Reference WWA DF4 - Moreene Bennett
- Reference Number: DX-1043/18
- Date: Jul 2013
- Level: Item
- Extent: 1 item
- Format: CD-ROM
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Description: 00:29 Growing up in Barbados and coming to England when she was sixteen on the 16th June 1961.
01:06 Describes how both her parents died four days apart leaving her when she was four and a half years old plus 7 other children to be brought up by different members of the community.
03:48 She came to Liverpool on the SS Surrienda, to stay with her sister in London. Describes her first impressions of England when she arrived at night.
05:26 Life as a teenager. Prejudice. Feeling unsafe.
06:00 Socialising in other family's homes on Sundays, sharing food, trying to recreate extended family.
06:30 Having to use a paraffin heater to keep warm, living in rooms with no ventilation, children getting asthma.
07:09 Coming to Wolverhampton. Getting Married. Fond memories of living with an Asian family in Leicester Street. Going to the market with them. People would not touch her hand when giving her change.
08:33 Getting a job at a metal company in Wombourne polishing pots, then working at Dyecast on a hand press. A good mix of people worked there.
10:19 Comparing young people today with young people of her generation.
Her feelings on the empowerment of women.
14:31 Changes in women's lives during her lifetime. Being able to buy a house, negotiate without men.
15:46 Feelings on the changing role and ethos of marriage.
17:28 Describes changes in the city, shops, cost of things, friendliness.
18:20 Expresses her worry for Wolverhampton and its people in the future.
20:33 The household appliances that have made the most impact on her life - the washer and central heating. Describes how to make a coal fire.
21:15 Describes taking her washing to the "bag wash" and going to the communal baths for a bath. - Access Status: Open
- Contact: Wolverhampton Archives, Wolverhampton Archives & Local Studies