| Description | An interview with Monica LEE, a married woman with one son (died), one daughter, who is a Communtiy worker, born in Cheltenham and now living in Birmingham. Monica LEE’s father was a Office worker, born in England and her mother a Housewife born in France. In the interview, she talks about …
'MS2255/2/079 LEE, Monica
01
I was born in Cheltenham in 1954….Mother was upper-middle class, father was very working-class. Different sets of rules and beliefs.
1.44 Tried to fit in at school, but spoke differently at home.
2.34 Suffered from epilepsy as a child.
3.00 I passed for grammar school and I’ll never forget the headmaster said that I wasn’t grammar school material….so when I went to secondary school I rebelled…. Lost interest at school.
Story about a certain teacher who took an interest in Monica.
02
Underwent psychological testing at school.
26” Not long after that, I got home one day and found there was a childcare officer….waiting at home and my mum told me I was going into care. She’d always threatened, but I never thought she’d carry it out…..Story about the care centre and the people she met.
3.17 Brother also suffered from epilepsy. Died when Monica was 16 in 1970.
I remember being really frightened up until the age of 28 that I was going to die too.
03
I spent all this time in care and then they moved me onto another place that was supposed to be better…..it was 8 young girls in a home together….it was rough….
Story about moving to Linden Road School.
1.06 Then eventually my mum let me come home. I was about 15….I suppose I was resentful of my mum putting me into care….
Story about returning to former school.
2.56 Went to another school but eventually left to start a job in an insurance company. It was computers and things but they were massive, and I had to do some photocopying and this photocopier, we all thought it was absolutely brilliant….it was like a wardrobe on its side…..
3.50 Story about swimming at the Lido.
04
Continues story about swimming.
1.03 I decided I’d had enough of Cheltenham, and a friend had moved to Birmingham…so I wanted to move to Birmingham….moved into the YWCA…..I got a job about a week after I moved up, in an office as a telephonist/receptionist….
2.17 A male friend had moved up to Birmingham and began dating Monica. When I was 19 I got pregnant and had my son Patrick….
3.45 I got a flat in Highgate , that was my first experience of Highgate, and it was a bit of a culture shock to say the least….it was quite exciting because there were all sorts of people….I was very naïve when I went there….
05
I went there Christmas 1974 and we moved out 1979. Relationship with Pat broke up.
35” I met my husband Peter when Patrick was 2 and a half….my husband is Jamaican….he was good for me….
Son diagnosed with Cystic fibrosis. Describes the treatment son received at Dudley Road Hospital.
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We got married in 1979….in Highgate Baptist Church…..
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I was about 25 years old when we moved into Mary Street….
Story about wedding ceremony.
2.06 My husband has a son that was the same age as Patrick….Further story about wedding and reception.
4.15 My dad was always a bit prejudiced….Story about father discovering that Peter was black but getting on very well together.
08
It’s quite refreshing really….my dad had been brought up using all these negative terms about black people, but when he actually met a black person he did give him a chance….he thinks the world of him….
1.02 Because we’d all moved into Mary Street, there were so many people living there….all had children….I made friends with a woman who was an advice worker down at the advice centre…..and she put it into my head that I should run a playscheme….Story about funding the project.
3.34 After this playscheme, we decided we weren’t going to do any more outdoor playschemes…..We went to Heath Mount School…..
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Lots of interest in the playscheme. Describes the activities.
2.18 We applied for realistic money and we also applied together….
2.54 This was in 1982-3. We went from strength to strength and the play council got stronger….
3.19 I got married on August 25th, 1979 and I ran a playscheme in the Summer of 1980….I was pregnant at the time and I lost the baby, she was stillborn….All I wanted to do was talk about it and find out why it had happened, and then I got pregnant again….my daughter was born on 6th August, 1982….
10
How the death of the baby affected Patrick.
1.36 I had Becky in the QE Hospital because I wouldn’t go back to Selly Oak Hospital…..
Describes the birth.
3.20 Everybody went on strike, so we had to have paper sheets, paper nighties, everything was paper….
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Worried about how Peter would cope with the playscheme whilst she was in hospital.
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Story about how she got involved in youth work. Conflict with the organiser.
13
29”
The Birmingham Sports Centre was built and they shut our youth club, assured us they were taking nothing away from our club whatsoever….Everything belonged to the Education Dept. at this time…
They promised we’d get use of the sports centre….
1.37 I’d left Mount Pleasant…because I was offered 6 hours a week to run an empty derelict building called The Friend’s Institute….
Patrick attended a special school for a couple of years.
3.24 By secondary school I wanted him to go back to mainstream education…Story about a meeting with the education authority.
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Continues story.
4.09 So Patrick went to Queensbridge and he was really happy….
4.47 I’d tried to get into Westhill College on 3 occasions…to do youth and community work….basically they didn’t want me….
15
They told me if I’d got O’levels they’d consider me….I did a sociology O’level and an English O’level…..Details courses taken.
1.10 Describes The Friends Institute and the people who worked there.
4.20 I put on this festival of performing arts and one of the evenings was a dance evening….and the cultural make-up of the audience was even more amazing than the cultural make-up of the performers…..
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Continues story.
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Becky went to Selly Park Girl’s School….
Patrick was ill during that time…..Describes his time in hospital.
2.55 Story about Patrick being informed he was ready for a transplant and the time he spent in hospital.
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Continues account.
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3.48 He was fine for a few weeks….until the August Bank Holiday….then he came home….by now I’ve let my guard down because he’s so well….he started coughing…..his breathing had dropped….I phoned Birmingham to ask for advice and could we take him to the QE…and basically this consultant said, no he’s not one of ours, don’t bring him here….
22
He went into intensive care after about 3 or 4 days….Story about returning to hospital.
3.00 He came out 6 weeks later, nobody knew how he lived….
4.02 By February 1995, I was told that the lungs they were giving him weren’t suitable….
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Continues....
Reflects on her close bond with her son.
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Family life after Patrick’s death.
49” I raised money for people in Highgate to get personal alarms, so all the elderly could have them….Describes the elderly people she encounters.
2.22 If you look at the young people, sometimes I wonder that if you took a child at 4 or 5 and you killed off all the adults….I don’t ever think there’d be any racism in this world….they’ve taken on each other’s cultures…Some people don’t see the beauty in that….
4.16 Living in Highgate…there was a survey done a few years ago…people were asked what were they frightened of, and a lot of them said crime, but when it came to the questions about racial tension….they didn’t perceive racial crime as being a problem….
25
Continued.
42” We did the neighbourhood office garden up with kids from the local school….people came past and said, “I don’t know what you’re doing that for. It’ll be wrecked in a few days time. They’ll pull it up….”
2.31 In Highgate we have an Afro-Caribbean Development Agency….Gives details.
3.39 …came up with this bright idea about young people building their own properties and living in them afterwards….It’s the first Youth Build in Birmingham…it’s not been done before….
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Continues to describe the Youth Build project.
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The existing project is concerned with 18-24 year olds only. Reflects on the importance of self-build schemes.
ENDS. |