton in the early to mid twentieth century.

(Vera outside of the old Cooperative, now a house, 1st August 2008. Vera told me the windowsill used to be much lower and children used to sit on it)

As we dodged the speeding cars, watching our steps on the tiny pavements, we walked past an inconceivable amount of houses that were once thriving businesses. We passed three cobblers, a saddlers, three tailors, a chemist, a "posh confectioners", a toy shop, two wool shops, two slaughter houses, two tanneries, a games room, a clock makers, a butchers, a fish mongers, five grocers (her family owned one), a garage (where she bought her first bike for £5), the old Midland bank (where she saved up for her first bike), the 'new' electrical shop (where her family bought their first television) and finally the cooperative where she worked for over twenty years. In the co-op Vera told me that they would make orders up for customers right up to Seathwaite and Woodland and deliver their produce in small vans in summer and through the harsh winters. Around the back of the building Vera said there were always horses because of the blacksmiths that was attached to the co-op. I left Vera having tea with her friends in the Methodist church with a sense of the wonderful chaos and purpose so many industries bring to a place. All the characters and life that would have contributed to the overall soundscape. How different it must seem to Vera from when she was growing up "You could get everything in one place, absolutely everything you needed was here".

I would like to thank Vera for her time on such a rainy day - she has given us lots of ideas of sounds to pursue. We hope to record Vera for the tour at one of the scheduled workshops.

Samantha Allan