AWIASC at Penfold Community Hub

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A WORLD IN A SUITCASE

Penfold Community Hub collages, stories and Suitcases

Take a look at AWIASC's projects at:
Church Street & Queens Park Library, Penfold Community Hub, Mary Mags

After Lockdown July 2021

We ran two face to face workshops - one with Penfold residents and another with older learners from the area.Social distancing had to be maintained.. Both workshops explored A Day By The Seaside.

Penfold resident's Seaside stories

Seaside stories from learners at Penfold

In 2017 we ran our first project at Penfold. People brought in objects with personal meaning to fill their suitcases and then shared their stories with the group.They were filmed talking about what was in their suitcases and the meaning for them.

A World in a Suitcase

Everyone went on a journey with their suitcase exploring Happy Moments of Home and Childhood.
They filled their suitcase with stories, artwork and objects with meaning for them.

We held an exhibition of the artwork produced as well as showing suitcases filled with objects of personal meaning.

Each person shared one happy memory of their Childhood: The following stories are in their own words as told.

Joan: I remember Christmas time in Dublin with grandmother. We would collect an aunt and we would sit in the patio area and sing carols. She was a stern woman. I remember it was snowing, freezing cold.
Sue: I remember watching films and listening to Nat King Cole with my Nan. We had two rooms and toasted bread on a fryer. Everything was warm about my Nan. My good friend, when he was a kid was baptised and was put in a shoebox.
Anna: I remember my family in Naples (Italy) .Christmas time was a happy time. I was a quiet child.
Liz: I was a curly haired toddler. My siblings were sent to boarding school. I was kept with mum and dad. I was resented by my siblings as, I was ‘the chosen one’. Today I have a ridiculous happy memory. A picnic in a wood. We ate cold (cooked )rabbit in a forest up North
Kalu: I have a happy memory of us driving on Sundays to the beach in Mombassa, Kenya in a Peugeot. We were looking for shells. We had to cross a huge bridge on the North coast. On the South coast we had to cross by car ferry, at a slow pace.

Lal I come from Trinidad. It was hard to get a room. "No Coloured. No Dogs. Sorry it has gone.” When I (finally) got a room it had no heating except a paraffin heater. Sitting next to it my trousers caught alight. First job was in a garage. I cut my hand – what colour blood you have red or brown? they asked me. I had to go to the public baths (to wash).
Joan Mother and father moved into a drapery shop. Father bought a gramophone, record player. I really remember Nat King Cole and Jim Reed being played on it.
Anna I lived near Battersea Park. On one of the funfair stalls The boys I was playing with used to throw stones at a lady (a funfair toy) in a window. The lady’s bed would tip up and collapse at the funfair. I used to walk to Soho Square, (a very long way).
Doreen I remember walking with Grandmother in Dominica to the gardens, full of animals and lovely sunshine: Playing with a little piglet. I used to tease it and it would run at me.
Sue I lived near Battersea power station. Played there. Nan worked at Lots Lodge power station. Kids went to play on bombsites and a graveyard near Penfold. It hasn’t changed.
Kalu I remember going to the beach in Mombasa Kenya or to a drive in cinema. Came here in 1976, Snow first time I had seen it at 18 years old. One of seven children, we had an African parrot as a pet and we would spin its cage to tease it.

Participants spoke about the meaning behind the objects they had brought in to fill their suitcase.
Take a look at the video.