Breathing History
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As part of our restoration of the Church, Heritage Lottery Funding has provided some funds for different projects which enable the Church to reach out to the wider community. Here Mr David Howarth, Head of History at Our Lady’s Catholic College, speaks about a project which is bringing the school and church together, past and present.
Our Lady’s history students have been involved in a fascinating local history project with St. Joseph’s Church since 2019. We were delighted to be invited by Fr Philip in the summer of 2019, and since then have enjoyed a number of stimulating visits and opportunities to explore the rich local history on our doorstep. Unfortunately, as the project was gathering momentum, and just after our visit to the Church in March 2020, the world went into lockdown and our project was stalled. We are, however, very hopeful that we can begin again as soon as we are able!
After our initial discussions about the project, our first task was to ‘train’ our students in the skills needed for local history research and in particular interviewing people about their memories. A group of Y10 History students enjoyed a really interesting afternoon at Lancaster University in October 2019. We worked with Dr. Sam Riches from the Regional History Department, who led us through some of the approaches required in conducting successful local history research. We toured the thriving campus and visited the enormous library, met with enthusiastic History undergraduates, listened to archive recordings of Skerton residents who were born in the Victorian era, and practised our interview skills in preparation for our research. The visit was really exciting and so good for our students, many from non-University backgrounds. As passionate historians, it was great for them to see the potential opportunities and career paths open to students of history. I think there was also a sense of pride that their local history was being studied, researched and archived at this academic level.
Following the University visit we took another group of students to St. Joseph’s, in November 2019. A group of Y8, Y9 and Y10 historians enjoyed a really interesting talk from Ruth Baker, a local historian and writer who has subsequently published a marvellous book about the story and history of St. Joseph’s Church. The talk was about the local area from the time of Henry VIII to today, and the history of the local Catholic community. We were also given a tour of some of the most historic parts of the church, heard the history behind the wonderful new icon dedicated to the Lancashire Martyrs, and were able to handle some items that dated back 500 years to the later Tudor era, a time when Catholics were being persecuted in England. All in all it was a fascinating visit and the students showed great interest and excellent knowledge. Again, it was so inspiring for our students to see the different contexts and careers an interest in history can lead to. Added to this, the realisation that the ‘big’ history that they study at school has been played out so dramatically at a local level was a real eye-opener. The students were particularly moved and inspired by the stories of the local Catholic community’s persecution, survival, and revival.
Our next visit was in early March 2020, when our students had the fantastic opportunity to handle and study St. Joseph’s fascinating archive which dates back to the 19th Century. Amongst a wide range of documents, the students were really engaged by primary school registers from the early 20th Century, clippings from local newspapers detailing crimes that had occurred in the parish in the 1920s, tragic records of disease outbreaks during the First World War, and parish records that detailed the local reaction to events such as the evacuation of Dunkirk and VE Day. We made archive records of what we had discovered and took photos so we can use the information in lessons. The students had been handpicked by their teachers and showed why they had been chosen - they were really focused, impeccably behaved and showed a real love and appreciation for their history studies and the stories from our local area.
And then, unfortunately, the world changed!
When we are able to, and school life returns to some normality, the plan is as follows:
Organise interviews with some of the older parishioners to gather their memories of life in Skerton, the impact of WW2 and the social changes of the years that followed. There are members of the congregation who have family links in the area going back several generations, and no doubt memories and stories linked to our school and to local primaries.
Set up a website / Facebook page to gather the material so that other members of our local community can access and contribute.
Enjoy more visits to the Church allowing more students access to the archive, and use the materials in our history curriculum in school.
This project (so far) has shown that local history can be used to teach national and international history in a really rich and diverse way. The history of Lancaster itself can reveal so much about our diverse island story, but we really are lucky to have St. Joseph’s on our doorstep. The school, and our students, look forward to a long lasting historical relationship St. Joseph’s!
