A few weeks ago (Sunday 12th June to be precise) our team took a trip across town to The Manchester Monastery to spread the word about our latest project, as part of the Manchester Histories Festival. Keep reading to find out more!
Manchester Histories Festival returned to the city earlier this month to celebrate the rich histories and heritage of Greater Manchester. As part of the event, on Sunday the 12th of June a whole variety of organisations temporarily set up shop at The Manchester Monastery to showcase their ideas. The wonderful Charlotte was manning our stall, she expands: “I was there to help promote the Rooms of Our Own project. It was a great opportunity for people to find out a little bit more about us and what we’re currently up to”.
She adds: “A lot of people seemed to want to visit the centre, so that’s good”.
“I brought a few bits from the newly restored archive with me, this included old newsletters, which people found especially interesting. I also lead a mini workshop during the day where people could write down how they feel about activism, what it means to them, and how it relates to the present day”.
We were just one of 56 stalls occupying a spot in the magnificent monastery, luckily Charlotte got a chance to chat to some of the other organisations there and get the word out about what we’re currently up to: “It was good to talk to everyone. I spoke to The Film Hub Archive, which was fantastic because they are currently in the process of creating a film about the Pankhurst family called ‘Born A Rebel’, so it was great to share ideas and discuss how we could help each other in the future”.
Rooms of Our Own is an archive restoration project lead by the Pankhurst Trust and Manchester Histories, their aim is to organise and preserve all the important material that had previously been randomly stored overtime in the attic here at The Pankhurst Centre. Once fully catalogued the archive will be transported to Manchester Central Library where it will be put on display.