| Description | An interview with Carol WOOLLEY, a single woman with no children, who is a Cleaning & dinner supervisor, born in Birmingham and now living in Birmingham. Carol WOOLLEY’s father was a Factory worker, born in England and her mother a Factory worker/lollipop lady/cleaner born in England. In the interview, she talks about …
'CAROL WOOLLEY MS2255/2/127 Logged by Lorraine Blakemore
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My name is Carol Woolley…I was born in the Edgbaston area of Birmingham in August of 1942…in back-to-back houses…memories of communal bonfires in the backyard and children’s games. No serious crime during that era.
1.35 Moved house during slum clearance. Describes the new home.
2.51 Story about an elderly neighbour accepting help.
3.29 Parent’s various occupations over the years.
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Story about how parents met each other and the ensuing complication of her father’s bigamous relationship.
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Court case resulted from the revelation of the bigamous marriage and her father was sent to Winson Green Prison for a time.
1.42 Continued until Carol was 10 when his wife in Lancashire died. Formally married to Carol’s mother.
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Mother worked in a Gas Street sewing factory. Father worked at John Elkington plating factory and then at Lucas’ in Hockley.
53” Spent holiday time with aunt.
1.26 At the same time she brought a lot of problems…she had met a man…. Details of her extra-marital liaisons.
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She was naughty because she picked up this other man and his wife was still alive…she did eventually marry him….
52” Background to family conflict.
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Neighbours were unaware of the scandal.
35” Describes Irving Street and the shops around 1950.
2.55 A lot of people, I think, moved out onto the Kings Heath Pineapple Estate which were new in those days in 1963….Carol’s family remained in the Lee Bank area.
4.03 Everything, for the first few years was beautiful, everything was model, until the people decided that they didn’t like these flats….the tower blocks were a bit disastrous….became fairly run-down….through the late 70s and early 80s really run-down. So the only residents that might be left were the long-standing ones that wouldn’t move…
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Details those neighbours who have lived for a considerable time in the area. Not many who were born there.
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We lived in a back-to-back and the idea of a modern flat in a landscaped area…you thought it was wonderland. Centrally-heated flat….You didn’t think it would bring a breakdown in sociability which it did….I always think the closer you move people together, the further apart you make them….you want privacy….
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The people who had become disillusioned with living in the property moved out to houses on Woodgate Valley….in came people that had done time in prison….homeless….
1.02 Prostitute in the one-bedroomed flat next to me…she’d got two pimps….She actually stabbed the one outside…You could hear the fighting and the police came out….
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Details the neighbours at the present time.
50” I went to St. Thomas’ School on Bath Row….From age 5-15.
1.30 Story about corporal punishment at school.
2.11 School meals.
2.32 Played truant from school very occasionally.
3.19 At that time jobs were ten-a-penny…in 1957….I went to Halfords doing office work…ledger clerk…We had a great big machine that was the forerunner of the computer…stayed there….until 1971…
4.41 Worked at Davenports in the cash office until 1983.
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I could see the changes in my mother, she was doing some odd, peculiar things…
40” I think that carers who look after people at home should have a lot of help…At my time…nobody knows the anxiety of it all when you’re the only one to do it….I was running to the signing on office for a job I couldn’t get….In the end they gave me the disability allowance and that smoothed it out for the last few years…If they gave me a million pounds…I would not do it again…. Details some of the difficulties involved.
3.26 At the very end they did send me a home help….
4.10 Not able to have a social life whilst looking after her mother.
4.50 Mother died in 1989.
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Describes the last years when her mother was at a nursing home.
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Another bee in my bonnet is that when my mother went into a nursing home they take off, near enough, the attendance allowance and make you go back and sign on….I think that people who have looked after somebody should have a little help to get them back into a working life.
1.15 Decided to get a part-time job as a cleaner.
2.17 Found a second job as a dinner lady.
2.52 Now supervisor of 2 cleaners at a school.
4.05 Describes a typical working day.
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Continued.
55” Retires next year.
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Chair of the Lee Bank Residents' Association.
18” This area in 2001 is undergoing an 8-10 year refurbishment programme, so we formed a resident’s group…
1.00 Enjoys playing bingo.
1.58 Describes the work of the Residents' Group.
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I want a nice area…I know it can’t be totally crime-free, but it can be less than we’ve had to live amongst…guidelines for tenants to live by…I’m very unhappy with the Council…Gives details.
2.15 There’s a lot of people who love these flats….there’s going to be security at the door with a camera….Disagreement amongst residents regarding surveillance cameras.
4.50 Story about crimes witnessed in the area.
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Continued.
41” One or two ladies…we’ve come out of the bingo in the dark nights….there was an old lady with blood pouring down her face…What they were doing, you see, the tower block that was there…watching from the empty flats, so if anyone won in the bingo, mobile phone to the mate saying so and so has won….
1.28 Murder in the area.
1.40 Story about a flasher.
3.48 When old people get knocked about….I don’t think the punishment ever fits the crime nowadays….your politically correct so and so….social worker that said he’s been born the wrong way into the world….Now it seems an excuse to me…
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Views on single parents and benefits for those with children.
2.15 Her own financial situation.
3.18 I feel our church, the Church of England, is hypocritical….The only time a vicar has ever knocked this door was when he found out one of my parents had died and did I want the funeral from there….
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Further views on religion.
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At the moment I’m really in a puzzle about who to vote for in the next general election. I feel disillusioned by Tony Blair….Gives reasons.
58” Parent’s political persuasion.
1.35 My personal view….is that we should be very wary of the European Union…
3.10 Reflects on the Anti-Capitalist May Day Demonstrations and the issues it raised.
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Lack of integrity in politics.
ENDS. |