Westfield ward, York. Intergenerational activities Part I.

2024

NEW VISUALITY

CO-CREATING CHRONICLES OF THE WEST OF YORK FRIENDS - CAKE - MEMORIES INTERGENERATIONAL BUZZ

NEW VISUALITY

CO-CREATING COMMUNITIES

Intro

WARM WELCOMES MAKE FOR GREAT MEMORIES

WHO: Elderly residents of Westfield, York cocreated digital projections with young people of the area.

HOW: We based intergenerational projects, focusing on the memories and old photos of the elderly participants.

SUCCESSES: Increased engagement with marginalised groups and improved engagement to working class heritage through social means.

This year is the 200th anniversary since York received its first gas lights, the first step of the Improvement Commissioners, a body formed in Parliament, who in the following years began to improve paving, hygiene, and street maintenance across the rest of the city.

Via intergenerational activities we chronicled 200 anecdotes from Westfield's elderly residents: Westfield was once separate from York - what were its features? What are people’s personal and general memories? What do the 8000 photos we have available from Acomb Explore's recently launched Image Portal, an online archive with photographs reaching back to the 1840s tell us about the area's growing continuum? Outside Acomb's Working Men's Club there is an oak tree that has been hollowed out of rot and filled with concrete and has thrived for the last 30 years.

What's that all about? We learned new skills and we invited young people from the area. With their help, we aimed to harness the power of AI technology to enhance photos, both public and belonging to the elderly, colourising them, sharpening them, and bringing them back to life. All artwork created was distilled into a digital 'Bayeux Tapestry' of Westfield, projected as illuminations in the windows of the Acomb Explore and in Acomb Methodist Church.

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Greg McGee, 3

NEW VISUALITY

SITTING DOWN WITH ELDERLY RESIDENTS AT YORK EXPLORE

“LET ME COUNT THE WAYS” Bruce: “Acomb Front Street has a very interesting history. If you pop into Acomb Explore and ask to view their folder, they have old photos, and anecdotes, and even family trees of families who used to love in the cottages around here.”

Bob: “There’s a legend that the old tree outside Acomb Conservatives was filled with cement to help cure it of rot. They made its trunk empty and then filled it. If they did, it worked a treat, as it’s the healthiest tree in the area!”

CAKE & COFFEE Lydia: “The cakes are nice, and Tea Room opposite the Green is just lovely.”

Velma: “We like to walk from The Green all the way to Front Street and back, you can make a day of it. We finish off at Boyes.”

Hazel: “I like coming to the Acomb Methodist Coffee Morning, it’s convenient and everyone is very nice.”

GROUPS David: “We get chance to meet the young people at the church groups, there are a lot of church groups. The coffee is as nice as anything else you;d buy from elsewhere and everyone is so nice, there’s no judgement or pressure.”

COLLLECTING MEMORIES: SANDERSON HOUSE

Using creativity to generate discussion and chronicle memories

Rosemary: “We moved out of 4 bedroom bungalow from Huntington, we moved to Allen St, which had 5 kids in it.

We didn’t have a bath, dad bought a tin bath, we all had to bunk up. It was just off Burton Lane. And then later we got a council house Tennyson avenue, I then met Steve, moved here to Marston Crescent. We had a piano - dad had to pay money to get it on the back of the removal van. No Way of getting it in the house so my dad had to chop it up. I was upset - it was a Christmas present.”

Shirley: “Walk the cows down asthma lane, to grange farm, and gale farm, all farmland., down asthma lane down gale farm. No traffic. Doctors surgery was Gale Farm, now called after it. I have never found unpleasantness here.”

Pat: “I was little when I moved here. Peter Hill Drive Clifton, I remember the cinema, used to go to the Mormon Church. I was in a family of 16, Crombie Avenue, Clifton.”

WESTFIELD WARD

2024

USING TECHNOLOGY TO SHARE MEMORIES

Barbara: “I remember the Cattle Market. We came from Liverpool, we were in a rented room, opposite Cattle Market, where Barbican is now, that was a Cattle Market. We lived in a room, near Walmgate stray. They offered us a job in York, in Corporation. Mam used to take me in market. We lived in Viking Road, we were the first tenants in a prefab house. No gardens just sand, like scarborough beach. We moved into this area 62 years ago, when I got married, no road, no gardens, just sand. The sheds were just corrugated sheds - they were maybe Anderson Shelters. It was new to me, I had always been happy, shops, butchers, paper, hairdressers.

Things changed, where cost cutters is now, that was a youth club, or a community centre. My dad used to walk from Barbican Road, with everything in pram, Irish people lodged in Walmgate - when I was sat in pram, I remember seeing a big woman with an apron on, a wooden table outside the front door. Just passing time of day, chatting away, it was all irishmen. The old Maternity Hospital is now where you get blood tests - Acomb Garth. I had never heard of it until I took hubby for a blood test.”The Doctors Surgery used to be a room for kids who got free school meals. There was Ben Johnson's printers opposite Ainsty. I worked there after leaving school. Gilbert was boss, Bernard was the nephew. Christine was the niece.”

“IT’S GOOD TO SHARE STORIES.”

“Thanks for letting me share some precious memories.”

Barbara: (written especially for this project) These are a Few of my memories of living in Acomb and visiting Acomb.

There was the Boxing Day Hunt on Acomb Green. The Landlord of the Sun Inn gave everybody a drink. There was a cattle trough near the green for the water and the horsemen and the cattle to drink.

Front Street had a school with a clock church next to it which became Wright’s meat shop Then there was a row of terrace houses next to the church. First one was Park’s Dentist. Second one was Banks music shop. Third one was called Field's Hairdressers. Fourth one was Woolgroves Bread Shop. The fifth one was the Drapers. Sixth Ward was Barnitts. Seventh one was a fresh fish shop called Eastwoods.

The eighth one was the chemist. At the top of Gale Lane and starting at front Street there was a coal merchants. I remember Clifton Bridge used to be an iron bridge like Holgate bridge. I remember the water works and the sugar beet and on Knapton Lane the Pinders Farm and riding stables.

Mavis: “I live where the old Regent building was, there was a nursing house there. The Pet Shop is still there, 2nd hand shop, co-op round the corner. It’s just empty now, which is a shame. Up the hill on the way to Pateley Road, there was a school for special needs.

My next door neighbour, she moved into the street, no road to get into the house, to get into the house you had to walk over planks of wood.”

Images courtesy of York Explore Archives

HOW ACOMB CHANGES Part of our project was to create animations based on the cultural development of Acomb.

From the experts we talked to and emailed, there seems to be no doubt that the first people to settle in York were the Celts, who gave the name ‘Where the Oak Trees Grow’ to this flat, wet part of Albion. The Romans later came and gave it ‘Eboracum’, and then, using the same nominal building block, the Vikings named it ‘Jorvik’, which became ‘York’, the linguistic echo of the Celts Oaks still discernible centuries later.

The Celts continue to be curiously absent in most discussion of York’s cultural continuum, a fact made more puzzling when we recall that they settled here many thousands of years before the Romans, but perhaps that will change.

“I enjoyed taking part in the discussion and seeing what the young people did”, says Mavis at Sanderson House. “There are big plans for Front Street. The animation looks at that and makes it clear,” says Patricia.

The animations were created at our Art Camp sessions at Our Lady’s and OLQM. To watch our Bayeux Tapestry animations showcasing the development of York, click here:

https://vimeo.com/936796633

PAINTING WITH LIGHT We featured the artwork created in our activities at Bar Convent’s groundbreaking ‘Let There Be Light Exhibition’. It was hugely gratifying to witness the illuminations of art inculcated at, say, Acomb Explore projected alongside light installations from artists across the world, including from fellow UNESCO designated Cities of Media Arts Viborg, Tbilisi and Cali.

Westfield Ward councillors represented the area with Cllr Andrew Waller providing artwork and Cllr Julie Coles stepping up to the microphone. Said Julie, “Huge thanks to The Bar Convent Living Heritage Centre, New Visuality York, the Unesco City of Media Arts & Guild of Media Arts and a long standing partnership between City of York Council and Viborg, in Denmark for putting together this amazing installation. It combines beautiful drawings by children from across the world, including many here in York, that have been brought to life thanks to some amazing skills from the Viborg Animation Festival. The whole thing was then projected onto the ceiling of the beautiful Bar Convent Chapel. It was a real treat to be able to meet with our Danish friends Martin Sanderhoff and Henrik Holmskov alongside Cllr Pete Kilbane to witness the stunning impact that strong partnerships can have.”

NEW VISUALITY

Says Cllr Andrew Waller, “New Visuality has been an influential force within the Westfield Community to reach across generations and help residents who often feel left out of the success of York to reach their full potential. The interfusion of digital art, elderly residents, young people in this part of the city has been especially successful. We have relished the opportunity to engage with Arts media to explore new horizons and connect with other young people in other countries.”

ILLUMINATIONS AT ACOMB EXPLORE We curated four separate illumination events. We kicked off at Acomb Explore, held a small screening at Sanderson House and Acomb Methodist Pop Up, and returned to Acomb Explore, this time projecting an interfusion of footage from the inside of the building through semitransparent material hanging in the window.

The illuminations drew a good crowd, were well advertised on social media, and were a perfectly luminous way to finish off what was a hugely gratifying project.

Catch the videos here: https://vimeo.com/937668070 and here: https://vimeo.com/937808460

westfield

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MORE WESTFIELD REASONS Bruce: “Acomb Front Street has a very interesting history. If you pop into Acomb Explore and ask to view their folder, they have old photos, and anecdotes, and even family trees of families who used to love in the cottages around here.”

Bob: “There’s a legend that the old tree outside Acomb Conservatives was filled with cement to help cure it of rot. They made its trunk empty and then filled it. If they did, it worked a treat, as it’s the healthiest tree in the area!”

Lydia: “The cakes are nice, and Tea Room opposite the Green is just lovely.”

Velma: “We like to walk from The Green all the way to Front Street and back, you can make a day of it. We finish off at Boyes.”

Hazel: “I like coming to the Acomb Methodist Coffee Morning, it’s convenient and everyone is very nice.”

David: “We get chance to meet the young people at the church groups, there are a lot of church groups. The coffee is as nice as anything else you;d buy from elsewhere and everyone is so nice, there’s no judgement or pressure.”

Sandra: “We've had organised visits from Age UK to help people who are a bit unsure with computers. The councillors have been very helpful with that, we all feel less excluded.”

John: “People think that the churches are stuffy and that they exclude people. Nothing could be furtherfrom the truth. Acomb is a lovely place on a Sunday.”

David: “If you get chance, make a trip to St Stephen’s Church Yard, you can see for miles around. I’m sure you can see The White Horse up north and to the south you can just make out Selby’s Drax Power Station.”

NEW VISUALITY

Neil: ‘Our family are Rugby mad. York Acorn Rugby Club is our club of choice. To get things started we pop into Inn on the Green, or sometimes The Sun Inn, both really nice, traditional pubs.

Bryony: “Our nephew took us into the new wine bar, The Hand, that was really nice, really different. It felt very continental, not like Acomb at all.”

Gary: “The Greengrocers has gone from strength to strength. The dinners in there are amazing, and you can buy all your groceries too.”

Vin: “They say that Acomb is rough but I have never had any trouble here. Everyone is so nice, and even the young ones are nice. There’s nowhere for them to go, just because they stand around doesn’t mean that they’re dangerous.”

Debra: “I love Acomb, I used to come to the Pictures here, which was just opposite where Bluebird Bakery is now.

The queues were massive. The films were always a big event, we loved it.”

Paul: “We’ve become a bit of a gang, we all enjoy popping in evey week. Acomb Explore is just down the road, which is ideal, it’s a top class library.”

Pat: “When I lost my husband I was down for a long time.

My neighbours told me to come to the community centre and now it’s the big part of my week. Sanderson House, Gateway Centre, the Methodist Church. I’m spoilt for choice, and I meet so many different people.”

Florence: “Being part of a community is so important.

That’s the reason why these places are so important.”

Richard: “I remember cattle being driven down where Gale Lane is now, and down Green Lane. You would not believe the difference in 50 years. Memories are so important.”

Anne: “Christmas in Acomb was magical. My kids were all little in the 1980s, when the Siberian snows came, Acomb Green was like Santa’s Green and we all loved it. The memories are magical.”

Susan: “It’s ideal to walk the dogs. There are so many open spaces.”

Joan: “Everyone is fun. The pubs are great, the cafes are great, the charity shops are great too.”

Simon: “Not everyone has a family they can call on so these community centres are a lifeline for a lot of people.”