An ear to bash (part 2)

This is the second part of our interview with an anonymous homeless person, for The Homeless Library project. The interviewee was kind enough to give not only their time, but also many insights about living on the streets of Manchester. This is a community living parallel to the mainstream, a city within a city...

'Home' handmade book for the project The Homeless Library 2015

Anonymous:

In Manchester, there's another city underneath, The Coal City. A tunnel between Manchester and Salford that they used to ship the coal down. It's warm and damp down there. Out towards Deansgate, they caged it so people can't get in but the lads have other ways in. Survival, innit? There's some old air raid shelters that start in Manchester and come out in Stockport. Miles and miles of tunnels down there, and people sleeping in all of them. Cops in Manchester don't know where to find people.

When you're homeless you go to get counted, for benefits. In Manchester you go to Swan Street Counting In and they give you a green card and then they can help you. But you've got to be counted in first. They have to go and see where you sleep. They get involved with people, try to help, give them the green ticket. In Stockport you go to the Council and they have to go and see you're sleeping rough. 

There are a lot of older people on the street. Some of the younger homeless look out for the older ones, for them getting robbed and stuff. One man of 79 was living out in Manchester. Done a lot in his life, lost his wife, ended up drinking. He'd lost his pension book, they were putting his pension in the bank and he hadn't claimed it for 20 odd years, thousands of pounds. But he's still on the street, part of his life now.

It's peaceful, it gets to be a way of life altogether. I was on the street, it's hard but easy. That's where I got all me scars. I've had all me clothes pinched when I was asleep, that was by homeless people, surviving. People punch you, piss on you. 

Can't get full benefits when you're homeless. In Manchester they knock a quarter off your benefit, cos you haven't got gas and electric to pay for. You get penalised cos you're homeless. I can call this place (Wellspring) as my permanent address. Four people put their houses up for mortgage to build this place. This used to be an old shack, roof fell apart. Peter rebuilt it. Having a permanent address means a lot to me, I've been offered full time work but I can't take it without a permanent address. 

God Loves You All, mono print, anon 2015

Most people who volunteer here are Christian. People on the street, some believe God is keeping them alive. Wellspring is the heart of Stockport, the main heart. No matter what you've done they never judge you here. In the bible it says if you judge others you will be judged yourself. Staff help you get in touch with benefits, doctors... They treat you as a person not a tramp, not scum. "Come in and get a shower, get clean clothes." They help not only homeless people, but people who can't cope. People who can't read, can't pay their bills. They might have a roof over their head but they can't keep a home.

I help others on the street myself. I do a bit of voluntary in here (The Wellspring) general maintenance. Talked to a young guy who was gonna do himself in. I says: nothing can be as bad as all that. He was self harming. I said life is worth more than death. Mentioned places that could help him. People get very desperate, some desperate times if you think you are worth nothing. Obviously, confidence in yourself goes, that's when people flip. Or flip with others and go to jail.

It is a community. Homeless people have their fights, but they still help each other. Poor people always do. Give someone a couple of pounds for a drink if they're needing. I know that isn't helping with the substance problem, but if you've never been rattling for a drink, or rattling for drugs you won't understand what a rescue that is. I used to be a drinker, still touch it a bit. I'm dissing myself for starting to drink, but I need a drink to sleep. Then the tablets I'm on for diabetes and depression don't work properly. That's why I go on my own, cos if I hang out with drinkers it's "just another one, just another one..." 

I was an alcoholic, left my house, everything. My dad died in my arms when I was 12 years old, Christmas Day. I was put out to foster parents.

Wellspring gives people a chance for a change, they might be homeless but they aren't helpless. Sounds like a t-shirt message doesn't it? 

Cities don't want to know this history. Some people are made homeless for their own stupidity, but some are made homeless through the Councils, some have been raped, some have mental health issues... I've spent days listening to stories of these people. It's all in my head, maybe that's why I can't sleep. When you're on the street, you're in a different world. You got other homeless people and the people from the pubs booting ya, and the police. 

I might've slept in bins, but I've got a big dream. I dream that if I can get enough people together to get hold of an old building, I will get people off the streets to build a drop-in. Manchester needs a place where the homeless can do it up and respect it. 

One out of 10 street people are fearful of others. Trust means a lot to everyone. I went to a Christian woman's house once and stayed there for three months. She trusted me. People trust staff here (in The Wellspring) cos they're helping people. Trust. People change when they come in here, it makes them wonder: why go out there again? People can change in a good way. But people give up on themselves too. If you give up on yourself you've got nothing left.

Today I will tidy Kath's grave up, my sister's kid's grave...

People know me and trust me - and that trust means more to me than any home.

Mono prints being made as part of the Homeless Library, Wellspring 2015

   

An ear to bash

We are now deep into our new project The Homeless Library, working at The Wellspring resource centre for homeless and disadvantaged people in Stockport. Many homeless people live and die as "invisibles" who are not valued or acknowledged. When they die (and rough sleepers have a very short life expectancy) their very existence leaves no trace, except in memory. This project opens an untold chronicle, that exists off the pages of official history books...

Image courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives

Anonymous:

Keep it anonymous - people on the street will know who said it anyway. 

I always start from the beginning. I've had two of my mates die next to me in the streets of Manchester. Wake up in the morning and they've died, I was talking to them the night before. When you ask where they're buried, there's plaques with "Unknown", "Unknown", in Southern Cemetery. £15 to bury them, still called a pauper's grave, and a plaque with all the people who died. 

"Bag Lady" her name was Kath, met her on Store Street underneath the railway arches. They were knocking them down whilst we were sleeping there. 2005, knocked it all down and turned it into a car park. You'd go underneath the Store Street tunnel and then on the left hand side the old arches went back into the ground. We woke one morning and they were knocking it down on top of us. That's how I met Steve and Irene. 

Steve and Irene Brown, we call them mum and dad on the street. Come round twice a week, a Christian food van, used to be an ambulance. They've been doing it 12 years. The Christian Fellowship Church in Sale. Barnabus started coming in on different nights, a medical van and food. One for the working girls and one for us.

Steve and Irene mean a lot to me. When I was younger, lost my faith in God. I got re-baptised at Steve's church. Once a week Steve would ring me up (if it was a girl Irene would ring them) and say can I take you out for a meal? A group of homeless people got together and wrote a letter to the Queen - he got an MBE through the guys on the street. 

A woman came down Store Street with a couple of oranges. Homeless people wouldn't take them from her as they didn't trust her. I went over and took one and then the others did after. She asked me to help build a shop. She's a physiotherapist, takes the aches and pains from the homeless people. Jane from Bolton, she's a Christian as well, gave me my first cross. Three and a half months building for her, lived in the place whilst doing it. 

"Jesus" Paul, my best mate in Stockport, has a card with a Red Cross on it. Looks homeless himself. Beard and long hair. Goes down The Mustard Tree, helps out, gives them roll up paper, washing machines...

Two Finger Dave used to deal in guns, got his fingers cut off. He's a Christian now, turned his life around. Was on drugs. Been in a house four years now, homeless before. Through the same Church I met him and Steve Brown.

Kath the Bag Lady, I was honoured to carry her coffin. She died two years ago. Would always come down to the street, always carrying bags, face covered in makeup, bright red lipstick. Would always help homeless people, give a pound. We would tell her our problems, have a cry on her shoulder. I wanted to put a plaque up for her, at The Queen in Piccadilly Gardens. There's a wooden seat and she'd sit there all the time. An ear to bash. They found out after she died she was loaded, had gold in the house, rings she would buy, all went to her brother.

She wasn't living on the streets, looked like a clown with makeup all over her face. But if she saw you she would come out with something from her bag, biscuits or something to eat, or give you a quid. Everyone will tell you about Kath, everyone loved her. These people I'm telling you about, it's the way I see them, but it's the way other people on the street see them as well.

Council said there were 48 people living homeless when they were confronted by the Evening News. We know there were 4000. It was in the Manchester Evening News, a few years ago now. Council denying how many people are homeless in Manchester. They've always denied how many's homeless. They've even chased the vans away from Store Street to outside the city centre. On Wednesday now Steve goes to Oil Street with his van, it's where the working girls go, on the way to Openshaw. The Council are driving them further and further away. In the last four years they've shifted the vans five times. There's a curry van comes onto Oxford Road that's run by a guy who owns a restaurant, and another run by the students. Not a lot of people know about those vans, but the homeless do, obviously.

I know where everyone is sleeping in Manchester. Salford arches, at least 40 people. Deansgate  arches, quite a lot. It should be known, because people are dying there. Yes some are drinking, some are smoking, but they're still human beings.


The Homeless Library is a project devised by arthur+martha to document the heritage of homelessness using interviews, artworks, poetry. It is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Foundation Derbyshire Award

PRESS RELEASE

Foundation Derbyshire Award for arthur+martha CIC

We are delighted to receive a Foundation Derbyshire Award for the arthur+martha CIC project Stitching The Wars. This is a community quilt embroidered with reminiscence from older people living in rural Derbyshire affected by the two world wars. Ian Tansley from Rathbones who presented the award last week to Lois Blackburn and Philip Davenport from arthur+martha was particularly keen to highlight the contribution made to the quilt by people with dementia.

Lois Blackburn, Ian Tansley and Philip Davenport at the Awards Ceremony

The award citation from Foundation Derbyshire included this statement: "One in three people over 65 will develop dementia, with the number of people affected by dementia set to double over the next 40 years. More than ever we are seeing local volunteers and the community reaching out to support those affected, with arthur+martha showing how this work can be achieved in a beautiful and supportive way."

Lois Blackburn commented: "This is public art made by the public and we've been delighted to witness its growth and the richness of experience it contains. It is touchable history, a quilt hand-stitched, with contributions by over 400 older people including fragments of their stories. One of the great joys of the project has been to witness the pleasure of people with dementia who have taken part, turning memory from a thing to be feared to a thing to be relished. This quilt is a precious contribution to us all."

The project is ongoing and a second quilt will be made during 2015; both quilts will then be exhibited in galleries and libraries in the East Midlands and the North West.

We are also pleased to share a delightful new film made by film maker John Felix, showcasing a couple of the participants Madge and Tom. 

The project has been supported by Arts Council England, Foundation Derbyshire, Derbyshire County Council, Derbyshire Dales Council, Age UK, The Alzheimer's Society and The Farming Life Centre. We would like to thank the many, many people who have participated and whose work has made this a very special project.

Detail of the Stitching the Wars Quilt

Foundation Derbyshire Award for arthur+martha

We don't generally go in for prizes, so it was a surprise and honour to be in the lineup for the Foundation Derbyshire Awards. We were alongside some of the finest community projects we'd ever come across. As we sat watching a film of the participating groups, Lois and I were both struck by the kindness and determination that drives many of these organisations.

We'd particularly like to mention the TOGS group, providing clothes for children and young people whose parents can't afford to clothe them properly. This is an organisation that was run for the first months of its existence from the bedroom of its founder. It was both uplifting and sad to encounter TOGS. Uplifting to know that there is a kind spirit helping fellow humans in distress - and sad to think that there is such a need in our society.

The prize giving was at Derby Art Gallery and Museum, a place full of serene rooms, showing off a fine collection of 19th Century oil paintings paintings by Wright of Derby. I've always sniffed at grandiose ceremonies (and Wright of Derby) but tonight these paintings dignified the wonderful, matter-of-fact heroism of these people in a way that I suspect they themselves would shy from.

Detail of the Stitching the Wars quilt

We were lucky enough to obtain an award, given to arthur+martha for Lois' brainchild the Stitching the Wars project, which has rested on the work of older people, especially older people with dementia. It is touchable history, a quilt hand-stitched made with input of over 300 older people with fragments of their stories. This is public art made by the public and we've been delighted to witness its growth and the richness of experience it distills.  

Ian Tansley from Rathbones who presented the award was particularly keen to highlight the contribution made to the quilt by people with dementia. The citation from Foundation Derbyshire included this statement: "One in three people over 65 will develop dementia, with the number of people affected by dementia set to double over the next 40 years. More than ever we are seeing local volunteers and the community reaching out to support those affected, with arthur+martha CIC showing how this work can be achieved in a beautiful and supportive way."

Stitching the Wars is ongoing and a second quilt will be made during 2015; both quilts will then be exhibited in galleries and libraries in Derbyshire and further afield.

The project has been supported by Arts Council England,  Foundation Derbyshire, Derbyshire County Council, Derbyshire Dales Council, Age UK, The Alzheimer's Society, The Farming Life Centre and New Mills Volunteer Centre.  We would like to thank the many, many people who have participated and whose work has made this a very special art-making.

Stitching the Wars quilt, work in progress at Buxton Library

Looking for Utopia

Ned and Flo, well known local "vagrants", Whitwell c1930s. Photo courtesy of www.picturethepast.org,uk

Lois writes:

Yesterday was our first session at The Wellspring Stockport, a resource centre for homeless and disadvantaged people, with the project The Homeless Library. We took in archive photos and interviews with older people we've met, for participants at the Wellspring to respond to.

Kath, one of the older people we interviewed, had memories of tramps in the 1930s: 

The poverty in those times was so bad, they created thieves. There was hardly no dole in my day. Unemployed marching from Manchester to Salford. If you had nothing, you had nothing. Can you imagine what it was like? There was a workhouse in Eccles. If they found a tramp in the street, they'd put him in the workhouse. I was lucky I had a dad who had a job, worked on the tramways.

Brian: looking for Utopia. Stockport, 2015

Yesterday, we met Brian at The Wellspring who very happily described himself as tramp, a man with no fixed abode, living a free life.

Brian:

The difference between of a tramp and a dossier? A tramp is always moving from town to town, a dossier will stay in one place for years and years. I’m definitely a tramp. I don’t pay utility bills, I have a free life and get £150 a week pocket money. There is nobody like me in there. You hit the jackpot. 30 years being a tramp, going to Marple tonight, I’ll be ok tonight, people know me, it's safe, residential, people bring me food- there aren’t many tramps in Marple. No problems in Marple, very middle class. The best place to sleep in a middle class place. I’ll get food there. Bramhall Park tonight, beautiful up in Marple Bridge, the canal, the viaduct. I’ll get a dinner for £1.00 at the old age centre, I qualify for that.

        

I was in Guildford yesterday, came up by coach. I was stupid to sleep here last night (in Stockport) got punched in the face, not healthy getting punched in the face at 2 in the morning. (Laughs.) It was a young guy, probably drunk. But you can't be vindictive, you only live once.

I’ve been in the Merchant Navy, the RAF, I’m not the marrying type, not one for responsibility. I’ve been the same since I was 17 and a half. What you call a loose cannon.

I’m coming up 65, I get a pension credit.

(On sleeping rough) Make sure you're warm, that’s the basic thing, warm - hypothermia - keeping warm that’s the ultimate goal. I get my head down about 5pm when it gets dark- why walk around when its dark and cold? Get into a sleeping bag, sleep on cardboard, that’s real insulation- if it's really cold I’ll make a big box out of cardboard, a huge insulation. 8 hours no problem, as long as you're not disturbed. You''re vulnerable if you're in town centre, it's safe out in Marple, middle-class.

I got into it by accident, realized I could have a free life, no utility bills - how good is this? I got freedom, looked at it like this - if I work I’m a prisoner of society. I never get bored. I keep moving, preoccupied every day. The secret is to be not too educated, keep it simple, something to eat, a few beers, a fag, keep it simple. I’ve had a medical, I’m fully fit, not diseased anything, no heart disease or anything, 65 not bad eh? Life's simple, always looking for Utopia, looking for it, can’t find it. A life without problems.

Keep myself to myself, a quick fix, a couple of days then I move on. I do mix but a quick fix. You meet good guys and bad guys. If I can keep going another 10 years... but I have had my day. Anything after 65 a bonus. Not fussy, never get fussy.

In the 80s it was totally different situation, could get casual work, £2 an hour, cash in hand not a problem. There were more casual hostels, could buy a bed for £1.70 for the night, far different than now. Most councils got rid of them. Had re-settlement centres, could walk off the streets. You’d have to take a shower when you came in, they’d check your gear for lice - otherwise the whole place would be crawling, then a 10 minute process interview. Right up to the 1990s, when they were abolished. The government said costing too much money. DHS resettlement Centres. 1979 when I went on the streets, a loose cannon. Just drifted after that.

When I was young remember a couple of tramps in their 50s, the guy was called Tommy, the woman Aggie/ Agnes. They didn’t get any welfare benefit, hardship money in the 1950s, they worked on the golf course caddying for food money. Real tramps those two. They weren’t married, hung about together, that was Radcliffe in Manchester. Well known in the town, but where they slept nobody knew - there would have been plenty of derelict houses. Tommy stank sometimes in the summer, never had a bath! Good people, well known. They got by pretty well.

Get a base next, that’s my game now. I wouldn’t come up North now in this weather, don’t get fussy, get a base, then I can still move around. I’m starting to feel it now. The worst scenario is to get pissed and go to sleep outside. You need to be able to move about when you get cold, get up, move around. 

What advice would I give? You’re only on this planet once: keep going.


Brian was interviewed by Lois at The Wellspring 5 Feb 2015. The Homeless Library is a project devised by arthur+martha to document the heritage of homelessness using interviews, artworks, poetry. It is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.