Liverpool based charity Citizen Outreach Coalition (COC) undertook the project entitled: “The Definitive Story of Africans in Merseyside”. The project was made possible by a grant from Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).
The year-long project recorded the life stories of Nigerians, Ghanaians, and Somalis who left Africa and have made Merseyside their home. The project examines the reasons that led them to leave their motherland, their journey abroad, their trials, tribulations and triumphs in their new host country.
“Over twelve months, we will identify and record the stories of 30 engaging personalities (3 couples were recorded together) from the above communities and some of the challenges they faced in integrating and functioning in a new environment which in most cases was completely different from their community lifestyles back in Africa”.
Available in the Digital Archive (Preservica).
Interviews with associates of Arthur Dooley (15 CDs), includes audio recording of his appearance on This Is Your Life, deposited by the North West Sound Archive (LIV BOX 15). Access copies available on CD.
Collection of BBC Radio Merseyside programmes on magnetic tape.
Available online in the digital archive (Preservica).
Recordings of Bill McNamara rehearsing, on the radio and at a family gathering.
Deposited by the North West Sound Archive (LIV BOX 15).
Available in the digital archive (Preservica).
Supported by National Heritage Lottery Fund, the current lease owners of the former Christ church building, an outstanding piece of 19th-century architecture, undertook the task of recording a multimedia history of the building located at the heart of Kensington in Liverpool.
First constructed and offered to the Anglican congregation as a place of worship in 1870 by a rich widow, the building has been owned and managed by different entities and is now leased to a Pentecostal African church (Christian Gold House Ministry).
The church building was designed by W & G Audsley and its architecture is North Italian Romanesque with polychromatic decoration in red brick.
The oral history recordings tell the story of the different uses of this grade 2 listed building and how it has impacted the local community.
https://cghministry.com/oral-history-project/
This collection is of immense value nationally, as well as locally. It is a detailed record of almost every aspect of the development of the City, which was, for much of the period in question, the second commercial city in England. It records comprehensively the work of the City Council, which in the first half of the twentieth century provided almost all services to its inhabitants. These included many services and facilities such as water supply, electricity supply and hospitals. It is also particularly important on a national level for its recording of the city's often pioneering work in town planning, housing, public health and transport. It also records in detail the multi-faceted and outstanding work of Professor John Alexander Brodie, City Engineer from 1898 to 1926.
The collection consists of 158,383 photographs and there is both a negative and contact print for most of the photographs. Most of the earliest negatives, up to about 1960, are glass plate. The first 9,400 in the series are whole plate, whilst the later series are 7" x 5" with some 5" x 4". At some point in the past some of the glass negatives were scrapped. However, an almost complete series of high quality contact print survives. The later part of the collection is a mixture of 35mm and 3" x 2" negatives. The photographs were initially used primarily to record and support the work of the City Engineer, Surveyor, Housing Department and Medical Officer of Health, showing everyday work such as road improvements, refuse collection and laying sewers. There is also documentation of major projects, such as the infilling of George's Dock to build the Liver Building, or the reclamation of land to construct Otterspool Promenade. They also sometimes recorded the work of other departments, events and general developments in the City. This wider coverage increased exponentially from the 1940's onwards. The photographs are black and white up to the late 1970's and colour thereafter. A total of 20,000 photographs were taken up to 1960, but by 1970 the overall total had increased to 45,000 and by 1980 to 90,800.
Daughters Of The Windrush.
As with so much of British history, women's voices are almost absent from many key parts of an admittedly unexplored chronicle. In the famous, staged Pathe newsreel of the Empire Windrush docking, for example, the narrator claims “that the vessel brings to Britain 500 Jamaicans”, but the footage shows no women disembarking from the ship. The fact that amongst the 492 Caribbean migrants on-board, there were as many as sixty-five female settlers from Trinidad, Jamaica and Bermuda.
What is often not revealed in the many stories films and literature on Windrush is that many of the passengers from the Caribbean settled outside of London. We know that at least sixty-eight men from the Empire Windrush settled in Liverpool and went onto marry local women. It is these local women and their children that are central to our project and documentary film.
"These stories are so we can both remember and celebrate their lives and their contribution to British society."
Liverpool’s Windrush history has been largely subsumed into a general history of Black Liverpool, though the impact of those arriving in the city during the Windrush era specifically is profound. None more so than that of Harold Phillips, ‘Lord Woodbine’, for example Woodbine arrived in England on-board Empire Windrush in 1948. He was active and popular on the Liverpool music scene and is credited by some as the forgotten sixth Beatle. “No Empire Windrush No Beatles” (Tony Broadbent 7DNews) Beatles Museum. Many stories like this are explored through this documentary and we discover famous music producers, Caribbean Prime Ministers, Directors of Education, Ambassadors, heroes and heroines all descended from or connected to the Wind rush Liverpool.
Available in the Digital Archive.
Photographs of Liverpool city centre and surrounding areas including Wavertree, Old Swan and Queens Drive by Eric James Snr and Eric James Jnr.
Mp4 video taken from original recorded on standard 8mm film. The view is from the rear of the shops at Broadgreen Road, Old Swan. Prescot Road is to the left of the shot. Access copy available on CD.
Mainly photographs
Included in the initial deposit are photographs of 19th cent. Liverpool Housing, amongst them St. Martin's cottages, the first municipal tenements to be built in Liverpool.
Deposited by the North West Sound Archive.
Historical website showing a part of Liverpool's history that was almost lost. Over the last few years John Hutchinson and other former officers, with the support of the Chief Constable, have recorded the history of the force (including the history of the Liverpool Airport Police):
"It was a very enjoyable, expensive and painstaking task extending over many hours of research, miles of travel - with communications as far as the USA and Canada. The task was completed with the City Of Liverpool acknowledging the publication of the website and calling the last few serving members to a presentation at Liverpool Town Hall. Since that day many of the officers have passed on - knowing that they will not be forgotton or the work of the Park Constables will have their place in Liverpool's great history. In 1972 the Parks Police ceased operational duty and senior officers from the then Liverpool and Bootle Constabulary removed the historical records from custody and care of Supertintendant John Bucanhan LLB of the Liverpool Parks Police. All the historical records dating back to the mid 1800s were then destroyed - not out of malice or ill will but out of an ignorance of the important part the Parks Police had played in the city's history. A similar fate was taking place to the old City Police records under a similar policy of "out with the old and in with the new". I then continued my police career after the Liverpool Parks Police was disbanded and in 1991 a very senior Merseyside police officer at a policy meeting stated that Liverpool never had a Parks Police Force. Those comments enrage me and my former colleagues, some who were now serving with the Merseyside Police. I then set about the task of formulating the historical website and it was a tremendous success both for me and my colleagues."
Schools are very evocative of our personal and family histories. My family have been teachers for many generations, so I like seeing where they taught as well as where they studied. Some people give directions by pubs, we do it by schools! This website is devoted to Liverpool’s Schools and Teachers.
Deposited by the North West Sound Archive (LIVSA BOX 59, 63, 64, 66 & 67).
DVD of conversation and narratives relating to Irish Traveller culture; transcripts of the audio recordings; DVD of films created by the community; DVD of photographs of the community; booklet summarising work created; postcards.
Recording of Alan Johnson talking about his father's time at Manchester City, Everton and Liverpool in the 1920s and 30s.
