Burnley Talks

This oral history project was run by the Community Development Section of Burnley Borough Council with support from the Stocks Massey Bequest Fund to record the memories of older people living in Burnley and Padiham. The project started in June 1997 and a book, compilation tape and exhibition titled ‘Burnley Talks – Memories of the town’ were launched at Towneley Hall in March 1998.

42 interviews were conducted by volunteer interviewers Lawrence Chew, Daisy Choudhury, Edna O’Hara and Kath Thomas on cassette in community groups including over 50s clubs, Burnley Wood Community Group and the Bangladeshi Welfare Association.

Topics covered in the interviews include memories of schooldays, married life, local events, stories of work in local mills, factories and mines. Many recordings are of people who were born in the borough and who lived there all their lives. Some trace memories back to before the First World War. Others moved to Burnley from other parts of Britain, or from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.

Playlist from the Burnley Talks compilation tape

Memories of Sunday Schools

The Maypole song

On immigration

Half-time working in the mill

On fitting in

Working as a little piecer in the mill

Memories of the General Strike

Memories of my grandmother and home life

My father the fellmonger

On life as a batchelor

Family holidays in Southport

1. Memories of Sunday Schools

3:42

2. The Maypole song

2:17

3. On immigration

4:33

4. Half-time working in the mill

3:07

5. On fitting in

3:47

6. Working as a little piecer in the mill

2:50

7. Memories of the General Strike

2:43

8. Memories of my grandmother and home life

2:21

9. My father the fellmonger

3:11

10. On life as a batchelor

3:47

11. Family holidays in Southport

3:17

Playlist from clips made by UOSH project volunteer Maddie Sheldon

memories of school days and truancy anecdote

remembers local tradesmen, local traditions, and sense of community

recalls the businesses that once occupied Bridge Street, anecdote about her mother being one of the first in Burnley to have her fingerprints taken by police

remembers May Day and Empire Day celebrations

gives details of her first jobs and the difference in wages

leaving school and getting millinery apprenticeship at Mrs Milligans on Hebrew Road

remembers winning a competition held in honour of the Queens Silver Jubilee 1977

1. memories of school days and truancy anecdote

2:34

2. remembers local tradesmen, local traditions, and sense of community

2:31

3. recalls the businesses that once occupied Bridge Street, anecdote about her mother being one of the first in Burnley to have her fingerprints taken by police

1:29

4. remembers May Day and Empire Day celebrations

1:54

5. gives details of her first jobs and the difference in wages

2:10

6. leaving school and getting millinery apprenticeship at Mrs Milligans on Hebrew Road

2:41

7. remembers winning a competition held in honour of the Queens Silver Jubilee 1977

1:58

The full length interviews will be available at Lancashire Archives in due course. A selection of interviews will be published on the British Library website.

You can read the full descriptions online at the British Library’s Sound and Moving Image catalogue. The British Library collection reference is UAP019. The local reference is 2008.0001-0141.