Where are you from?
An easy opening question, but not a straighforward answer.
Museums define a sense of place and people connected to their story or location. They collect objects that tell this story. Some connect generations of a family who own that sense of place. I wonder how it feels to have that thread that connects generations to a place where a family have lived for generations. My grandparents were born in four different countries, and I lived in three different counties before I was eight, followed by two universities and a placement in Dublin. After I married, we lived in four different houses including three years in Malawi. My friends connect me to the places I have lived, loose connections that bring me back.
As a child I lived in Clitheroe for seven years and I’m having fun discovering the town’s history while I work on some new interpretation. Famous for the Pendle witches the town has one of the smallest surviving castle keeps and is defined by hills. I remember my mum commenting on the hill into town which I don’t think I noticed. One of my earliest memories, inscribed by photographs is climbing Pendle Hill with my dad and sister. We were delighted with our achievement, feeling like this was our first proper hill. I moved onto the three Yorkshire peaks which were a constant, easily accessible from Clitheroe and our next home in Yorkshire. I don’t remember it but my mum tells me she had to go to the library in Clitheroe without me after I threw a tantrum at having to return the library books which I wanted to keep. My work at the park connects the history of the castle with the more recent story of an innovative skate park which celebrates 20 years. I don’t remember the skate park but I recognise the benches with green snake heads underneath and I remember learning to roller skate on the flat slightly sloped concrete bath to the swimming baths.
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