Made in England: Stoke-on-Trent
I remember my first development trip to Stoke. I drove up the M40. Repeatedly listening to the same CD, I’d achieved a meditative high of anticipation and excitement, when the phone rang. It was a Stoke-on-Trent number. ‘Hello duck’ said an unfamiliar voice. ‘Snow is forecast. Best get here early.’ It was the landlady from my B&B, concerned, friendly and laconic — an encounter that was a model of many to come.
Stoke, now among the poorest cities in the UK, was one of the birthplaces of the Industrial Revolution. Naturally rich in coal, water and clay, it was until recently a centre of the coal, steel and pottery industries. Michelin is also based here. All these industries have been savaged over the past twenty years, leaving the city decimated. The Tories attack on the coal industry in the eighties, the effect of their policies on the steel industry, and the pressure on the ceramic industry to shift production to the Far East has had catastrophic effects on employment. Michelin employed 9000 people in the eighties. The figure today is 1000.
During the making of Made in England, I had meetings with both the Secretary and the Assistant General Secretary of the Ceramic and Allied Trades Union (formerly CATU, now renamed UNITY – an acronym that no longer refers to ceramic – a sad but realistic reflection of the vastly reduced significance of the ceramic industry to the union’s membership). Gary Oakes, the AGS, talked about the role of UNITY in supporting members’ changing employment. They had recently helped one set up a business doing nails and hair extensions, and aided another to find employment as an embalmer, he told me.
The public knows about what happened to the miners and the steel workers — they had powerful Union representation. But workers in the ceramic industry were particularly vulnerable. Potteries tended to be family businesses, small, and not unionised. The city of Stoke-on-Trent itself is a fairly recent invention. Stoke is a federation of six towns – Stoke, Hanley, Fenton, Longton, Tunstall and Burslem, each formerly with its own town hall, and local infrastructure. This accounts for much of the city’s character – on the one hand these were genuine local communities, each with a particularity of place, but they were also parochial and not very outward looking.
These observations are relevant to Made in England. I went to Stoke, not really knowing the city. I had to find out what it was. I knew the names of the towns – they were familiar from the backstamps, but what about local people? I wanted to involve the community in the project. As I drove in to snowy outskirts of the city, I wondered how I would do that.
As your thought processes are revealed in your posts, I find your style and history references both interesting and thought provoking. I wrote a grant many years ago to have a historic mural installed in our small Swedish community in Minnesota. It was an immersion in the history of the area I live in and I learned so much about the immigrants. There’s a fine balance between your vision and involving the community in some way. So much is hidden and revealed in these type of projects. Six roundels is beautiful and even more so knowing the history.
While the turn of events is sad, I don’t doubt you’ll come upon some points of light as well. And even “just” learning and conveying the stories is heartening. Looking fwd to the people-connection.
Thank you Danette. There are so many fascinating communities in the US. I think in Europe we often characterise the US as if it were an amorphous mass — and fail to see the particularity and individuality that is still very much alive.
So far, I have only put in details of the project. It does in fact have twenty roundels!