“People keep asking me if we’ve found any gems yet. I keep saying, they’re all gems!" (Bernard, volunteer)
Some highlights that our volunteers have discovered and pointed out:
- awc-378 Mrs Edith Skerrett, recorded c.1977, aged about 98, recalls Queen Victoria's jubilee, her childhood in the 1880s and 90s, life in service as young girl
- awc-374 Les Oakes talks about his architectural salvage business near Oakamoor, recorded 1986
- awc-293 Percy Barton, the blacksmith of Sneyd Street, Cobridge, recalling his father shoeing a circus elephant
- awc-420 Sydney Smith recalls enlisting for WW1 at Hartshill, preparing to go to the front, and an accident with ammuniation at Hartshill
- awc-151 interview with Susie Cooper, potter
- awc-336 Mr Doug Tomkinson recalling the butcher's and abbatoir at Wolstanton and grazing cattle on the Marshes
- awc-375 Lily Pegler of Longport recalling her father conducting the band playing music for the silent movies at the Palace Cinema, Burslem
- awc-398 Robert Peel describing his job at Crewe Works as a boy, crawling inside and cleaning the tanks of steam trains
- awc-116 Mrs Lunt recalling her rural Oakhill childhood, with picnics, wildlflowers and larks in the meadows on what became the Michelin site
- awc-381 Billy Weston recalling Hanley Park being built in 1897 when he was a child; recorded c.1970s
- awc-296 and 285 Children and staff at Goldenhill School talk about their award-winning enterprise project work and investigations into their local area