New Wortley Community Centre’s new history group

A new group at New Wortley Community Centre is looking forward to looking back on the area’s history.

Transcript

00:00It's a very working class area now, it has been. Largely back-to-back housing. In those

00:07days it just seemed that there was so much more community about the place. I just think

00:12there's something that we're missing these days and I'd like to just delve a bit more

00:17into that.

00:18This new group at the new Wortley Community Centre on Tong Road are looking forward to

00:23looking back in time. The history group meets monthly and plans to delve into many aspects

00:28of the area's past.

00:30We do lots of groups at the centre and one of the groups I've kept talking about was

00:35let's set up a history group. I didn't know if it was going to take off, but it seems

00:42to be doing very well so far.

00:44On this particular evening the group were joined by Fiona and Terry from Geo Spence

00:48and Sons Limited, the tools, hardware and ironmongery specialists who have been based

00:53in the area since 1888.

00:57Sometimes you start off doing history a bit like you used to do in infant school. Start

01:00with the Ice Age and hope you get to the end of the 8th before you leave school. But what

01:05was happening tonight was really imaginative and really helpful. It was more like cake

01:11or wine tasting. Cut through a slice, a business, look at a part of the criminal justice system

01:19in the prison, look at Armley Moor. Very different projects but very detailed and cutting through,

01:25speaking in particular, talking about the names of real people that did it, bringing

01:29in real people involved in it.

01:31All ideas are welcome to shape the future of the group.

01:35I've seen lots of adverts dating back to the Victorian times. They were at the end of every

01:42street in New Worley and I would love to be able to build a map of Victorian New Worley.

01:51The interpretation of history changes and we forget there's the challenges of the past

01:56but there's some good stuff in there as well that perhaps we can resurrect now.