Animation and Poetry workshops with Leeds Irish CHIME Group
Pavilion and Touchstone's BME Dementia Service partnered with Leeds Irish Health and Homes’ CHIME Art Group to deliver a three part workshop focusing on the groups ‘first impressions’ of Leeds when many of them migrated to England from Ireland.
Prior to the workshops, Teresa who runs the CHIME group had encouraged everyone to write about, draw and collect photos and objects which helped them to think about their heritage, culture and experiences of moving to England. When we arrived for the first workshop, we were thrilled to see two whole tables filled with memorabilia, stories, poetry and personal photographs from the group’s collective experiences.
“I’ve been interested in finding out about a ‘part’ of life that I would never have been able to access”
We wanted the workshops to stimulate discussion and provide opportunities to be creative and share stories in unusual ways, so we arranged for Leeds Animation Workshop to work with the group to create their own personal animated stories which would become part of a group film. Alongside this, poet Ian Duhig worked closely with people to write their own poems, contribute towards a group poem and share their personal experiences through creative writing.
The group discussed themes such as food, music, cultural events and social activities, the differences they found between themselves and local Leeds communities and how different England was compared to their expectations. One lady told her story of how she thought England would be grey, run down and miserable. Upon her arrival here she found it was complete opposite of this; it was a land “paved with gold”, she saw lots of beautiful trees, flowers, animals and she particularly remembers seeing Geese!
One lady recalls the day she came over from Ireland to Leeds:
“I remember it was 1968 and I was getting the boat over from Ireland. It was one of those huge old Irish Ferries. My sister bought me a bright orange suit to wear! I remember it being a warm day…the sky was blue that day and the water was calm.”
People shared stories about their social activities and events which the whole community got involved in:
“Every street used to have a bonfire. There was a ‘bonfire boss’ and nobody else was allowed to touch the bonfire.”
“People would bring out their old furniture to sit on and watch the fire, and then before they went home again they would throw their seats onto the fire!”
“We used to have a ‘winter hedge’ (clothes horse), we called it the ‘winter ‘edge’ though. It was called that because we couldn’t hang our clothes out on the hedge in winter. We used to make dens using that and our bed sheets!”
“I remember we used to hang tea towels out on the hedge and the goats next door would eat them!”
We reflected on the hard times too, we talked about the war and difficult times trying to settle into work here. Many people remember Leeds to be very polluted and full of smog. Lots of children got poorly with bronchitis and related illnesses. Fond memories of meal times with the whole family were shared too:
“You’d always remember your parents putting down a huge pan of potatoes on the table… They’d say “Here are your spuds, here’s the butter… tuck in!””
These workshops have been an excellent way for the group to work together, share stories and learn from each other. It has also been an opportunity for everyone to be creative in new and different ways:
“I am in my 70s, I have never made an animation before in my life…I never thought I could do some of these things”
“I have really enjoyed recounting stories about Leeds in the early 1960s that brought back good memories”
“I enjoyed the chance to talk about memories I’d nearly lost and write about them”
In the upcoming weeks, Ian and Leeds Animation Workshop will be collaborating to piece together all the brilliant material from the workshops into a short film showcasing all these personal stories and everyone’s animation and poetry. Pavilion worked to record people’s oral histories as part of these workshops too, which will be shared within the group film. Keep an eye out on our website for chance to see the film in the near future!
In early 2018 Leeds Industrial Museum, working with a local secondary school Swallow Hill Community College and the Leeds City Council library service, provided the location for a filming project about the history of the local area.
Upon discovering, from our Interwoven Histories exhibition, that the mill had employed workers from around the world in the 1960s, this was worked into the film by the students to increase accuracy and representation.
The film went on to win awards at the Leeds Young Filmmakers ceremony, and has been screened at Leeds Industrial Museum at Armley Mills (and across the city) since.
Touchstone’s Cha Da Cup group co-create and publish poem with Ian Duhig
Continuing our partnership with Touchstone’s BME Dementia Service, poet Ian Duhig hosted two workshops with the Sikh Elders Cha Da Cup group who regularly attend Touchstone. The workshops have been a fantastic celebration of food, culture and personal stories and have resulted in the group poem ‘The Meaning of Food’. We are pleased to share that this group poem has been selected for publishing in the new Sewerby Hall Cookbook by New Zealand artist Ahilapalapa Rands.
These workshops have been a ‘feast of words’, as Ian encouraged the group to think about their favourite food, and what was special about it. We explored everything from how it is made, who it is made by, the ingredients, how long it’s cooked for, the smells, the textures, the taste and the whole experience of eating. The theme stimulated rich discussion about everybody’s favourite meals and what makes them extra special; it was fascinating to hear the stories, memories and experiences of enjoying everyone’s most savoured meal.
“My wife doesn’t eat meat, and I do. She cooks me food with meat in but even though she never tastes it, it’s always perfect.”
“I would eat dal every single day, and I’d always be happy. There are so many different types of dal, and it’s always got ginger, garlic and turmeric. Each ingredient is good for your body in different ways, which is why we always have them.”
The group explored their first impressions of British food, which they described as “pheeka”, meaning bland and unseasoned in Punjabi. They did, however, express their love of a nice portion of fish, chips and mushy peas wrapped in newspaper. This happy memory of food brought back treasured times by the beach, in the warm summer sunshine, back in the day when chips were just 6p a portion!
The discussion of food brought back other memories, for some people the discussion reminded them of times before they moved to England.
“I left India when I was very young. We moved to Africa, but I always had this memory of walking through the villages in India and you could smell the cooking coming from each house. For years, I craved that food so much, until I finally went back to India 36 years later.”
“There’s nothing I don’t like. It’s all in the preparation for me. If it is made with care, I am happy. My favourite would be boiled rice with vegetables, garlic, ginger and green chilli. I like it spicy.”
“Sometimes I make chapatti. You can have different breads too; roti, bhatura, salty and aloo potatoes are stuffed into the roti. I just can’t pick one, I love every food!”
“I make my own yogurt. I boil milk, and then use my finger as a temperature gauge to see if it’s hot enough. Then I add a little bit of culture and mix it and put it into my flask at 10pm. By the morning it is good, and ready for me to enjoy. I love it and my wife loves when I make it. I was shown how to use my finger to tell the temperature when I was a child. I am known as the yogurt maker in my family.”
“I love corn chapattis. I’d walk to London for a corn chapatti.”
The discussion highlighted how integral food is to our identity and culture. Sharing food is an important aspect of our social lives, and we love to share and enjoy food together. After each session, we get together to share a delicious warm curry.
Throughout the workshops, Ian encouraged the group to think about their foods in terms of poetry and some group members are planning to work on their own piece of poetry to bring to the group and share in our next session.
Interwoven Histories aims to engage elders from different BME communities, and in the upcoming months we will be reaching out to people from different communities. If you know someone or a group of people who may like to get involved in this creative project, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Touchstone’s Cha Da Cup group create silhouette portraits with artist Simon Warner and his antique chair
As part of part of Pavilion’s on-going partnership with Touchstone’s BME Dementia Service, artist Simon Warner delivered a workshop with the Sikh elders Cha Da Cup group who regularly attend groups to exercise, enjoy a meal, meet with friends and get involved in lots of different activities.
Simon’s workshop was centred on creating silhouettes, an age-old art form which first became popular in the mid 1700’s due to the work of physiognomist Johann Caspar Lavater. There was an air of mystery before the workshop, as we began setting up a large antique chair designed to create silhouettes of the sitter’s profile.
When the group had finished their regular Tai Chi exercise routine, we welcomed them to listen to Simon’s explanation of the chair and a short introduction to the art of silhouettes and shadow portraiture. Working in pairs, we took it in turns to sit for our portraits, while our partners drew our silhouettes. It was fascinating to see the details the silhouettes brought up and we could easily identify the person featured in the shadow portrait due to each individual’s distinctive features. It is important to sit very still whilst sitting for your portrait, which was a challenge for some people, and even more of a challenge for their partner’s who had to draw them!
One gentleman reminisced about a time when he (almost) had his silhouette drawn by a portrait artist at the beach:
“I remember going to Blackpool beach many years ago, there was a man there drawing portraits by hand… he didn’t have a chair like this. There was a long queue and it was very popular. After waiting a while, I finally got to the front of the queue and I was told I wouldn’t be able to have my silhouette drawn because he didn’t know how to draw my turban!”
Once the silhouettes were drawn out, we worked on reducing the size of the portrait which would then be cut out and mounted. Using a pantograph to reduce the size of the silhouettes brought back happy memories for some members of the group, as they recalled learning to use these in school.
When everyone had finalised their shadow portraits, we gathered together to see each other’s work and celebrate everyone’s creations. We look forward to our next arts workshop with this group in February.
Interwoven Histories aims to engage elders from different BME communities, and in the upcoming months we will be reaching out to elders from Roma and Caribbean communities. If you know someone or a group of people who may like to get involved in this creative project, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
For more information on the Interwoven Histories project please contact:
Artist film workshop with Touchstone’s Hamari Yaadain Group
As part of the Interwoven Histories Art workshops, Pavilion held a movie morning with members of Touchstone’s BME Dementia Service’s Hamari Yaadain Dementia Café.
Will brought along a projector to the group and showed Nathaniel Dorsky’s 16mm silent film Autumn (2016). Towards the end of 2015, Dorsky captured footage of the seasonal changes we see in the world around us and created this film, which explores the changing seasons with reference to the changes we experience in our later years.
Prior to showing the film, we discussed our experience of watching films and some members of the group shared happy memories of when they used to frequent the cinema:
“We used to go to the cinema a lot but we don’t anymore. It’s easier for us to watch TV at home…” – Mr. C.
“We used to go to Cottage Road Cinema in Headingley and watch the Bollywood films… it was very popular” - Mr. S.
This discussion of film and the cinema awakened many memories for the group, and they were keen to watch the film Will had selected.
Going to the cinema is a fantastic social and cultural activity, which as Mr C pointed out, can become increasingly difficult with age. Coming to Touchstone to watch the film has made this experience more accessible for the group, as it is a place they are familiar with and they know they will be supported when they come here.
The film offered a relaxing and meditative sensory experience, showcasing the natural lights, shapes, patterns and colours we see in nature. The film stimulated an interesting discussion about how film is a way of capturing a particular time, and it becomes a memory which we can look back on together. We discussed how film also helps us to consider the passage of time and we reflect on what has changed between the time of the film and the present moment. One member of the group noticed that film can capture more detail than we would normally see, and in bringing small, intimate details to our attention we are able to appreciate the delicate and changing beauty within nature.
“I felt the film was about looking at creation, it made me think about how everything on earth grows, dies, grows and dies again” - Mrs D.
Watching this film encouraged the group to think about times when they may have made films or particular films they have enjoyed:
“I always used to make my own films when I lived in India. I would enjoy watching people and film their lives. I filmed people, traffic and animals. Everywhere I went I would take photos and videos…” - Mrs D.
“Some of the shots looked like places I know… For example Roundhay Park or Golden Acre Park…” – Mr S.
“I noticed there were no animals or people, just light, colours and shadows” – Mr V.
With such a great response from the group, we discussed the possibility of working together on a film, which would help to stimulate thoughts about the passage of time, the present moment and reflecting on times gone by. In 2018, we will continue our work with the South Asian Dementia Café group working with film and sharing life stories.
For more information on the Interwoven Histories project please contact:
Hamari Yaadain group design flags for their roots, culture & identity
We are pleased to share that Carol Sorhaindo ran another fantastic community workshop with Touchstone’s Hamari Yaadain Dementia Café members. This time, Carol used the resilient buddleja plant as inspiration to think about our roots, migration and what gives us strength in difficult or uncertain times.
The buddleja plant, which is common in Britain and Asia is known for its ability to thrive and adapt to many different climates, and has unusually long, tough roots which support it to flourish. This stimulated discussion of what ‘feeds’ our roots. The group discussed their reasons for migrating to the UK initially, and shared stories about the things which helped them to settle here.
“When we came to the UK we made friends from all over the world, some from Sri Lanka and some from the West Indies...”
“We moved here for our children’s education… it was good in India but we moved here so our children could have a really good education…”
Carol also introduced the concept of flags as significant materials which represent who we are and where we are from. The group set about designing their own individual flags and included drawings of the things which had helped to keep them strong in difficult times.
The flags featured partners, families, children and homes. We discussed how family and friends play a huge part in our lives and help to make us feel strong. Some members of the group drew pictures of churches, temples and places of worship, and we discussed how religion and faith had been a powerful way to find strength and build a happy life here in Leeds. Some members of the group discussed how education had been a big part of why they moved to the UK and this was something which helped them to thrive in a new place.
We are very much looking forward to our next session, which will focus on film, sensory experience, culture, history and a discussion around these themes.
Hamari Yaadain group workshop with Carol Sorhaindo
Pavilion has partnered with community support organisation, Touchstone to deliver a year-long programme of art workshops for elderly people in BME communities.
Last week Carol Sorhaindo ran our first session with Touchstone’s Hamari Yaadain (Our Memories) Dementia Café members.
In the workshop, we painted with homemade saffron dye. It is well known that saffron is the most expensive spice in the world, and it has been grown and used in India in Punjab and Kashmir for over five thousand years. When used as a dye, saffron creates an incredible, bright yellow colour, which Carol had made for the group to experiment with. Carol also introduced some oak dye, which is known to be a symbol of British identity, and this encouraged the group to talk about their journeys of migration and the significance of their heritage combined with the experience of living in Britain.
The group created intricate designs using a block printing techniques. We discussed experiences of migration, memories of Britain and Leeds when they first came here, and the significant changes they could see in the world around us today. One member of the group recalled how his father had worked with block printing throughout his working life, and he shared happy memories with the group. Fond memories of old interior and textile designs were shared and some members of the group had brought with them pieces of clothing or textiles, which were significant to them and they shared these with the group.
It was clear to see how much the group enjoyed the chance to be together and explore something they might not otherwise have the opportunity to do. Below are a few quotes from the group about the session:
“It’s been great because I haven’t done anything like this since I was a child.” - Mr S.
“I feel very relaxed…it is good for me to focus on something else for a while.” - Mr C.
“I have really enjoyed myself… it hasn’t been ‘good’, it’s been great!” - Mrs K.
After the session, we sat together to share a warm lunch, where discussion of life stories and fond memories continued to flow. Feedback was positive, and it was clear to see this new experience had meant a lot to people. Extensive research shows that art and creativity is beneficial for our mental health, so in this group where many of the members have dementia and difficulty with memory, this is a chance to really appreciate the present moment, to work on something meaningful, to practice old skills or develop new ones, and a chance share memories.
We are excited for our next workshop, when Carol will be joining us again to lead a session which will further explore nature, migration and our roots. It is hoped that over time the group will grow, and we encourage elders from different cultural backgrounds to get involved!
- Richard Hoggart, 1957, The Uses of Literacy, Chatto & Windus
The houses are fitted into the dark and lowering canyons between the giant factories and the services which attend them; `the barracks of an industry' the Hammonds called them. The goods-lines pass on embankments in and around, level with many of the bedroom windows, carrying the products of the men's work to South Africa, Nigeria, Australia. The viaducts interweave with the railway lines and with the canals below; the gas-works fit into a space somewhere between them all, and the pubs and graceless Methodist chapels stick up at intervals throughout. The green stuff of the region forces its way where it can - and that is almost everywhere - in stunted patches. Rough sooty grass pushes through the cobbles; dock and nettle insist on a defiant life in the rough and trampled earth-heaps at the corners of the waste-pieces, undeterred by `dog-muck', cigarette packets, old ashes; rank elder, dirty privet, and rosebay willow-herb take hold in some of the `backs' or in the walled-off space behind the Corporation Baths. All day and all night the noises and smells of the district-factory hooters, trains shunting, the stink of the gas-works - remind you that life is a matter of shifts and clockings-in-and-out. The children look improperly fed, inappropriately clothed, and as though they could do with more sunlight and green fields.
Photograph by Timothy Neat, taken in Leeds Market, c.1966/7
But to the insider, these are small worlds, each as homogeneous and well-defined as a village. Down below, on the main road running straight into town, the bosses' cars whirr away at five o'clock to converted farm-houses ten miles out in the hills; the men stream up into their district. They know it, as do all its inhabitants, in intimate detail - automatically slipping up a snicket here or through a shared lavatory block there; they know it as a group of tribal areas. Pitt Street is certainly one of ours; just as certainly as Prince Consort Street next to it is not, is over the boundary in another parish. In my own part of Leeds I knew at ten years old, as did all my contemporaries, both the relative status of all the streets around us and where one part shaded into another. Our gang fights were tribal fights, between streets or groups of streets.
As the clothing and textile industries in Leeds expanded, it was perhaps inevitable that the conditions in workshops, factories and for homeworkers would decline. The very poor conditions that developed alongside the influx of Jewish immigrants became known as the system of ‘Sweating’.
In 1894, The Fabian Society published a pamphlet entitled ‘Sweating: Its Causes and Remedy’, in which they propose that sweating has three component parts. These would be low wages, excessive working hours and poor sanitary conditions in the workplace. Larger factories would contract work out to smaller, often Jewish owned workshops, or homeworkers, where the conditions were just as bad. These poor conditions were not an issue just in Leeds, another badly affected area was London, and there were four reports from the Select Committee of the House of Lords on the Sweating System in which Leeds is mentioned numerous times. It is undisputed that a sweating system existed in Leeds, but the extent of it is debated between historians. Katrina Honeyman argues that Leeds had a far smaller sweating sector than London and the problem was far worse there. Jenny Morris disputes this and states that “the fundamental characteristic of sweating- the payment of a subsistence wage was prevalent in both cities in the late nineteenth century”.
Image: The Yorkshire Evening Post. Monday, 9 April 1894.
In the Leeds Mercury, on Saturday June 9th 1888 they ran an article entitled ‘The “Lancet” and the Sweating’. This article explains that, due to the flourishing clothing market in Leeds many factories employed “Jewish sweaters” to work for them. The article goes on to describe a sweating establishment visited, had an “abnormally dirty floor” which the Forman, who had been there for 8 months, did not recall having ever been cleaned. The article pictured here, ‘The Jewish Slipper- makers in Leeds’, explains why these conditions worsened alongside the growth of the Jewish population. It was because there were too many small employers or middlemen in the industry, creating far too much competition and driving wages down. By 1894, things were starting to move as the Jewish Slipper Makers organised themselves into a Trade union to attempt to combat these issues.
Bibliography:
Honeyman, Katrina Well Suited: A History of the Leeds Clothing Industry, 1850-1990, p26
Sweating: It’s Cause and Remedy. Published by the Fabian Society 1894
- Nicholas Usherwood & Christopher P. Wood, Coming in From Afar, in: Joash Woodrow (The Joash Woodrow Collection, 2004)
Emblem of the Leeds Jewish Representative Council, c.1991.
Leeds, as a major centre of the tailoring industry, had drawn many East European families such as [Joash] Woodrow’s (originally Wardrovsky and from Bialystok in Eastern Poland close to the Russian Border) to work in its factories. Joash Woodrow’s family background, however, was perhaps different from the majority of them in the depth and passion of its intellectual, political and literary culture. His father Harry (Herzl), by training a Hebrew scholar, had come to Leeds as a teenager around 1903/4 before briefly running a bookshop in Boston (USA) for a period with his new wife, Rebecca (Rifka) in 1911. Returning to Leeds in 1912, they again had a bookshop, in the Chapeltown district – some of Joash’s earliest surviving studies while at Leeds Art School in the late 1940s depict the building in which it was situated. When book sales failed to provide for a rapidly growing family he had finally gone to work in the tailoring industry, on the shop-floor of Sir Montague Burton’s clothing factory. […] a family story records how Sir Montague Burton would come down to the shop-floor to find him and take him back to his office to discuss what they were reading at the Leeds’ book club where they were both members at the time. Interestingly, too, Sir Montague’s enquiries as to why a man of such obvious gifts as Harry’s would want to remain on the shop-floor rather than in management were always met with a steady rebuttal, based on the grounds that it would undermine his firmly held socialist/Trade Unionist views.
- Max Farrar in: Caryl Philips, Foreigners: Three English Stories, Northern Lights, Vintage 2007
Chapeltown’s history is written into its architecture. Its huge semi-detached and terraced houses, built for the prosperous, Christian new middle classes in the early 1900s, its two parks and its wide, tree-lined streets are now interspersed with buildings, which were once synagogues, and Asian-owned mini-markets selling the produce of the world. Halfway up Chapeltown Road there’s a wall which, throughout the seventies, bore the inscription REMEMBER OLUWALE in huge white letters. Near that wall there’s an ugly vacant lot, which, until recently, was the site of the elegant country club built in the twenties for those prosperous Christians. The club became Chapeltown’s most notorious pub. White Leeds imagined that inside the Hayfield every type of black sinner was making mischief. A curious corollary of this fantasy was that the Hayfield became a kind of ‘black space’, where whites only entered if they accepted the rules laid down by the black men who played dominoes, drank, sold a little weed and checked the ladies. Since these rules were easy to accept - mutual respect and tolerance, whatever status the outside world conferred upon you - lots of adventurous whites found themselves at home there. It’s said that David Oluwale frequented a similar place in Chapeltown, a nightclub called, in this day, the Glass Bucket, but I’m pretty certain the early evening would have found him in the Hayfield. The Hayfield was erased from the map around 2004 - yet another sign of the city’s inability to deal properly with its black citizens.
- Kester Aspden, 2008, The Hounding of David Oluwale, London : Vintage
[…] it was rare to see a black face in Leeds. Only five Africans were recorded in the 1921 census. Sikh peddlers and hawkers were familiar sights on the streets in the late 1920s, and there were a few dozen Chinese in the city; Indian and Egyptian students added colour to Leeds's workaday red-brick university from the 1920s — but Leeds's public face was barely changed. A black person walking on the streets of the city was an object of crude fascination. Ces Thompson, who came to Leeds from the West Indies just before the outbreak of the Second World War (and became, in the early 1950s, the first black person to represent Great Britain in rugby league), walked curtain-twitching streets with some trepidation. Somebody once shouted after him, 'Hi, nigger boy, did you come out of your mother's arse?'
Leeds citizens might have read about the arrival of the Windrush at Tilbury and the British Nationality Act — those foundational moments in the making of modern multiracial Britain — but a decade after Ces first walked the streets of Hunslet a black face in the city was still rare enough to excite comment. In Leeds the first settlers from the Caribbean were ex-servicemen, mainly from the RAF, who'd been demobilised in 1947 and 1948 and staved to find work. Young single males, they lodged together in those few houses which would have them. In Woodhouse, 20 Clarendon Road was the house where the locals said the darkies lived. This is how it stayed until the early 1950s when an increasing number of West Indians began to find a ready supply of rented accommodation in the Chapeltown area as the last remnants of the Jewish community withdrew from their 'Little Israel' for leafier suburbs further up the Harrogate Road. A 1953 government working party on 'Coloured People seeking Employment' reported that Leeds had a black population of recent growth numbering between five and six hundred. Even then the black newcomers were well outnumbered by displaced Poles, Latvians, Lithuanians and Estonians, whose presence in the city aroused far less comment and animosity. […]
The usual response to black people seeking rented accommodation in Leeds was the slammed door. Sensing an opportunity, a canny Irishwoman who had worked as a cleaner at the university, Helen McCrum, began to buy up houses and let rooms to the small number of blacks in the city. She grandly advertised her properties as 'Private Hotels', charging around £2 a week for bed and board, which took care of a good chunk of a foundry labourer's wages. One of Mrs McCrum's properties was 12 Grove Terrace, a three-storey red-brick terrace in the Little London area of the city, at the bottom end of Camp Road. Most of the Leeds Africans passed through this house at some point. Camp Road was a part of the city with a notorious reputation. In 1949 a special report in the Yorkshire Evening Post attributed the area's decline to the 'foreign element, a floating population inhabiting single carpetless rooms in the once handsome houses of Victorian gentry'; these new arrivals were responsible for nightly brawls, prostitution, assaults on women and `un-British attacks with knives, pepper and ginger'. Scattered among Camp Road's indigenous population and the descendants of nineteenth-century Irish immigration were a few Sikh hawkers and peddlers; a few Pakistanis; poor Jews who'd never made it to Chapeltown, never mind the suburbs; 'displaced persons' from Central and Eastern Europe; small numbers of Jamaicans and Africans. It was an unlovely setting of clothing factories, printing works, stone and timber yards, rough pubs, army barracks; the only greenery the residents of 12 Grove Terrace could see was the North Street recreation ground, known locally as the 'Jews' Park' (or, more derogatorily, as 'Sheeny Park').
- Paul Furness in: Daniel Rachel, Walls Come Tumbling Down: the music and politics of Rock Against Racism, 2 Tone and Red Wedge, 1976 to 1992, London : Picador, an imprint of Pan Macmillan 2016
Majestic Soundsystem by Syd Shelton, taken in Leeds during the Militant Entertainment Tour, 1979.
Leeds was a very big industrial city then (1970s). It was very monochrome, and the buildings were really black with over 100 years of pollution and lots of the streets were derelict. The whole place looked like a building site. There was this real sense of fear. The National Front were vicious and running riot. They used to put razor blades under their stickers so people would get their fingers serrated pulling them down. There was `NF' graffiti all over, daubed massively on walls. One time we came out of a gig and an Asian brother and sister were with us. We got into their car and we were suddenly surrounded by National Front. They got onto the roof and the bonnet and were hammering on the windows. It was awful. They were absolutely brutal. People would have their windows put through. I went to Sheffield for a week and came home and there was a KKK sign painted on the pavement outside saying, 'We know where you live.’ We'd be selling Socialist Worker on a Saturday and they would come down and be selling their paper as well. It ended up in fights all the time. There was a pub called the Fenton where a lot of the bands from the left, like the Gang of Four and the Mekons, used to go, and the NF led an attack and the place was wrecked.
–Written by Ann Lightman, whose husband's maternal great grandfather was Abraham Bodlender, a Polish immigrant who came to Leeds in 1871
Both Abraham and Soloman were tailors who came to Leeds before the mass exodus from Eastern Europe, so perhaps were two of those said to have been recruited by Herman Friend. The same source names him as one of three employed by Friend who left to set-up business on their own account (David Lubelski & Solomon Camrass were the others). If they were in the union of Jewish tailors, which appeared circa 1874 it would account for why they set up on his own, as employers would black-list such employees.
Friend needed tailors for the mass-production of clothing, following the commissioning in 1859 of the band saw by John Barran. By 1897 it is said to have “cut through as many as 50 double thicknesses of cloth” in one operation. This revolutionised this process and led to a demand for many more machinists/tailors and suppliers of cloth (clothiers). In the 1891 census Soloman is described as a clothier’s manager and his wife as a clothier.
When exactly Abraham set up on his own account is not known. The first directory entry is in McCorquodale’s 1878 Directory as a tailor and draper at Trafalgar Street. In 1883 (11th April) there is an advert in the Leeds Mercury “Wholesale Clothing – wanted at once, good Felling hands and finishers. L. Bodlender, Hope St North St.”(a Leylands address). (note: L = Lazarus is said to be Abraham’s second name which I have not used as he is just Abraham in everything official that I’ve seen – it could also be a misprint).
The next newspaper entry (13 August 1887) gives Abraham’s business address as Upper Fountaine Street, giving a company charity donation towards the building of a synagogue in New Briggate, Leeds, which was reputed to have more of a working-class congregation than the Great Synagogue in Belgrave Street, which the brothers attended. On 2nd December 1887, more information is given on the Upper Fountaine Street premises when a fire is reported in the top two floors of this six story building which he and David Lubelski occupy. It is on the corner with Albion Street (10 yds against 28 yards in the other street). We learn that these two were about to leave the premises, it being taken over by a lithographer and general printer. Criminal proceedings were not reported, so presumably the authorities were happy with how the fire started.
Early the next year, in February 1888 on his son’s death certificate, he was a master tailor…maybe he had not found premises? Later the same year – on the 22nd June 1888 a report appears in Leeds Mercury headed ““Sweating”and Sanitation” Mr Newhouse’s Report” Mr Newhouse was the Superintendent of the (Leeds Council’s) Sanitary Department. Both Soloman and Abraham are mentioned. I am struck by how only 23 Jewish premises are mentioned by name out of the “64 premises, 46 so-called sweating shops” that the Inspector visited”. Soloman occupied two rooms, clean and well-ventilated - the overall cubic footage, number of employees, cubic feet per head (well above the legal limit) are given. Two clean WCs, one for each sex, on separate floors complete the picture.
Abraham’s entry does not give such detail. He occupied the east and south sides of Millgarth Mills, Dyer Street with a tailors’ workshop as do four others (unnamed). The toilet block, condemned in a previous report was to have had an improvement notice served, but as the report explained, the previously unoccupied building was under negotiation for sale to the markets committee who wished to demolish it in order to expand.
By 1892, roughly coinciding with the residential move to Victoria Place, Abraham made his final business move to 2 Carlton Terrace, adjacent to the still extant Queen’s Square, (near the Leeds Metropolitan University). The actual building was demolished for the development of the Leeds inner ring road. In 1894 in Harfield’s Commercial Directory of the Jews of Great Britain he was there as a “wholesale clothing manufacturer”. In his 1899 naturalisation application he was a clothing manufacturer and in the 1901census, a wholesale tailor. This property does not appear in the West Yorkshire Registry of Deeds, so he never owned it.
Abraham was thus what Katrina Honeyman classifies as a workshop manager. This is not, and never was, a desirable classification. By the 1890s the Jewish workshops were struggling as the factories (non-Jewish) were using more sophisticated machinery and so were able to do more in-house. The Jewish workshops were used for big orders or rush jobs – not regular work. Though Leeds did not have the sweat shop reputation of the east end of London, at least one contemporary report was critical. He was probably unpopular with his workers, who worked fearful hours (6am-9pm for the unskilled) for low wages. The newer socialists/anarchists immigrants “who felt they could certainly set about the abolition of the most immediate capitalist class: the Jewish Masters” would not have improved his situation.”
- The address of John Lincoln Mahon to the Leeds Jewish Tailors (Der Arbeiter Freund, 13 January 1888)
Leeds, 3 January 1888
Dear Editor,
Last Sunday in our Tailors' and Pressers' Society, we had the pleasure of hearing the famous socialist speaker, Mr Mahon, who spoke on Socialism and trades unionism. As so many of our workers were certainly unable to understand his speech, I think it will not the superfluous to explain it briefly in your worthy paper so that our workers will be able to understand it. Firstly, Mr Mahon demonstrated that the worker's position in general is very tragic, and that his earnings never exceeded just sufficient for a small living. That means that the worker earns just enough to enable him to retain his labour strength for his master to exploit further, and that the worker never once succeeds, especially in recent years, in gaining relief from his heavy labours or in freeing himself from his slave status.
The worker, he said, is nowadays treated far worse than a horse, for, when the capitalist's horse is ill, he does everything to cure it and sees that it gets better food etc., but, when one of his workers gets sick, even if he has given up his best years and strength to the capitalist, he drives him straight out, and, although the poor worker needs more care than a healthy man, he finds himself in such a position that he has to die of hunger and need.
For centuries The poor workers were sunk in their deep ignorance and superstition, and, because of this, they thought that God had ordained that they should be the slaves of their bloodsuckers, and that it could not, therefore, be altered. For that reason, they never made the least effort to improve their tragic condition. But, when consciousness began to develop amongst the workers, they began to struggle against their bloodsuckers, and, as soon as they recognised that a single individual could do nothing, they began to unite in societies and trade unions. The cost in workers' blood was great before they obtained in 'free England' the legal right to build trade unions. But this was only a limited step forward in the great work, for societies can only slightly ease, but not completely transform, the tragic condition of the workers. As the workers may see for themselves, the foundation of their poverty is the master; and the interests of the master are not only opposed to those of the worker, but also to the interests of the other masters. When a master seeks to obtain work from a factory, he offers to do it more cheaply than the master to whom it is already being given, and, for that reason, he reduces the wages of his workers. Therefore, Socialism, which is no more than a higher stage of trades unionism, desires that the workers, instead of pursuing a permanent struggle against the masters which they almost always lose, shall throw off the master-yoke once and for all.
And in order that they would understand well who they were and what they have to do, he recommended them to read Arbeiter Freund, which was the true defender of the interests of all workers.
He closed his speech with the hope that the Jewish workers, who suffered no less than any other workers beneath the capitalist yoke, would surely not remain at a distance, and that they would rapidly organise and unify themselves in order to bring about the general liberation all the quicker.
Other Leeds socialist speakers and a lady were present, but, owing to the late hour, they were unable to speak. The president of the society, Mr Frank, thanked Mr Mahon deeply in the name of all the members and expressed the hope that he would visit other meetings in the future from time to time and awaken the sleeping spirit of our workers to the general struggle against the exploiting class. D.B.
MillSpace, Leeds Industrial Museum at Armley Mills, Canal Rd, Leeds, LS12 2QF
Exhibition: Tuesday 10 October 2017– Sunday 1 April 2018
Opening event: Friday 13 October, 2–5pm. Register your interest.
Opening on Tuesday 10 October at Leeds Industrial Museum, Interwoven Histories makes visible stories and experiences particular to migrant workers in Leeds and their contribution to industry and culture. Referencing the city’s expansive textile and clothing industry and history, the exhibition presents a collage of material to explore the work, lives and representations of migrants (past, present and future).
Part of a three-year Heritage Lottery (HLF) funded project curated by Pavilion, the exhibition is the result of ongoing archival research and conversations with people from across the city. Supported by Leeds Industrial Museum at Armley Mills, Interwoven Histories runs until Sunday 1 April 2018.
Interwoven Histories expands narratives around migration and looks at the issues of race, equality and citizenship that inevitably follow. The project addresses a period of time where the initial encouragement of migrant labour into the Britain to reinvigorate the postwar economy, turned into an atmosphere of political and social hostility towards mass immigration.
Cindy Sissokho, Pavilion, commented:
“Migration and labour are subjects that have been debated for decades and are now more relevant than ever, considering the global context we are living in. Hearing the incredible stories of change makers and unearthing archive materials has allowed us to share important narratives that too often go unrecorded."
Christopher Sharp, Assistant Community Curator, Leeds Museums and Galleries, added:
“Workers from overseas are vital to the story of Yorkshire’s textile industries. People tend to be aware of the great industry leaders such as Montague Burton, who moved from Lithuania to Britain in 1900 and set up the famous ‘Burtons’ brand, but less so of the tailors, weavers, and spinners from abroad who worked daily in textile manufacture throughout the twentieth century. This part of the story is currently underrepresented in Leeds Industrial Museum’s collections, which makes Pavilion’s project all the more important.”
Interwoven Histories includes archive photographs, testimonies, independent publications (Chapeltown News, The Other Paper and Leeds Other Paper), and new artworks by the Women’s Group at Meeting Point Leeds, alongside films depicting local industrial life by New Zealand artist Darcy Lange (1946–2005) and rare photographs of Leeds Market during 1960s by Timothy Neat (b.1943).
The exhibition will also be accompanied by a programme of events and screenings. In January 2018 Interwoven Histories will evolve as Japanese composer, performer and sound artist Ryoko Akama develops a newly commissioned work, funded by Leeds inspired, in response to the display.
Image: Timothy Neat, The Victorian market and the city of Leeds (series) circa 1965-66. Copyright Timothy Neat.
