The Passions of Youth
Lead Research Organisation:
Manchester Metropolitan University
Department Name: History and Economic History
Abstract
The Passions of Youth, which follows on from research conducted for an AHRC supported monograph, Being Boys, intends to showcase the creative potential of 'ordinary' working-class young men in their teens as an alternative to popular assumptions made about working-class young men, which tend to ignore the ordinary and everyday and focus on the exceptional, sensational and negative. This proposal focuses on the 'joiners', those who have actively followed particular leisure interests, with the aim of strengthening and validating their choices and communicating their enthusiasm for them to a public audience. The Passions of Youth celebrates the skills and experiences that working-class young men often develop when they participate in particular leisure activities, in this case football, speedway and music. The project is delivered through three groups in Manchester and Salford: FC United of Manchester, Belle Vue Aces (Speedway) and Salford Youth Hub, and uses a variety of creative approaches and the medium of these shared leisure passions to enable working-class young men in their teens and older working-class men who were teenagers between the 1940s and 1970s to explore changing experiences of youth. The young working-class men will be empowered to shape their own narratives of their leisure experiences and alternative interpretations of age and working-class masculinity.
The Passions of Youth is more than about the activity itself, in this case, football, music and speedway racing; it offers participants opportunities to reflect on and become more self-aware of the wide range of skills these activities utilise, from social interaction and collaboration to self-sufficiency and resilience. A range of creative activities, chosen by the young men themselves, will help them to acquire new skills and the confidence to put their leisure pursuit into a broader historical and community context. The activities will build up knowledge and confidence by giving individuals a sense of empowerment and ownership to help them convey the personal meanings of their particular leisure enthusiasm and share, learn and reflect on it with others outside their immediate environment. The young men who participate will develop a range personal and transferable skills, becoming experienced in authoring the creative and social aspects of their projects, creating new archives and collections, articulating their own ideas and showing how history can be used to 'do something positive'. The involvement of Manchester Histories and the Manchester Histories Festivals in 2014 and 2015 will provide large audiences for the project's creative outcomes. Local communities will be encouraged to take pride in the expertise of these young men, public awareness of their potential will be raised and popular stereotypes of their behaviour will be challenged.
The Passions of Youth is based on collaborative partnerships and sustainable, creative engagements between Manchester Metropolitan University, community organisations and those working in the creative professions across Greater Manchester, which will enable the young men to present and showcase their particular leisure enthusiasms to each other and to the public. The proposal's underlying aim is to communicate the potential of humanities research to stimulate fresh and innovative approaches to aspects of working-class young men's lives which are usually overlooked and unseen by the public and in broader political debates.
The Passions of Youth is more than about the activity itself, in this case, football, music and speedway racing; it offers participants opportunities to reflect on and become more self-aware of the wide range of skills these activities utilise, from social interaction and collaboration to self-sufficiency and resilience. A range of creative activities, chosen by the young men themselves, will help them to acquire new skills and the confidence to put their leisure pursuit into a broader historical and community context. The activities will build up knowledge and confidence by giving individuals a sense of empowerment and ownership to help them convey the personal meanings of their particular leisure enthusiasm and share, learn and reflect on it with others outside their immediate environment. The young men who participate will develop a range personal and transferable skills, becoming experienced in authoring the creative and social aspects of their projects, creating new archives and collections, articulating their own ideas and showing how history can be used to 'do something positive'. The involvement of Manchester Histories and the Manchester Histories Festivals in 2014 and 2015 will provide large audiences for the project's creative outcomes. Local communities will be encouraged to take pride in the expertise of these young men, public awareness of their potential will be raised and popular stereotypes of their behaviour will be challenged.
The Passions of Youth is based on collaborative partnerships and sustainable, creative engagements between Manchester Metropolitan University, community organisations and those working in the creative professions across Greater Manchester, which will enable the young men to present and showcase their particular leisure enthusiasms to each other and to the public. The proposal's underlying aim is to communicate the potential of humanities research to stimulate fresh and innovative approaches to aspects of working-class young men's lives which are usually overlooked and unseen by the public and in broader political debates.
Planned Impact
Who will benefit?: The most direct beneficiaries will be working-class young men from East Manchester (Belle Vue Aces Speedway); an ethnically diverse group of young men from north Manchester, (FC United, Manchester); white working-class young men who are members of Salford Youth Hub's Young Fathers Group. The project will improve communication and presentational skills and broaden personal and educational horizons through engagement with university students and access to education advice via university staff. MA students and undergraduate volunteers will be encouraged to become respectful researchers and public engagement practitioners, sensitive to the community and personal implications of academic research. The image of local communities will be enhanced by publicity about the positive aspects of these young men's lives. Youth workers and community education professionals will gain from the project's ideas and resources. North-west archives will acquire valuable youth-inspired collections. The ability to stimulate further similar initiatives will be encouraged by the development of new, sustainable creative engagements and partnerships between MMU, community organisations, creative professionals across Greater Manchester, third sector organisations and the general public.
Why does it matter?: The Passions of Youth matters because society needs to be less dismissive of working-class young men and recognise their ability to demonstrate enthusiasm, commitment and potential. The proposal connects with and supports broader policy themes in relation to youth work and community engagement and links to current policy discussions among youth workers and educators, who have emphasised the need to develop more creative ways of engaging boys and young men (Haen, 2011; Way & Chu, 2004). The young men from diverse geographical areas who engage with the project will acquire new experiences and understand similarities and differences by coming into contact with others from different localities and cultural backgrounds and learn more about the historical and social context of their activity. Health and well-being will be promoted through the process of sharing, learning and reflecting with others, empowering participants to communicate to a wide audience and challenging the negative assumptions often made about young men from their social backgrounds.
Dissemination: Dissemination through Manchester Histories and the final symposium will bring project activities to a broad regional and national audience, which will include local communities, youth workers, educationalists, schools, history and heritage groups, archivists, librarians and museums personnel. MMU's press office will generate local and national print media coverage.
Capturing anticipated benefits: Evaluation and monitoring will ensure that the project is on target. Potential routes into creative engagement (and learning) will be recorded via qualitative feedback, and monitoring views and responses via social media and other media coverage. Website analytical software will monitor views and engagement through project promotion on the Manchester Histories website. Visual documentation will be conducted via photography or the involvement of an illustrator.
Demonstrating success: Manchester Histories will help support the project's sustainability over the longer term. It will ensure that contact with groups and individuals will be maintained after the funded activities have finished and help establish new models of engagement and best practice for the future. The provision of Arts Award training for the management of each group will support on-going creative activities and future projects. Manchester Histories and the Manchester Centre for Regional History will continue working with each of the groups and will look for further on-going funding to enable creative activities to be developed and expanded with each organization after the Passions of Youth finishes.
Why does it matter?: The Passions of Youth matters because society needs to be less dismissive of working-class young men and recognise their ability to demonstrate enthusiasm, commitment and potential. The proposal connects with and supports broader policy themes in relation to youth work and community engagement and links to current policy discussions among youth workers and educators, who have emphasised the need to develop more creative ways of engaging boys and young men (Haen, 2011; Way & Chu, 2004). The young men from diverse geographical areas who engage with the project will acquire new experiences and understand similarities and differences by coming into contact with others from different localities and cultural backgrounds and learn more about the historical and social context of their activity. Health and well-being will be promoted through the process of sharing, learning and reflecting with others, empowering participants to communicate to a wide audience and challenging the negative assumptions often made about young men from their social backgrounds.
Dissemination: Dissemination through Manchester Histories and the final symposium will bring project activities to a broad regional and national audience, which will include local communities, youth workers, educationalists, schools, history and heritage groups, archivists, librarians and museums personnel. MMU's press office will generate local and national print media coverage.
Capturing anticipated benefits: Evaluation and monitoring will ensure that the project is on target. Potential routes into creative engagement (and learning) will be recorded via qualitative feedback, and monitoring views and responses via social media and other media coverage. Website analytical software will monitor views and engagement through project promotion on the Manchester Histories website. Visual documentation will be conducted via photography or the involvement of an illustrator.
Demonstrating success: Manchester Histories will help support the project's sustainability over the longer term. It will ensure that contact with groups and individuals will be maintained after the funded activities have finished and help establish new models of engagement and best practice for the future. The provision of Arts Award training for the management of each group will support on-going creative activities and future projects. Manchester Histories and the Manchester Centre for Regional History will continue working with each of the groups and will look for further on-going funding to enable creative activities to be developed and expanded with each organization after the Passions of Youth finishes.
Publications
BROOKSHAW S
(2022)
A Cultural History of Youth in the Modern Age
Tebbutt
(2016)
Making Youth: A History of Youth in Modern Britain
Tebbutt M
(2016)
Making Youth
Tebbutt M
(2016)
Making Youth
Tebbutt M
(2016)
Making Youth
Tebbutt M
(2016)
Making Youth
Tebbutt M
(2017)
Listening to Youth? BBC Youth Broadcasts during the 1930s and the Second World War
in History Workshop Journal
Tebbutt M
(2016)
Making Youth
Tebbutt M
(2016)
Making Youth
| Title | 100 Years and Still Fighting - Collyhurst and Moston Lads Club |
| Description | A film made by young men from Collyhurst and Moston ABC at Collyhurst and Moston Lads' Club as part of the Passions of Youth Project. Describes their passion for boxing, its importance in their lives and the significance of the club in their local community. It includes sequences based on their research into the life of the black boxer, Len Johnson, Britain's best middle-weight boxer in the late-1920s who was never allowed to fight for an official title because of the colour bar. Also discusses Johnson's subsequent role as a civil rights activist in Manchester. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | The heritage and creative approaches developed during the project have been applied in subsequent projects working with young people in this community, and through the AHRC 'Voices of War and Peace' award. They have also contributed to the development of a successful Comic Relief application, 'Girls Getting out for Good: Preventing Gangs through Participation', which is working with the same project partners as the 'Passions of Youth' project. |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/138640098 |
| Title | A Story of Collyhurst Boxers: Jock McAvoy and Johnny King. |
| Description | A 5 minute historical film about two well-known boxers from north Manchester. Made by young men from Collyhurst and Moston ABC at Collyhurst and Moston Lads' Club, who researched boxers' background and performed in the film with the support of workers from the 'Passions of Youth' project. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2016 |
| Impact | The heritage and creative approaches developed during the project have been applied in subsequent projects working with young people in this community, and through the AHRC 'Voices of War and Peace' award. |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/172890320 |
| Title | Adam, FC United |
| Description | One of several short films made to highlight the stories of why the young men on the project are passionate about their sport and how they became involved in it. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | Films made as part of the project contributed ideas for the development of a successful Comic Relief application and a KTP. |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/122655037 |
| Title | Ben, FC United |
| Description | One of several short films made to highlight the stories of why the young men on the project are passionate about their sport and how they became involved in it. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | Films made as part of the project contributed ideas for the development of a successful Comic Relief application and a KTP. |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/122656503 |
| Title | Bring on United! |
| Description | A film by young footballers at FC United, about FC United's breakaway from Manchester United and the origins and traditions of the new club. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2016 |
| Impact | The heritage and creative approaches developed during the project have been applied in subsequent projects working with young people in this community, and through the AHRC 'Voices of War and Peace' award. |
| Title | Callum's Story: Boxing, Collyhurst and Moston Lads' Club |
| Description | One of several short films made to highlight the stories of why the young men on the project are passionate about their sport and how they became involved in it. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | Films made as part of the project contributed ideas for the development of a successful Comic Relief application and a KTP. |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/122653066 |
| Title | Callum, Collyhurst and Moston Lads' Club |
| Description | One of several short films made to highlight the stories of why the young men on the project are passionate about their sport and how they became involved in it. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | Films made as part of the project contributed ideas for the development of a successful Comic Relief application and a KTP. |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/122656509 |
| Title | Chuks, Coach, FC United |
| Description | Chuks discusses how he first became involved in football and his hopes for the young men involved in the project. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | Films made as part of the project contributed ideas for the development of a successful Comic Relief application and a KTP. |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/122656511 |
| Title | Documentary, 'Returners Stories' |
| Description | The documentary film, 'Returners' Stories', tells the stories of the three months 'delicate children' from Manchester and Salford spent in Switzerland to improve their health in 1948. It was made as part of a community engagement project based at Manchester Metropolitan University which is working with older people in Manchester and Salford. The project was inspired by archive film in the North West Film Archive (NWFA) at Manchester Metropolitan University. Made in 1948, the archive footage records the return to Manchester of nearly 240 children aged 5 to 11 who had spent three months in Switzerland on a holiday to improve their health. A public showing of the archive film in 2018, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the visit, resulted in several returners coming forward after seeing themselves in the footage. The 'Returning Home' project has been working with some of the children, now in their 70s and 80s, to tell their stories, which are featured in this documentary. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Impact | The most notable impacts have been from the families who have participated in the project, as they discovered aspects of the parents' childhood which they had never heard before. Many have described its powerful emotional impact and the boost that involvement gave to older participants during lockdown. |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/440460778 |
| Title | Dom's Story, FC United |
| Description | One of several short films made to highlight the stories of why the young men on the project are passionate about their sport and how they became involved in it. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | Films made as part of the project contributed ideas for the development of a successful Comic Relief application and a KTP. |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/122655040 |
| Title | Final celebration event, FC United, November 2015 |
| Description | The final celebration event for the 'Passions of youth' project at the FC United ground in November 2015. Over 100 local people, friends, relatives and academics attended the showing of both of the project's main films. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | Films made as part of the project contributed ideas for the development of a successful Comic Relief application and a KTP. |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/175123374 |
| Title | Frank, Collyhurst and Moston Lads' Club |
| Description | One of several short films made to highlight the stories of why the young men on the project are passionate about their sport and how they became involved in it. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | Films made as part of the project contributed ideas for the development of a successful Comic Relief application and a KTP. |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/122656803 |
| Title | Jack T., FC United |
| Description | One of several short films made to highlight the stories of why the young men on the project are passionate about their sport and how they became involved in it. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | Films made as part of the project contributed ideas for the development of a successful Comic Relief application and a KTP. |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/122656808 |
| Title | Jack's Story: Boxing, Collyhurst and Boston Lads' Club |
| Description | One of several short films made to highlight the stories of why the young men on the project are passionate about their sport and how they became involved in it. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | Films made as part of the project contributed ideas for the development of a successful Comic Relief application and a KTP. |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/122655032 |
| Title | Jack, Collyhurst and Moston Boxing Club |
| Description | One of several short films made to highlight the stories of why the young men on the project are passionate about their sport and how they became involved in it. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | Films made as part of the project contributed ideas for the development of a successful Comic Relief application and a KTP. |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/122656807 |
| Title | Jack, fishing enthusiast, 'Get Hooked on Fishing', youth programme at Bradshaw Hall Fisheries, Bolton |
| Description | One of several short films made to highlight the stories of why young men are passionate about their hobbies. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | Films made as part of the project contributed ideas for the development of a successful Comic Relief application and a KTP. |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/122656806 |
| Title | Jacob's Story, FC United |
| Description | One of several short films made to highlight the stories of why the young men on the project are passionate about their sport and how they became involved in it. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | Films made as part of the project contributed ideas for the development of a successful Comic Relief application and a KTP. |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/122655566 |
| Title | Jacob, FC United |
| Description | One of several short films made to highlight the stories of why the young men on the project are passionate about their sport and how they became involved in it. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | Films made as part of the project contributed ideas for the development of a successful Comic Relief application and a KTP. |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/122657084 |
| Title | John the Coach: 'Get Hooked on Fishing', youth programme at Bradshaw Hall Fisheries, Bolton. |
| Description | John, a fishing coach talks about his passion for fishing and what young people get out of fishing. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | Films made as part of the project contributed ideas for the development of a successful Comic Relief application and a KTP. |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/122657085 |
| Title | Liam, FC United |
| Description | One of several short films made to highlight the stories of why the young men on the project are passionate about their sport and how they became involved in it. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | Films made as part of the project contributed ideas for the development of a successful Comic Relief application and a KTP. |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/122657487 |
| Title | Paul, FC United |
| Description | One of several short films made to highlight the stories of why the young men on the project are passionate about their sport and how they became involved in it. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | Films made as part of the project contributed ideas for the development of a successful Comic Relief application and a KTP. |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/122657493 |
| Title | Paul, FC United |
| Description | Paul, Academy Manager at FC United, discusses his hopes for the project. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | Films made as part of the project contributed ideas for the development of a successful Comic Relief application and a KTP. |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/122655568 |
| Title | Postcards from the Past |
| Description | A series of postcard conversations about the 'delicate' children from Manchester and Salford who stayed with Swiss host families for three months in 1948 to improve their health. Postcards developed after the Covid-19 lockdown began in March 2020. Lockdown meant we could no longer continue with our group work and face-to-face activities and had to move the entire Returning Home project online. This resulted in a much greater intergenerational and family emphasis, which Postcards illustrates. Postcards was inspired by the postcards that Swiss host families often sent to the parents of the children they hosted. We designed a set of eleven postcards based on family photos and mementos with questions as writing prompts for the returners, their children and grandchildren. Each family received a set as a keepsake of involvement in the project. Several returners used the postcard questions as a way of thinking and writing about their experiences, shared via phone calls, texts and emails and written up on the stories section of the 'Returning Home' website. Richard Larkin and his wife Kath managed to get their entire family of children and grandchildren involved in writing responses to Richard's memories of his three months in Switzerland, which are shown here. |
| Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Impact | Those involved explained how moved they were about being involved in the project, learning about these health holidays and the part their relative had played in this postwar health history of Manchester and Salford. |
| URL | https://passionsofyouth.org/postcards-from-the-past-2/ |
| Title | Raees, Basketball enthusiast, The Factory Youth Zone, Manchester (2) |
| Description | One of several short films made to highlight the stories of why the young men on the project are passionate about their sport and how they became involved in it. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | Films made as part of the project contributed ideas for the development of a successful Comic Relief application and a KTP. |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/122655793 |
| Title | Raees, basketball enthusiast, The Factory Youth Zone, Manchester (1) |
| Description | One of several short films made to highlight the stories of why the young men on the project are passionate about their sport and how they became involved in it. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | Films made as part of the project contributed ideas for the development of a successful Comic Relief application and a KTP. |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/122657494 |
| Title | Rahemi, basketball enthusiast, The Factory Youth Zone, Manchester |
| Description | One of several short films made to highlight the stories of why the young men on the project are passionate about their sport and how they became involved in it. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | Films made as part of the project contributed ideas for the development of a successful Comic Relief application and a KTP. |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/122657770 |
| Title | Ramacio, Collyhurst and Moston Lads' Club |
| Description | One of several short films made to highlight the stories of why the young men on the project are passionate about their sport and how they became involved in it. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | Films made as part of the project contributed ideas for the development of a successful Comic Relief application and a KTP. |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/122657773 |
| Title | Rasheed, Basketball enthusiast, The Factory Youth Zone, Manchester |
| Description | One of several short films made to highlight the stories of why the young men on the project are passionate about their sport and how they became involved in it. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | Films made as part of the project contributed ideas for the development of a successful Comic Relief application and a KTP. |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/122655792 |
| Title | Robin, Community and Education Manager, FC United |
| Description | One of several short films made to highlight different aspects of the project. In this one, th Community and Education Manager discusses his hopes for the project. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | Films made as part of the project contributed ideas for the development of a successful Comic Relief application and a KTP. |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/122657777 |
| Title | Robson, FC United |
| Description | One of several short films made to highlight the stories of why the young men on the project are passionate about their sport and how they became involved in it. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | Films made as part of the project contributed ideas for the development of a successful Comic Relief application and a KTP. |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/122657779 |
| Title | Ryan, FC United |
| Description | One of several short films made to highlight the stories of why the young men on the project are passionate about their sport and how they became involved in it. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | Films made as part of the project contributed ideas for the development of a successful Comic Relief application and a KTP. |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/122657781 |
| Title | Sam, FC United |
| Description | One of several short films made to highlight the stories of why the young men on the project are passionate about their sport and how they became involved in it. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | Films made as part of the project contributed ideas for the development of a successful Comic Relief application and a KTP. |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/122658072 |
| Title | Thomas's Story: Boxing, Collyhurst and Moston Lads' Club |
| Description | One of several short films made to highlight the stories of why the young men on the project are passionate about their sport and how they became involved in it. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | Films made as part of the project contributed ideas for the development of a successful Comic Relief application and a KTP. |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/122655034 |
| Title | Thomas, Collyhurst and Moston Lads' Club |
| Description | One of several short films made to highlight the stories of why the young men on the project are passionate about their sport and how they became involved in it. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | Films made as part of the project contributed ideas for the development of a successful Comic Relief application and a KTP. |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/122658073 |
| Title | Zack, FC United |
| Description | One of several short films made to highlight the stories of why the young men on the project are passionate about their sport and how they became involved in it. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | Films made as part of the project contributed ideas for the development of a successful Comic Relief application and a KTP. |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/122658074 |
| Description | Lessons learned for future work of this nature are as follows: 1) PEOPLE AND RELATIONSHIPS Co-designed projects, to work well, must grow out of established relationships between partners. To achieve success, multi-partner, cross sector projects of this sort must take account of different needs, practicalities and shared aspirations. Consultation phases are an essential part of such projects. Different young people (or other kinds of participants) need different kinds of projects according to the cultural norms of their passion and / or wider community; not all young people will want to take part in a project that is on offer. A development phase with taster activities offered to a 'long list' of groups helps develop relationships, assess suitability and interest for a bigger project. It helps build build trust from participants and project partners, and helps creative practitioners or artists become familiar with the social and cultural contexts of potential participants' lives. Time needs to be built into a project to run this process before starting on more in-depth work. The depth and breadth of community-based projects require careful thought. The scale of the ambition needs to be carefully considered if they have to take place in a restricted time period such as 12 months from start up to reporting. Priorities should be quality of aspirations in order to work towards strong outcomes for the participants, such as improved confidence and new horizons. A small number of deep achievements are of greater value than stretched expectations and resources. Depth, realism and aspiration must all be meaningfully balanced in order to deliver a successful project. It is essential to involve professional evaluators in the early planning stages of such projects. They can offer guidance about good practice and pitfalls based on a range of other examples. They can facilitate cross-sector conversations from a position of neutrality; help refine and clarify aims and objectives; work with partners to create appropriate and meaningful baseline mapping; arrange to talk to partners at start, middle and end points; and ensure the voice of the participants is built into evaluation in ways and at times which both complement the project and the experiences of the young people. They can ensure the information captured is as reliable and robust as possible. 2) ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES An effective project manager is essential, to direct and facilitate the strategic aims, support creative and cultural content and grass-roots delivery, sustain partnerships and act as the main point of contact for any project queries and decisions. Community-based projects can be subject to considerable change. The role-holder needs to be in a position to make decisions quickly and be trusted by all involved, a factor which could help identify who is best placed to fulfil this role. It is important for academic partners involved in such projects to visit the community settings, invite young people into the university and be regularly involved in project activity. This is the basis of building sustainable relationships with project partners. 3) ADAPTABILITY Adaptability is important. Even with the best planning and development processes, projects change and unanticipated events occur. Partners need to respond and adapt flexibly in order to keep staff and participant morale high. All partners need to stay in regular contact in order the build and sustain trust and to create a position of strength and goodwill to work through challenges together when needed. If tensions occur, it is important to stop and take time to have honest, reflective conversations. Sector budget cuts can make delivery of original plans difficult. Turnover of partner staff at the start of or during the delivery of such a project can cause a dip in momentum while trust, relationships are re-established. Projects need to be aware of this and build in a breathing space for this process. 4) YOUTH WORKERS Community-based projects which involve young people must have youth workers who have strong relationships with the participants and be enthusiastic about the potential of new kinds of activity, however unfamiliar it may be, in order to motivate and challenge the young people successfully. Their influence on projects such as these should not be underestimated. Such involvement can present challenges. The nature of youth work means that sometimes youth workers' own experiences echo those of the participants. This can give them excellent insight into how to motivate and challenge young people appropriately; it can also mean some of the same challenges to be engaged with creative, cultural or heritage activity exist for them as much as for the young people they work with. Time needs to spent between all delivery staff to really understand what each can or cannot bring to the project, and what each expects of the other. 5) RELEVANT CREATIVE AND CULTURAL PRACTICES It is useful if creative practitioners have strong experience of youth work when working with young people who have not traditionally engaged in cultural activity (or possibly education) and who may have complicated or chaotic lives, They need to have the experience to understand, respond to and support the young people flexibly and positively through any unexpected challenges. One outcomes of this project was that heritage visits which are tailored to participants' own interests and availability can engage young men to a greater degree than any of the staff or participants might predict. As was recognised from the outset of Passion, the art form used in a project should be decided with input from the group, and documentation styles should complement or arise out of the chosen art form, rather than vice versa. Some challenge should be encouraged to push participants beyond their most immediate comfort zone in order to reach greater senses of achievement and confidence in later stages. Participants in Passions often surprised themselves with unknown capabilities. They challenged the assumptions of project staff by disengaging from activities that might have been taken for granted, or showing enthusiasm for more challenging or unlikely activities and subject matter. This illustrates how art forms and methods should be a co-constructed process rather than decision making purely by one side or another. They can come out of the 'taster' process previously mentioned. Passions illustrated how well film can work work in projects such as these. It was a familiar medium to the young men, flexible and could adapt to any indoor or outdoor space. There was no need for a large or fixed room or space, and 'final' work could be edited if participants had reservations about what they had created. Kinaesthetic movement and a lack of reliance on handwriting removes many of the barriers for the effective inclusion of young men who may lack literacy skills. This is likely to have contributed to the success of achieving the outcomes listed in these findings. We became aware of the importance of recognising all the small and unplanned achievements along the way. These can matter to participants more than the elements which strategic professionals might value, and can build confidence towards a bigger public sharing event. 6) LEGACIES If a sharing / celebration event is part of the project, it can be useful to build it around the existing culture of the participants. For example, combining the boxers' film night with their certificate presentation celebrations worked well. Throughout the project, we were aware of the importance of thinking about responsible legacies or exit strategies. Having awakened a particular interest or appetite for activity in young people, we were aware of the importance of ensuring that there were ways for them to continue new interests or needs the project had led to them developing, whether these were through the partners involved, or signposting to opportunities elsewhere. |
| Exploitation Route | The projects within this funding were small-scale activities, each shaped different local and cultural situations. They were limited in what they could produce as far as counteracting wider research on popular stereotypes about the behaviour of working-class young men is concerned. Nonetheless, qualitative feedback from public events were very positive about what the young men had achieved. Small projects such as these highlight the desirability of initiating more in-depth work to to test the value of such local, community-based initiatives in challenging broader stereotypes about their behavior. This would involve identifying a specific target group of the 'broader public' in local communities to take a baseline assessment of their initial assumptions about the behaviour of working-class boys and young men and awareness of negative popular stereotypes. More creative and heritage activities of the sort which 'Passions' has developed should be part of a longer-term, in-depth research process to evaluate the impact of such work on negative perceptions of working-class youth. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Creative Economy,Education,Healthcare,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Description | The stories of each group involved in 'Passions' demonstrates how one size of project model does not fit all. Much transferable learning took place, but success was achieved by mixing ingredients in different ways according to the assets, potential, opportunities and needs available in different localities and with different partners and participants. THE PROJECT'S DEVELOPMENT PROCESS The programme aimed to engage a minimum of three groups of working-class young men. The development and agreement process of setting up these relationships and sustaining them was complicated. It needed time to work through ideas, potential and suitability of the project with a range of different groups around Greater Manchester. Passions was consequently a complex initiative whose development highlighted the importance of flexibility in delivering successful community-based work. Not all groups completed all stages of what was planned and the timeframes of project delivery expanded. Youth workers were involved in differing ways and at different times, and the final work with the young men changed according what was appropriate for their levels of engagement. The recruited participants were groups with whom staff at Manchester Metropolitan University and Manchester Histories had worked with previously. They were approached and asked if they would like to take part in a project using creative or arts activity and heritage to explore the leisure enthusiasms of young men who used their service. It was explained that project partners would need to have a group of young men who were ready to work with the project, and that a youth worker would need to be in place in order to support and/or co-deliver it. Three organizations showed initial interest: a) FC United, who saw the opportunity as a way to engage with and enrich the experiences of their footballing and boxing FC United Academy students. b) Bellevue Speedway, who were keen to develop a young people's project around the rich heritage of speedway in Manchester. c) Salford Young Fathers' Project, which works with young fathers in the Salford area who are under 24 years old. Involvement with the project was seen as a way of enhancing the confidence and skills of the young men with whom they work. These groups made an early commitment to the 'Passions' programme and a period of time then passed awaiting the outcome of the AHRC funding application. The summer holiday season followed shortly after hearing about the successful outcome which made it difficult to contact some of the groups. Several months passed between agreeing to the project and being able to commence activity, during which time, the partner organizations experienced staff turnover, changes in the young men who were involved with their services, and budget cuts which altered the shape of their delivery. As a result, by the time the project got underway, the shape of the partnerships and their commitments had shifted from early agreements, which necessitated a further period of reviewing partnerships and options, as follows: FC United had footballers and boxers which operated as two separate groups with two separate 'passions', so a project was needed for each of them. As a result of organizational changes, the original worker with the Salford Young Fathers passed the opportunity onto a colleague, who worked with young men on a one-to-one support basis. Unlike the other partners in 'Passions', these young men did not assemble as a group over a shared interest and received bespoke one-to-one support, working with and around their complex needs and circumstances. Bellevue Speedway had been keen to commit to the project, but it became clear that the opportunity for a heritage-based partnership had come too soon for them. They had not yet reached the stage of assembling a youth cohort for their organization or putting in place the staffing support to work with young people. For this reason, after much discussion, it was agreed that the Bellevue Speedway involvement would close, although the doors have been left open for future collaborations. As a result of this process of review and discussion, a total of two groups were created from one partner (FC United) and a set of individuals from another partner (Salford Young Fathers). To complete the original proposed framework of three partners and three groups, the creative practitioners spent additional time in the autumn period visiting a range of other organizations in Manchester and Salford to carry out one-off talking head interviews to give a flavour of different types of leisure passions among young men and to identify a third group for the full project. In this way, The Factory Youth Zone came on board, based on previous connections between their organization and the creative practitioners. They identified the potential for working with their basketball group, a self-run team which regularly visits The Factory to use the court facilities for practice and training. Delays due to the summer holiday period, changes to the recruitment and development process, and extended illness-related absence by a key project team player necessitated adapting the project's original format and it eventually gained momentum several months later than first anticipated, gathering pace in Spring 2015. Through this development period, the final groups involved were: a) FC United youth team, referred to in this narrative as 'the footballers' b) Collyhurst and Moston Amateur Boxing Club, part of the Collyhurst and Moston Lads' Club, referred to as 'the boxers'. c) The basketballers at the Factory Youth Zone, referred to as 'the basketballers'. d) A range of individual young fathers working through one-to-one engagement across Salford, referred to as 'the young fathers' or 'fathers'. Each group experienced the project in different ways, according to what was appropriate to their availability and aptitude. An independent cultural evaluation consultant was commissioned to conduct a small-scale qualitative evaluation for the project based on the objectives outlined in the funding application. Evaluation focused on qualitative feedback, in relation to the outcomes experienced by the young people, and identifying the learning and legacies of community stakeholders and project organisers. The participants were rarely referred to by name in this evaluation due to some complicated social and health issues or other vulnerabilities. Where names are used, such as in direct quotes, here and in the account of engagement activities, only first names have been used. The project experienced challenges, but all involved were keen to adapt it as needed in order to provide the best and most appropriate experiences possible for the young men involved. Much learning took place around the development of youth-cultural-academic partnerships and the concept of a project model, which will be applied to future initiatives. 1. OBJECTIVE. Use shared leisure passions as a medium through which working-class young men in their teens can be empowered to learn more about the historical and social relevance of a specified leisure passion by engaging with older working class men who were teenagers between the 1940s and 1970s and who have sustained the same leisure interests since their own youth The boxers and the footballers were successful in meeting this objective, with clear links to their leisure passions, local heritage and interviews with relevant 'elders'. The Salford Young Fathers showed some of the young men starting to develop an appetite to learn and engage with heritage. However, working with a more complex collection of individuals on a one to one basis needed a longer period of time to be able to be able to make concrete achievements. This objective was largely unmet as far as the basketballers were concerned because of dedication to maintaining their practice sessions. 2. OBJECTIVE. Raise awareness of changes and continuities in the experiences of young people over the past 60 years by facilitating the young men's engagement in a range of creative approaches and empower them to bring their own creative interpretations of current and past leisure passions to a wide audience. The boxers and footballers successfully met this objective. The boxers developed a stronger sense of their club's history and its role in their community. The footballers learned about the differences between their experiences and footballers 'of old' in the area. Both groups successfully showcased their films at the end of the project to large community audiences. Objective 2 was not possible among the Young Fathers due to the difficulties around availability and momentum. Although restrictions around appearing on screen were also in place, the creative team had developed ideas to help the participants work in other ways so the creative potential did exist. The main barrier to achieving this objective was the much slower pace the project needed. The objective was partially met among the basketballers, who were facilitated to develop creative approaches, although this was focused on their own contemporary context. 3. OBJECTIVE. Illustrate the value of historically informed social projects in opening up spaces for inter- generational discussion of personal experiences and enthusiasm. This objective was fully met in the case of both the boxers and footballers. The perceptions of both groups about their own situations changed by learning more about the histories of their respective clubs and areas. The objective could eventually have been met in the case of the Young Fathers had a longer timeframe been available. The interest in heritage had begun to be awakened and two of the young men in particular were enthusiastic about ways they might explore this further. The objective was unmet in the case of the basketballers, as the young men did not take up the opportunities to engage in intergenerational conversations around those shared interests. 4. OBJECTIVE. Enable participants to acquire new skills and self-confidence The objective was fully met in the case of the boxers and partially met in the case of the footballers. These young men learned media skills though there was no clear evidence at the time to say whether their confidence levels had or had not changed. The objective was met by one Salford young father in particular who demonstrated a very clear increase in confidence as a direct result of the university element of the project. The objective was also met among the young basketballers, who did acquire new skills and grow in self-confidence through their involvement. 5. OBJECTIVE. Build new, sustainable, creative engagements and partnerships between MMU, community organizations and those working in the creative professions across Greater Manchester, which in the longer term will lead to further creative and historical activities with working class young people. This objective has been mostly met to date. Passions has helped develop a strong interest in creative and cultural activity and partnerships across the city which are set to generate many more opportunities for young people. Relationships with MMU, the creative practitioners and Manchester Histories have continued. The club, with the support of creative practitioner, Sue Reddish, has secured £1000 funding to create a community TV studio in the gym in order to continue their media work As a result of seeing the films, the manager of the gym is now interested in funding the boxers to create a short advert for it. A local boxing TV broadcaster approached the group to discuss commissioned work filming more professional boxing matches. The boxers now have a stronger sense of wanting to connect with and showcase their club's history and its role in the community, and are considering ways to develop a project to help celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Collyhurst and Moston Lads' Club in 2017. The Manchester Centre for Youth Studies (MCYS) at Manchester Metropolitan University has submitted an application to the Police Crime Commissioner's Youth Aspiration Fund to extend the work achieved through the Passions project by training the young people in Collyhurst and Moston Lads' Club in participatory action research methods. The aim is to write and research a film about how the lives of young men in their teens in the Moston and Collyhurst areas have changed over the past thirty years. This initiative will also support broader academic research in the MCYS and the Education and Social Research Institute at Manchester Metropolitan University into the relationship between boxing and young masculinities and the role of boxing in youth rehabilitation. Ideas for future films the young men would like to make include links to other clubs and sports, including football, other characters from the gym's recent and the late 20th century past. They have identified interesting narratives that show the club's role with the global boxing community such as telling the story of a former Olympic medal winner, or tracking an up and coming boxer currently moving into team GB. They have also developed a general interest in the history of the club and the local area around Moston. Discussions have been taking place with them about a film-based project on young Moston and Collyhurst men during World War One, which will link with the AHRC Voices of War and Peace Engagement Centre at the University of Birmingham, where Melanie Tebbutt is a Co-investigator. The club has also developed other creative and cultural links based on the success of their experiences in this project, liaising with the MAD theatre company who are interested in developing a play around the history of the club. The club manager and some of the young men are interested in building on their history research skills to find out more about the history of the club and its previous boxers which can be developed into a performance. The are also discussing a possible book with other partners. This objective is also being met with FC United, where creative and historical activities are continuing with the footballers. Manchester Histories is working with the team there to develop an HLF bid, with the aim of submitting it in June 2016. Having seen the experiences of these footballers and developed a relationship with Manchester Histories through the Passions project, the new Community Education Manager at FC United, Andy Cheshire, is now being supported by Manchester Histories to develop this Heritage Lottery Fund application, about the broader story of Moston's history. Robin Pye, former Community Education Manager for FC United talked about the potential of the project to become embedded as an enrichment strand of the BTec course the young men take as part of their academy commitments. Where enrichment had been around football training alone, going forward this could broaden out to include other options and modules, one of which the club hopes will be media coverage, based on the successes of this project. The objective is currently less uncertain with Salford Young Fathers and unconfirmed with the basketballers, although there is a hope among youth workers at the Factory that the 'ripple effect' will see further creative activities with young people taking place. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2015 |
| Sector | Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal |
| Description | Contributed to AHRC report 'The Hidden Story: Understanding Knowledge Exchange Partnerships with the Creative Economy. |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| URL | http://unialliance.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/THE-HIDDEN_STORY-REPORT_final_web.pdf |
| Description | 'Girls Getting out for Good: Preventing Gangs through Participation'. |
| Organisation | Manchester Metropolitan University |
| Department | Manchester Centre for Youth Studies (MCYS) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Prof. Tebbutt, P-I on 'Passions of Youth', was consulted during the development of this successful application to Comic Relief by the Manchester Centre for Youth Studies, Manchester Metropolitan University. The films and youth projects developed as part of 'Passions' were used to support the case for this new project. This is the first time in their history that Comic Relief have funded a UK University (£300,000, 2017-20). Prof. Tebbutt has been invited to join the new project's Steering Group. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The 'Girls Getting out for Good' project is working with some of the partners involved in 'Passions' and with the creative practitioners who were responsible for the delivery of the 'Passions of Youth' activities (Sue Reddish and Jim Dalziel). |
| Impact | The project only started recently, so outcomes have yet to be established. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Youth Justice Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) |
| Organisation | Manchester Metropolitan University |
| Department | School of Healthcare Science |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Prof. Tebbutt, P-I on 'Passions of Youth', was consulted during the development of this KTP, which also drew on the findings from its final report. This KTP, developed by the Manchester Centre for Youth Studies at Manchester Metropolitan University, is the first of its kind in the field of youth justice. (AHRC and ESRC: £117,000 2015-2017.) Among its activities, it is developing boxing workshops for young men working with each of the 10 Greater Manchester youth offending services, with the aim of building their confidence and aspirations by offering positive role models and alternative ways of learning. Boxers from the Collyhurst and Moston Lads' Club who took part in 'Passions' have helped to facilitate workshops which encourage participants to reflect on how boxing may help them make different choices about their future lives by building self-discipline and a sense of purpose. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The KTP has been developed with the Greater Manchester Youth Justice University Partnership (GMYJUP). GMYJUP has contributed to innovation and creativity in youth justice across Greater Manchester and is a rare example of collaborative working between academia and practice. The KTP is leading progress in the field as the first project of its kind. It champions collaborative working and the voices of young people themselves in the development of practice. The project is being discussed as emerging best practice on a national stage and is greatly raising the profile of the Greater Manchester region in the youth justice sector. |
| Impact | The project only started recently, so outcomes have yet to be established. |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | 'Returners' Stories', documentary made by the 'Returning Home' project, featured in BBC North West Tonight |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | During lockdown, the 'Returning Home' project made 30-minute documentary, ;Returners' Stories', the first to commemorate British children's experiences of health holidays in Switzerland after the Second World War. Extracts from the documentary were featured on BBC North West Tonight on the 2nd September 2020. See the URL below for the BBC feature. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://passionsofyouth.org/returning-home/ |
| Description | Annual Percival Lecture for the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, 2018 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Melanie Tebbutt was invited to deliver the annual Percival Lecture for the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society on community engagement and partnerships. The lecture was called 'Principled Collaboration - the rights, responsibilities and possibilities of community-university partnerships'. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.manlitphil.ac.uk/events/principled-collaboration---rights-responsibilities-and-possibili... |
| Description | Basketballers. Various activities. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The basketballers were a slightly older age range than other participants in the Passions of Youth. They were identified as a good group for the project by youth workers at The Factory because they were self-sufficient, dedicated, committed and met three times a week so it seemed their dynamics and availability would work well with the project structure. They started with a clear vision of what they would like to achieve through the project, had a natural aptitude for digital technology, and understood the visual culture of their sport in terms of the composition and promotional usage of basketball photography. However, their confidence in public speaking was low, as evidenced in the initial talking heads and interview with Chris Mason, Head of Sports & Arts at The Factory. As with the boxers and footballers, the basketballers all learned the range of film related media skills from recording sound and vision, to interviewing, being interviewed and editing. They had strong creative skills and vision from the outset of the project. Their aim was to create video to promote the team on website and Facebook pages, and to use it as a tool to watch back and critique their performance on court. The project enabled them to bring this vision to life by building the technical skills and confidence on camera they needed. This heritage and intergenerational aspect of the project proved difficult for several reasons. The project team found it hard to find heritage venues to visit with direct relevance to the sport of basketball. The young men were dedicated to their three sessions at The Factory but primarily and understandably wanted to use that time practicing their sport. As such, and with changing youth workers, it was hard to motivate them to get involved with any additional such as interviewing professionals from the sport. In addition, some members were leaving university and moving into fulltime so availability became an extra barrier. For these reasons the basketballers were unable to achieve this stage and the associated outcomes. The project has, however, had some impact on the confidence of the basketballers as Chris Mason identified: 'The lads have really grown in confidence in front to the camera, you couldn't really make out what they were saying, and now seeing the film they've put together, that was the eye opener. Rashid was quite shy and has totally turned himself and grown in confidence round through being in front of the camera.' Staff at The Factory are keen for the basketballers to pass their new film skills onto younger members of the club, developing peer learning and leadership skills in the process. The Factory aims to show the films made throughout this project on the screens around the club. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://passionsofyouth.org |
| Description | Beyond the Battlefields exhibition of photographs of the German Home Front by the Kate Buchler at the Grosvenor Gallery, Manchester Metropolitan University. Co-curated by historian Melanie Tebbutt and creative practitioner Jacqueline Butler of the Manchester School of Art. 1st Feb. - 2nd March 2018. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This historical and artistic representation of Kathe Buchler's photographs was part of the AHRC 'Voices of War and Peace' Engagement Centre at the University of Birmingham and nuanced ideas of children, young people and the everyday that had been explored in the Passions project and by the earlier AHRC award. The exhibition at the Grosvenor Gallery, co-created by historian Melanie Tebbutt and creative practitioner Jacqueline Butler, was inspired by the everyday activities of children on the home front in Germany, in particular by the collecting 'passion' of a young German boy in support of the war effort, which was used to present a different perspective of the WW1's impact on the civilian population. Several hundred visitors attended the exhibition, which lasted a month (1st Feb. - 2nd March). The launch attracted c. 130 visitors. Comments about the exhibition, Buchler's work and the role of children (and women) on the home front were as follows. HAS THE EXHIBITION AFFECTED YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF GERMANY IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR? 1. 'No, but it has made me reflect on WW1. More on German casualties than on England's'. 2. Yes. Didn't realise how much suffering occurred because of the Allied embargo. I feel that this is a topic that isn't highlighted often. WW1 Germany is something I don't think I have ever given thought to. 3. Yes, the children are blameless. 4. It has improved it (knew nothing before). 5. The exhibition showed that women and children replaced the men during the war. They were doing jobs which only men did at the time. 6. Yes, although the historical awareness I have is quite deep, this exhibition shows many faces, bringing it much more close. 7 I think we usually get a one-sided view of the war, so it is good to see the other side, especially how similar it was. 8. Not affected but reinforced. It has shown that war affects everyone. 9 More peaceful than I imagined, although "camera" might have made them look happier. 10. Seems more desperate, less febrile or pastoral. 11. That they were normal people too - not just a blanket group that represent one thing. It has given me more of an insight of how little people had. 12. Well, not mine as I do research on war studies and war. For me it just confirms what I already knew about the home front and the war. 13. Yeah. I thought it would have been a really bleak, dark time, but it wasn't too much. 14. Yeah, the exhibition shows a different side to war in Germany, whereas normally you get the view from just the military side. 15. This side you're actually seeing the effects on the civilians behind, and the women and children, and how it effected the country of Germany and not just the men on the front line. Perhaps. 16. It's difficult to think of Germany during the first world war. When you think it was the Germans and - you kind of think of the UK and us when you think of the war. 17. No, I don't think so. 18. Yes. Perhaps. It's difficult to think of Germany during the first world war. When you think it was the Germans and - you kind of think of the UK and us when you think of the war. 19. It has probably informed it, yeah. 20. It has not changed it. It's developed it. Although the photographs are of a very rich upper-middle class without really showing the starvation which increasingly affected Germany thanks to our naval patrols. 21. Not really because I was aware of my mother's struggles, so in that aspect no, but I'm probably the wrong person to ask that to. 22. I think it's very easy to look at our own - I say people - but our own country in that time of need and see that perspective, whereas to see that gives you a bit of insight into what it was like from that side. 23. We're all human. WHAT DO THESE PHOTOGRAPHS EVOKE FOR YOU? 1. Mysticism - rare in classic 'war photography'. 2. I think for me, I see a woman interrupted. A woman who wanted to photograph bright flowers and instead found herself in the grips of war; photographing the highs and lows of the forgotten. 3. Melancholia. Lovely composition of subjects. 4. Makes you think of Germany as a nation of people. 5.I feel these images represent something more than the physical attributes of a photograph. Empathy for the struggle back home. 6. Childhood nostalgia and creativity. 7. I have two connections as I have seen a few examples of Mrs Buchler's work in Braunschweig, and secondly in the GDR. 8. Children did collect paper, bottles and cards, similar to the collector Mrs Buchler photographed. 9. A connection with my history. 10. Common experiences of people on all sides of the war: relative wealth of many of those photographed. 11. Pictures of my mother's childhood in Germany. 12. I found they are very charming and beautiful. 13. Dissonance in 'live' feeling of existance and blank despair. 14. Sad, contemplative? 15. The children could probably sense the tension and fear of the period but they were oblivious to what horror was really happening. 16. Shows that you don't need a digital camera to take great images. 17. Very powerful images which really make you think about WW1 and how people lived and worked at a much younger age. 18. Germany in the 90s. 19. For me it was the pictures of the children. How they were, at the same time, aware of the war and unaware of the war. So how they play with these notions of conflict and how war has become the 'new normal' for them; so trying to get a rabbit just for contributing to the war effort represents that very well. 20. I don't want to say cliché stuff like nostalgia or stuff like that. I enjoyed them, it just made me not happy but satisfied, content. 21. I want to say nostalgic, but not nostalgic to me. Nostalgic in history. 22. My dad was a keen collector of World War I and World War II books, so for me, it drew me back to my childhood memories. He would talk about both the wars in quite a bit of detail to me, so that brought back to me a sort of nostalgia for me On similar lines when you see a German series like Das Boot, where you see it from a different perspective, it kind of helps you to see it through their eyes rather than from an outside perspective. 23. I thought that was quite powerful. My mother's German and she grew up in the second world war, and it reminded me of her hardships, which people don't really think about at all, particularly in this country. It's all about the British struggle, but everybody struggles in war. There's no goodies or baddies. GENERAL COMMENTS 1. A very interesting worthwhile exhibition - especially the theme of the effects of war on children. Well worth coming to see. 2. Made interesting comparison to UK material. 3. Really enjoyable! Wish there were more to see! 4. Enjoyable! Emotionally moving! Informative! I have seen many of the exhibitions on WW1 but this is the first on Germany. It shows that the suffering in Germany was similar to that in Britain. 5. Thank you for bringing these photographs to the UK. It's striking how these images help us to find - and also to regret the loss of - the common ground between life in Germany & life in the UK during WW1: a time that we must try to understand. WHAT QUESTIONS DOES THE EXHIBITION RAISE FOR YOU? 1. Class boundaries 2. Was the war equal after all? Each side has forgotten ones. 3. The text raises questions about the true poverty of the time 4. Why did we ever go to war? 5. How much do we truly know (in this day and age) about life pre-WW1 6. If there can be more like this When and where can I see all the other photos? 7. What were the daily hardships the civilian population had to endure? 8. How hard for the people in everyday lives are. 9. What we chose to throw away in belonging. If there was a 'we'. 9. How could war have happened twice? :( Who does war benefit? 10. For me the biggest question I have looking back is how she was able to take the photos at the time. Obviously some of the photos, although they've been staged, others are more scenes showing people in everyday scenarios, people casually performing their tasks and duties and jobs. Also, where she was one of the first people to experiment with colour photography, I'd be interested to know how she did it. I'm going to find out more about it. I'd like to know more about her. 11. There was some information about - she undertook some training and there was only one course that was open to women, so I'd like to know more about that. It linked up with an exhibition which I saw at The Tate, which was also by a German photographer of ordinary working people, so it was interesting to see that but this was from a women's perspective. 12. When can we see the other photographs? I'd like to see more. 13. I definitely have a different view on pre-World War One Germany. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Blog article: 'Forgotten stories: poorly Manchester and Salford children sent to Switzerland for 'health holidays' in the 1940s |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Blog article by Melanie Tebbutt about how the 'Returning Home' community engagement project changed as a result of lockdown, developing online with a new website. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://mcphh.org/2020/09/14/returning-home-community-engagement-in-lockdown/ |
| Description | FC United Footballers: Creation of a short film called 'To be Continued' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The project's creative practitioners created a short film from footage made by the young footballers. In a review of the draft edit, the footballers saw opportunities to shape the film differently, adding more of their own identities and knowledge gained from the visiting historian and their other interviews. The project was extended slightly to accommodate this final phase. A final sharing event took place to showcase their film in November 2016. The footballers showed their creative abilities through the project whose creative workers recognised that some of the group had acting potential which could be nurtured through their opportunities to present on camera. Jim Dalziel, the project's film lead, described how they were able to take control and lead in production meetings to decide on and organise content, 'They came up with the beginning and ending of the film. They were also good at coming up with people to interview, they would get out big paper and pens, write down ideas and think about who to contact or talk to; one person would be researching things on their phone, someone else would be talking to the mayor and local people about how they felt about the stadium being built on their doorstep. When it came to ideas and input they were on it.' Their critical thinking skills were also sharp in retrospect. Sue Reddish, the project's Creative Lead, explained how, when shown an early draft of their final film, they identified it mostly included interviews of other people with little of representation of their own roles and identities. As a result, they put in additional time to create some late content, organising ideas, structuring interviews, and filming much of the content pertaining to the wider historical links between the club and Manchester's radical past. Like the boxers, these skills were inherent within them, some of which may reflect the structure of team training, teaching and learning from their own football culture, so the project itself cannot assume to take credit. However, it provided an opportunity for the men to see how their skills can be used in other walks of life. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://passionsofyouth.org |
| Description | FC United Footballers: Filmmaking |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The group conducted a series of filmed interviews over several weeks. They interviewed football historian Gary James who told them about Manchester's footballing history and links to where FC United now sits geographically. They also interviewed one of the founding Directors of FC United; the two parents of one of the group were also interviewed for their football links. One had previously played for Manchester City's Women's team, and the other who had been trainer for the team at that same time. The grandfather of another group member was interviewed about his own passion of pigeon fancying. All the interviews were carried out using the filming training they had received in previous months. Their new knowledge of the history of local football and its links to the Manchester community is well evident in their final short film. They make clear links between the grass roots development of FC United against a context of Manchester as a city historically known for its radical activism. They also make historic links to the land on which the new FC United grounds now stand, noting the first meeting of the Pankhurst family and the start of the Suffragette movement; the arrival of Polish refugees in World War One thus position the land symbolically as a place for new opportunities; and nearby connections to some of the earliest FA Cup matches and the founding of the football league. While the young men showed they already had some strong visionary and organisational skills, they sometimes lacked motivation and focus in the early part of the project. When they watched the early draft of their final film and recognised the content was mainly of interviews of their elders, they talked to Sue Reddish, the project's Creative Director, about their regrets of 'messing about' and took responsibility for creating the content they wanted to see in order for the film to have a more rounded approach, so that it showed not just past generations but their own roles and historical learning. As with some other outcomes, the project itself cannot be shown to have develop this skill. It did, however, present an opportunity for them to see how their consequences have actions in wider fields as well as their football performance, and added to their understanding of transferable experiences which are relevant in other walks of life. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://passionsofyouth.org |
| Description | FC United Footballers: Training in how to use film equipment |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Over several sessions the young men learnt how to use the film equipment. As with the boxers, the they were taught pre to post production filming skills, from setting up a tripod and camera, learning to record sound, interviewing, being interviewed, editing and directing. They subsequently recorded talking heads about passion for football.The evidence of these skills having been learned is within the range of films the footballers created, from the early talking heads through to the final film. An interview with Robin Pye, former Community and Education Mancger for FC United, and the footballers' early videos show that the group had some good communication skills. They were already able to divide up tasks and work together to weave these tasks towards a common aim. Although highly energetic and easily distracted, they also showed they could focus well once engaged. Like the boxers, they also demonstrated early signs of acting potential and creative flair with vision and detail. They arrived into the project having been recently moved out of high profile premier league junior football teams, and were still optimistic of a career as a professional footballer. Sue Reddish, the project's Creative Practitioner, noticed conversations off camera reflected the men's changing perceptions about their club, as they gained a better understanding of its grass roots development against the wider radical history of Manchester. She observed: 'There was a feeling being part of FC United was second best compared to the premiership leagues they thought they'd be part of, but now there's some recognition of the grass roots tradition of the club, of being part of something bigger which has come from their interview with FC United General Manager Andy Walsh. Changing the perception of the club they're in, and therefore who they are and their role in it, that's massive.' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://passionsofyouth.org |
| Description | FC United Footballers: oral history and blog training |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The young men were taken on a visit to Manchester Metropolitan University where they met student ambassadors, visited various university facilities and received training in oral history techniques and blog writing. They created a collection of blog posts some of which were published on the project's website, 'Passionsofyouth.org'. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://passionsofyouth.org |
| Description | Film premiere, Celebration and Reception of films made during the Passions of Youth project |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The final celebration event for the 'Passions of youth' project took place at the FC United ground in November 2015, when when over 100 local people, friends, relatives and academics attended. Both of the project's films were shown. Over 100 attended, uncluding the Lord Mayor of Manchester, Councillor Paul Murphy OBE, who handed out university certificates to the young men involved in making the films - and in the Passions of Youth project more widely. The Lord Mayor spoke of his 'pride and admiration' at the 'professional, inspirational job' the boys had done. 'Whether your passion is sport, films or anything else, never be afraid to dream. If you want something enough, nothing is impossible.' See 'Passions of Youth Celebration event: http://www2.mmu.ac.uk/hip/news/detail/index.php?id=3983 Comments captured from the general public and relatives who attended the celebration included the following: Excellent project. Well produced films could be shown on public media. Such a well needed experience for North M/c Youth. Really enjoyed my self today. Learned a lot about things that have happened around me that I do not even know the part about Len Johnson and what happened to him really hit home and made me very angry well done boys Fantastic work done with young people. Films need a wider distribution!! Excellent night. Films were fantastic. Lads should be very proud of what they've achieved. Especially proud of my son Callum, Collyhurst and Moston Lads' Boxing Club Great fun and educational. Great to see the young men learning about the club and their city's history. Very well produced Educational and Inspirational It has show opportunities to others which can help develop their selfs in the ring as well as life leading to success Engaging, Inspiring films. Authentic voices, great characters, loved it! Congratulations x Really good presentation. Enjoyed both films, especially the boxing film. My nephew was part of the film. (Very proud of all the boxing lads) Very enjoyable, very professional production. Speaking to the lads, they all thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Quality, tight + interesting films. Claire Turner, Chief Executive of the charity, Manchester Histories, observed during the celebration that 'Passions of Youth has provided an opportunity for the young men to explore the importance of the histories of both their leisure passion and their local area, gaining new skills and learning about their place in making the new histories of tomorrow. This is not the end of what has been achieved and at Manchester Histories, we're continuing to work with both FC Utd and Moston and Collyhurst Boxing Club to develop new heritage projects that build on the Passions of Youth and the links that have been developed with the wider community.' See, also: http://www2.mmu.ac.uk/mcys/news/detail/index.php?id=4045 http://www.meetup.com/fr-FR/mmuhip/events/226749958/ http://forevermanchester.com/passionsofyouth/ |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://passionsofyouth.org |
| Description | Film: Kenneth Kirkbride shares his memories of staying in Switzerland for three months as a 'delicate child' in 1948 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Filmed interview with Kenneth Kirkbride, who shares his memories of staying in Switzerland for three months as a 'delicate child' in 1948. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://passionsofyouth.org/kenneth-kirkbride/ |
| Description | Film: Richard Larkin shares his memories of staying in Switzerland for three months as a 'delicate child' in 1948 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Filmed interview with Richard Larkin, who shares his memories of staying in Switzerland for three months as a 'delicate child' in 1948. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://passionsofyouth.org/richard-larkin/ |
| Description | Film: Vincent Gore shares his memories of staying in Switzerland for three months as a 'delicate child' in 1948 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Filmed interview with Vincent Gore, who shares his memories of staying in Switzerland for three months as a 'delicate child' in 1948. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://passionsofyouth.org/vincent-gorman/ |
| Description | Forever Young: documentary produced by MMU as part of AHRC Being Human Festival 2014 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The ideas which underpinned the 'Passions of Youth' project informed another successful AHRC application by Helen Darby HLSS/HSSR Project Manager (Research and Impact) to the AHRC'Being Human' festival 2014l. This resulted in a film, Forever Young, about eight generations of individuals describing their experiences of being teenagers since the 1940s in Greater Manchester. There were public showings of the film in MMU, Manchester Central Library, Preston Liverpool and in Vancouver, to postgraduate students at the University of British Columbia, in Spring 2015: http://beinghumanfestival.org/forever-young-film-goes-international/ http://www2.mmu.ac.uk/mcys/current-research--activities/forever-young/ |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://www2.mmu.ac.uk/mcys/current-research--activities/forever-young/ |
| Description | Interview about documentary film, 'Returners' Stories', which was live-streamed at Manchester Histories Digitfest (5/9/2020) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Extracts from documentary film, 'Returners' Stories' live-streamed at Manchester Histories Digitfest (5/9/2020) on the 50th anniversary of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act (3,000+ online viewers). Melanie Tebbutt interviewed by Jackie Hagan about the project and the film. For the online programme, see the URL below. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://issuu.com/manchesterhistories/docs/manchester_histories_digifest_2020_celebrating_alf |
| Description | Interview, Radio Manchester, about the 'Returners' Stories' documentary |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Interview with Mike Shaft, BBC Radio Manchester about the 'Returning Home' project and the documentary, 'Returners' Stories', 20/9/2020 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Invited to discuss courtship in late-Victorian and Edwardian period on BBC's 'Great British Bake-off'. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Led further discussion via emails and twitter. Led to further media requests to discuss research about young people. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Judith Sie: Story of children's 'health holidays' in Switzerland based on interviews, memoirs and personal writing |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Children responded in different ways to their stay in Switzerland. Returners' memories are mixed. Not all are positive and some remain painful, in sharp contrast with the gloss of official accounts. Here, Judith describes her ambivalent memories. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://passionsofyouth.org/judith-sies-story/ |
| Description | Lecture at Sogn og Fiordane University College, Norway, which included an introduction to and showing of the film, '100 Years and Still Fighting' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The lecture was on the them of how to connect local communities through the medium of history. The audience included a number of university lecturers who taught history and sociology, as well as representatives from local museums and archives. The lecture was supported by the showing of the film '100 Years and Still Fighting', made by members of Collyhurst and Moston Lads' Club as part of the Passions of Youth project. It was received very positively and written feedback included the following comments: I teach youth sociology at the University College in Sogndal and one of my topics is 'stereotypes'; I would absolutely LOVE to show your documentary film to my students to show them about the hard work and the discipline behind boxing. This film has been very inspiring! Thank you! An enlightening and entertaining film on boxing and how a boxing environment may create important life skills! Thank you for sharing your experiences and dreams with us. Good luck with your projects. I would like to show your film in my classes. Inspiring film. Great film! I learned some new things about boxing! Well done to the boys! |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Maureen Fishwick: Story of children's 'health holidays' in Switzerland based on interviews, memoirs and personal writing |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Maureen Fishwick was one of the children who were highlighted in the 'Returners' Stories' film. She and her husband, Terry, emigrated to Australia in the 1960s and raised their family there. Maureen was one of only two people who had enquired about the North West Film Archive's 'Returning Home' archive film until the commemorative event in 2018. In this account, written in 1999, she describes revisiting her childhood memories of Switzerland. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://passionsofyouth.org/maureen-fishwicks-story/ |
| Description | Newspaper article: 'In 1948 hundreds of Manchester were sent to the Swiss Alps in a health experiment - now they are reuniting' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Press article in the Manchester Evening News, appealing for adults to come forward who had taken part in health trips from Manchester and Salford to Switzerland in 1948. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/manchester-1948-switzerland-hea... |
| Description | On-line article: '100 Years and Still Fighting': Manchester's amateur boxing heritage' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Melanie Tebbutt was invited to contribute an online article about the 'Passions of Youth' project to VisitManchester, Greater Manchester's official tourism website. The article, called '100 Years and Still Fighting': Manchester's amateur boxing heritage', helped direct attention to the 'Passions of Youth website' (https://passionsofyouth.org). It also resulted in request for research help about Salford Lads' club from a German journalist, Benjamin Stolz, whose article 'Ein Tempel für Teenager' was published in Spex magazine on the 18th January 2020. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.visitmanchester.com/ideas-and-inspiration/blog/read/2019/07/100-years-and-still-fighting... |
| Description | Pat Murgatroyd: story of children's 'health holidays' in Switzerland based on interviews, memoirs and personal writing |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Pat got in touch in September 2020, after seeing a feature about 'Returning Home' on BBC North West Tonight, to say that she also was one of the children who'd gone to Switzerland in 1948. She was prompted to write because she'd never heard about any others who were on the visit until she saw the programme and described how she still had the purple ribbon that was pinned to the children's coats, together with her name tag and a couple of letters from the her Swiss host family. This is her story, developed over several weeks during lockdown. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://passionsofyouth.org/pat-murgatroyd/ |
| Description | Project website: 'Returning Home' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The Returning Home website developed during Covid-19 lockdown in 2020. It has become a hub for returners' relatives across the UK and world (2,000 + visitors; approximately 5,000+ views). A returner's daughter in Australia emailed: 'The website is wonderful! Sitting here at work with tears in my eyes - but smiling - it's really lovely and I know Mum will be thrilled when I show her this weekend. It's brilliant to think that what Mum has talked about her whole life is actually something that all the family can now 'Google' and share - amazing!' Relatives have described the project's powerful personal impact and returners have described how much they valued Returning Home during lockdown, when separated from loved ones. The Swiss Red Cross has described the website as 'excellent' asked Returning Home to communicate the stories of the English visits in Switzerland through its 2021 themes, 'family unity' and 'health support'. It is working with Returning Home to explore traces left by the English children among host families in Switzerland. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://passionsofyouth.org/returning-home/ |
| Description | Public lecture, Leisure and Recreation History and Heritage Day Programme 22/10/2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Melanie tebbutt was invited to deliver a paper, 'Using leisure passions to engage working-class teenagers in history and heritage' to a Leisure and Recreation History and Heritage Day, Courtroom, Middlesbrough Town Hall Tuesday 22nd October 2019 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.middlesbroughtownhall.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Leisure-and-Recreation-History-an... |
| Description | Returning Home. Public film screening. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 'Returning Home' is a participatory community history project which explores encounters and exchanges involving 'delicate' children from Manchester and Salford, who were sent abroad in the late-1940s to stay with Swiss foster families for three months as part of a humanitarian scheme to improve their health. This project, a collaboration with Marion Hewitt of the North West Film Archive, has been inspired by a film called Returning Home, made in 1948 as a thank-you gift by Manchester City Council for the Swiss Red Cross, which initiated and co-ordinated the scheme. The project started with a 70th anniversary screening at No.70 Oxford Street, in June 2018 Manchester to share the stories and experiences of some of those 'delicate children', including their children and grandchildren. Melanie Tebbutt introduced the screening and set the scene for child health and welfare in 1948. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.nwfa.mmu.ac.uk/switz/default-sshow3.htm |
| Description | Review of exhibition 'Beyond the Battlefields exhibition of photographs of the German Home Front by the Kate Buchler at the Grosvenor Gallery, University of Manchester. Co-curated by historian Melanie Tebbutt and creative practitioner Jacqueline Butler of the Manchester School of Art. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Interview with Jacqueline Butler and Melanie Tebbutt about the Kathe Buchler exhibition at the Grosvenor Gallery by Declan Connolly, a journalist from the Open Eye Gallery Website. Open Eye is one of only six national galleries dedicated to showing contemporary photography. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | http://openeye.org.uk/blog/review-beyond-battlefields-grosvenor-gallery/ |
| Description | Richard Larkin: Story of children's 'health holidays' in Switzerland based on interviews, memoirs and personal writing |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Richard Larkin was born in 1940 in Salford and moved to Cheetham in Manchester when he was five. He was seven when he went to Switzerland and here he describes his ill-health as a child and the effects that staying in Switzerland had upon him. His account has been read by many relatives living overseas and helped keep his family in touch during lockdown. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://passionsofyouth.org/richard-larkins-story/ |
| Description | Salford Young Fathers. Various creative and heritage activities |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Matching their very limited availability with that of the young men with their youth worker and film maker was complicated, and as a result project adaptations were made to the activities in which they were involved. Rather than access and teach the young men filming skills, their youth workers were trained to use the equipment and they recorded the talking heads of the young fathers talking about their passions as a father or their leisure interests. Interest in heritage and intergenerational learning was shown by some of the young men, although co-ordinating a group visit to a cultural venue has not been practical in the timeframe available because of the constraints around their availability, the need to work with them on a one to one basis, and the variety of different rather than shared interests the young men are starting to explore. One family expressed interest in visiting and finding out about the history of Old Trafford Cricket Club and grounds. Another young man was interested in visiting Archives + to investigate his family's past and interviewing his grandfather about moving from Ireland to Manchester. One participant attended the university to learn oral history recording skills, a visit which had a strong impact on his confidence and outlook. Having received a late diagnosis of dyslexia, after his school years had finished, he is currently working towards building his reading and writing skills, with a view to a career in youth work. At Manchester Metropolitan University he met academics who could see his cognitive strengths and complimented his articulate thoughts and conversation. He received a tour from a student ambassador who talked to him about the ways the university has a wide range of practical support for all kinds of disabilities and showed him some very relevant examples. Lead contact from the group Tom Cole described how the young man, '...breezed back in [to the Salford hub office] the next day buzzing and so full of confidence. It was a whole new experience and eye opener. He wasn't aware of what a university involved and all the different things they offered, all the things that go on and how it affects research. It's a while off yet but now he wants to go to university one day.' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://passionsofyouth.org |
| Description | Talk and launch of Making Youth: A History of Youth in Modern Britain. Part of a public event organised by the Manchester Centre for Youth Studies at Manchester Metropolitan University, 18 July 2016. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Launch and talk took place as part of a public event organised by the Manchester Centre for Youth Studies at Manchester Metropolitan University called 'The politics of widening participation'. The invitation to talk about the book came about as a way of introducing a public audience to the importance of historical understanding in challenging social and cultural attitudes which frequently dismiss or discount young people's needs. The event resulted in several new connections and plans for further collaborative activities with the Manchester Centre for Youth Studies. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Talk at Lancashire Archives, Preston 23 March 2016. Problem pages in teenage magazines in the 1960s and 1970s |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Talk, Problem pages in teenage magazines in the 1960s and 1970s at Lancashire Archives. Presented as part of Women's History Month. Led to discussion about how sexual attitudes and behaviour have changed and the challenges that face teenagers today, particularly in relation to the internet and pornography. Feedback was positive and led to invitations to deliver a similar lecture to other groups around the region. Comments included: It brought back many memories! It makes you think about young people today and what it's like for them to be teenagers. It was good to hear about the context in which these letters were written, to think about their background. It reminded me of how sexually ignorant I was when I got married. I knew nothing. I knew nothing about periods so was deeply shocked when they started. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Television feature: 'The search for 200 children who took part in a special trip to Switzerland in 1948' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Television feature on ITV's Granada Reports featuring extracts from archive film 'Returning Home', with the aim of attracting adults to take part in community engagement project about health visits to Switzerland by children from Manchester and Salford in 1948. [26 March 2018] |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.itv.com/news/granada/update/2018-03-26/the-search-for-200-children-on-a-special-trip-to-... |
| Description | Workshop presentation: 'Public history, historians and the community: the impact of lockdown' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation to online workshop organised by the Raphael Centre History Centre and the Manchester Centre for Public History and Heritage, 'Doing Public History in Lockdown and Beyond', 3 August 2020. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://raphaelsamuelhistorycentre.com/2020/08/03/doing-public-history-in-lockdown-and-beyond/ |
| Description | Young boxers. Film Training |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | In Stage 1 of their project, boxers at Collyhurst and Moston Lads' Club took part in film training and recorded short talking head videos describing their love of boxing. They developed some short story films dramatising elements of their boxing training and interests. During their media training, they showed creative vision, offering many and varied ideas, sometimes elaborate, and thought about details. They were taught pre-to post-production filming skills, from recording sound, setting up a trip and camera, to identifying good visual (and legal) placed to film, creating storyboards, editing, interviewing and being interviewed. The evidence on them having absorbed these skills is within the range of skills they created, from the early talking heads to the final film. As they explained in their end point interview with an independent evaluator: 'When they first came in with the camera, we didn't even know how to put it on the trip, now we've made our own films. None of us knew how to do interviewing and in the end we didn't need their [practitioners'] help because they taught us how to do it. Learning how to edit the films on computers came next, and add music and titles and other stuff we don't know how to do before'. Whilst learning how to film and interview was new to the young men and developed technical skills, it was apparent from the early stages they already had strong creativity. They were confident in suggesting many wide, varied, big picture and detailed suggestions. Some showed a flair for drama. It is hard to say the project gave them new creative skills, though it certainly provided an outlet for them to realise explicitly their inherent skills and develop these. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Young boxers. Film making |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Sue Reddish, creative practitioner and filmmaker, explained: 'They've devised the content in the little dramatisation scenes, they rehearsed and they improvised. And they've been looking at the content, making decisions about how to tell the story either through what they're reporting or what they're acting out. They crafted the film completely with the content and decision making'. The young men's trainer and club manager described how: 'The lads were quite shy, mumbling, they didn't know what to do with their hands and eyes. One of them really doesn't like to have eye contact but now he's 100% better. They'd be embarrassed at first filming where we are, I thought they wouldn't do it, but they've got it, they did it and they're fine with it now. I've seen a difference in the way they talk and conduct themselves. Now when their camera comes on they're chatty and even acting. One of them has really come on in learning to act, his confidence has come on a lot, we joked that Hollyoaks wanted him for an audition - he said he'd be up for it but a year ago he'd have said no way!' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Young boxers. Film showing: A Hundred Years and Still Fighting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The young boxers' film, 'A Hundred Year and Still Fighting' was premiered at the Miners' Community Arts and Music Centre in Moston, north Manchester to an audience of parents, relatives and members of the surround community. The positive feedback that that young men who had made the film received after the showing was revealed in subtle statements such as the following: 'At first I was hoping it [the film] wasn't going to get on anything like Twitter or Facebook but I wouldn't be bothered now if it did'. 'It's good, I thought [the film] would be cheesy, but it's good'. In end-point interviews, several reflected on how they had changed over the course of the project: 'Coming here every Wednesday morning was good. When I first did it I thought I wasn't going to like it, but it was good. I wanted to do it'. 'At the start I didn't think I would be into something like this but then I ended up liking it'. ''I'm really proud of wanting to complete the films'. 'We got more sensible. When we first started we used to act silly, mess about, and then we started to take it a bit more seriously. When you learn how to do it, it's pretty good'. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Young boxers. Oral History interviews |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | After completing their training in oral history skills, the young men conducted their own interviews for the film they were making. During a visit to the Working-Class Movement Library in Salford, they interviewed Mike Luff, whose father fought with Len Johnson, the black Mancunion boxer in the 1920s and 1930s. They also interviewed Pat Barrett, a former professional boxer and returned trainer at their boxing club, and Mike Johnson, trainer at Ricky Hatton's gym, and 'found out he came from the Collyhurst and Moston gym before that too'. (Interview with Sue Reddish and Jim Dalziel, filmmakers.) Discovering first-hand links back to Len Johnson made history feel real and immediate for them. They also found information about older men they knew, which helped them see their elders in a different light. Sue and Jim explained: 'They met Mike Luff whose dad boxed with Len Johnson. Jack couldn't get his head round the fact that this figure was one generation away and that someone he knew, knew him'. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Young boxers. Oral history training and blogging |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The young boxers attended training in oral history skills and blogging at Manchester Metropolitan University, valuable skills for when they cam to conduct interviews for the film they were making. They reflected on how this had changed them in an interview with the project's independent evaluator: 'We've learned how to be interviewed without looking stupid, more confidence in front of the camera. Sometimes we used to mumble or keep moving around whereas now we know what to do'. 'I can speak to new people now'. 'I thought I'd be dead cringe and feel stupid but it feels good'. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Young boxers. Visit to Archive+, Manchester Central Library |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Visit to Archive+ at Central Manchester Library to learn about how to use an archive for reference and research. Whilst there, the young boxers found out about the history of their club which was subsequently added to through interviews with older generations of local boxers who talked about the history of the club, and boxing culture and community around Manchester. At their end-point interview with the project's independent evaluator, the boxers reflected: 'It's the first time I've been anywhere like that [the archive]. It was good. And we wouldn't have done stuff like going to see that play'. [They'd previously been taken to see a play about the black boxer, Len Johnson.] We went to the library and it's got stuff about the gym a hundred years ago. We saw that film about Brain [the club's former manager] and found he'd made his own short film, 30 or 40 years ago, filmed here at this gym. I've learned about the history of this gym and stuff about people who used to come here. It's good, interesting, the old clips'. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Young boxers. Visit to Manchester Metropolitan University for a tour of the facilities and for oral history and blog training. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Young boxers (16-19) visited Manchester Metropolitan University for a tour of the facilities. They also met Dr Jason Roche, a former amateur boxer and coach, now a lecturer in History at the University. Evaluation interviews with the boxers and film maker practitioners Sue Reddish and Jim Dalziel demonstrated how the project widened the opportunities the young men thought would be open to them. Film maker Jim remembered: 'Jack said, he might try and go to MMU. He realised you don't have to be a certain kind of person to go to university, because the student ambassadors he met who showed him around were just normal kids like him'. The manager of the young men's boxing club acknowledged, in an interview with the project's independent evaluator, the new opportunities that had opened up to the group: 'In the area we live, the kids round here, they get told to do one thing and they stick to it - be a plumber of a joiner. There's nothing wrong with that but no one says I want to do film or be a director. Now they're interested in it. It opens new doors for them. When they went to look round the university you could see they were looking at it, it opened their eyes. One of them, Frank, said "I might go to college, if I do well next yearend keep doing it, I could go to uni'. There's no chance he'd have thought that if he's not visited, not a chance' It's opened their eyes and they won't settle for what people say they should do. Now they want to choose whatever they want to'. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Young boxers. Visit to Working-Class Movement Library, Salford |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | As part of learning about the local; heritage of their sport, the young boxers visited the Working-Class Movement Library in Salford. The aim was to find out more about the life of Len Johnson, a black Mancunion boxer who fought in the 1920s and 1930s and who, because of his colour, was not allowed to fight in official bouts and could therefore never be recognised formally despite his boxing achievements. The young men were introduced to the Len Johnson Archive. They also met Mike Luff, whose father had boxed with Len Johnson. Film makers Sue Reddish and Jim Dalziel explained: 'Jack couldn't get his head round the fact that this figure was one generation away and that someone he knew, knew him'. They had previously been to see a film about Len Johnson at a theatre in Salford. 'When they saw the play they thought it was ancient history, then meeting Mike Luff they realised it was more within reach'. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Young boxers. Visit to play at the King's Arms Theatre, Salford |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The young men on the project learned about the local heritage of their sport through a variety of activities, including a visit to a play at the King's Arms Theatre, Salford, about the life of Len Johnson, a black Mancunion boxer who fought in the 1920s and 1930s and who, because of his colour, was not allowed to fight in official bouts and could therefore never be recognised formally despite his boxing achievements. This group of young boxers (aged 16-19) had never been to a cultural venue such as a theatre, with the exception of one trip to a pantomime with junior school. The visit helped them develop critical awareness of different art forms, differences between their own filmmaking and theatre, as demonstrated in reflections by one of the young men on visiting a play about Len Johnson: 'The play was more about his life than boxing. I thought it was good because in our film we could stop and start it, but they just had to do the whole play without editing, they just had to keep going'. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |