Voices of the Past: Music, Memories and Local History Project In Collaboration with Barton Hill History Group, Garry Atterton, Charlie + Jake, and Echoes and Edges
When local historians and members of the Barton Hill History Group, Garry Atterton and Dave Cheesley, collected hours of tape recordings of the Barton Hill residents during a 1980s-1990s Barton Hill History Group project, I’m sure that this was not how they imagined the outcome quite to be. After being locked away one day for safekeeping, the tapes were eventually forgotten about as they had seemingly disappeared in the depths of Dave’s garage until now. Rediscovered, dusted off, and condensed to a 40-minute creative live stream exhibit, Garry celebrated these treasured memories and invaluable relics that make the Voices of the Past Project so truly special. As Garry dedicates this National Lottery Heritage Fund funded project to his Grandfather, William Atterton, a Barton Hill Holmes Street resident who inspired the collection of community experiences initially; we begin to deeply appreciate the true spirit and ethos behind the project whilst also recognising how much love has gone into making this event happen today.
Accompanied by the creative genius of daughter Charlie Atterton and bandmate Jakob op den Brouw, the stories of the Barton Hill residents were bought to life through a variety of original compositions and unique instrumental segments. Charlie + Jake are a Bristol-based vocal and multi-instrumental duo, whose passion to combine their dulcet tones with powerful instrumental accompaniments radiates incredible soul and a rich atmosphere perfectly arranged for the project. This self-described ‘quirky jazzy’ duo are also a part of the Echoes and Edges collective, a fellow Bristol-based creative project headed by local poets and musicians with an aim to create experiences that amalgamate spoken word with improvised or composed pieces to bring the words to life.
Providing a blissful yet immersive ambience to match the photographs and spoken word extracts shared throughout the stream, Charlie + Jake could make any viewer feel as if they were a Barton Hill resident too, reflecting on their own history there. I really did feel, as someone who has never visited Barton Hill before, as though I grasped an understanding of the sensations felt through history thanks to the atmosphere that Charlie + Jake created with their multi-instrument arrangements - with the way in which Charlie replicated sounds from Barton Hill’s Great Western Cotton Mill with your everyday kitchen items being my personal favourite.
Set up in 1983, the Barton Hill History Group (BHHG) share a desire to learn about the past of Barton Hill and share their memories and photographs with others. With a dedicate committee and bi-annual newsletter in place, these Bartonians strive to preserve a rich history lost to urban regeneration and the community tore apart by post-war redevelopment projects. Throughout the stream, we are constantly reminded that not only did Barton Hill make the people, but the people made Barton Hill, and this legacy is set to be protected by the BHHG for many years to come.
Barton Hill was a very special place to those who lived and worked there in the mid-century. Though many of these contributing voices are no longer with us today, their tape recordings provide a lasting legacy that made for an astounding and educational escape from a very different world that we are living in today. Due to the soon to be well-document piece of history that we are currently living through, the Coronavirus pandemic, a number of BHHG events have been postponed. Though, I am sure that following the presentation of the Voices of the Past project they will be nothing but a huge success when the time safely comes.
This multi-media performance told contextualised tales of Barton Hill residents and events. And by peppering his descriptions with local colloquialisms and nicknames for iconic Barton Hill properties and communal landscapes, Garry is sure to have brought back many happy memories of a place where “everybody knew everybody” to any residents tuning in. Some viewers in the comments sections even shared how they had recognised their parents and relatives in the images shown on screen - showing what a marvellous gift this project has already been.
Split into four main segments, Garry recounted the tales of Barton Hill in a format following ‘The People’, ‘The Cotton Workers’, ‘The Place’ and ‘The Memory’. The recordings played in the first segment recognised and remembered the people and characters of Barton Hill, as we hear residents share their stories of iconic community members among themselves - sounding so joyful and delighted to be sharing these times. I can only envy the BHHG for having the opportunity to sit with some of Barton Hill’s most charismatic residents, as after welcoming their voices into my West-Walian living room this evening I am desperate to know more and listen to their tales for hours and hours. The livelihoods of Barton Hill residents really were turned upside down as the “tiny terraced houses” we demolished and disruption forced them to disperse across the city. This poses as a prime example of the connections formed and never forgotten, even through turmoil and distance in years gone by.
Following this was astounding accounts of working in the Great Western Cotton Factory, a factory with machinery and engineering way ahead of its time. Though a crucial feature in Barton Hill’s history, the Factory was founded by the slaver Bristolian elite - paid for with compensation awarded following the abolition of slavery and found to regularly exploit their devout workers. As an industrial jewel of Bristol, Barton Hill’s chemical works, metal works, colliery and cotton factory provided large scale employment and economic benefits for the settlement - a benefit that could not have been ignored in a post-war economy. The reflections on difficult working conditions and exploitations are explored in readings and reflections from workers, evidencing the sacrifices and incredibly hard work that residents did there whilst also giving listeners vivid sensory descriptions of the conditions. You can truly begin to imagine the sounds, smells and temperatures experienced within the factory, later to be arrestingly personified as a living monster. As one voice recalls how Barton Hill was a “good area to learn you trade unionism and socialism” we can also develop a sense of the worker’s alignments and socialist spirit that carried them through these working years.
With pensive and reflective intervals for live music whilst images and artwork of Barton Hill overtime rolled across the screen during the third and final fourth section, viewers really do feel as if they are watching a first-class documentary unfold in real-time. The pleasure of listening to this event live was not tainted by the pandemic, as the effort to still make the experience as immersive as possible truly was outstanding. The collaboration of spoken word and music that teams such as Echoes and Edges strive to create are paving the way for an amazing future of reflections, presentations and documentaries - and definitely something that I am very eager to experience more of!
This project and broadcasted recording has brought Barton Hill’s memory into the present day and will be used as a treasured tool to educate present and future generations of their ties to one of Bristol’s most important working communities. As the high rises of Barton Hill today now watch over generations of history and heritage created on the same soil, we can only hope that what character and memories remain of this iconic community will be preserved and talked about for many years to come with the utmost recognition and respect - reminding me of one striking quote that I’ll leave you with “we’re not a slum, we’re respectable, and so is Barton Hill”.
You can catch the live stream recording here on Charlie + Jake’s YouTube channel where it will remain forever - https://youtu.be/-ZY9tWLD-vU
Or check out the following for more -
http://www.bhhg.co.uk/about.php
Written by Caitlin Parr
Hey, I’m Caitlin! I’m a student at Cardiff University about to embark on an MA in Journalism, Media and Communications. I work a lot in advocating for better mental health and sex ed provisions in the student community and also in media and communications for a variety of welfare, youth education and international development organisations outside of Uni.