Charlie Wells is a musician, community artist and oral historian. She worked with Friends of Hollybush on the History Project. Here is a her short address from the launch event.
I’m going to keep this really brief, because there is cake(to celebrate), and that is really important
I just want to say “thank you” because you (Amy) asked a question, what if someone from the beginning of Hollybush had come back what would they think was the same, what would have changed. I think they would think was the same, and I’m an outsider, total outsider live in Wakefield, don’t live near Leeds, I’d never been to Hollybush before, I think they’d feel that its a feeling that’s the same, it is a feeling that I got from going to Hollybush, and working with people, from helping them with interview techniques, with encouraging them to speak to people about their experiences and from reading those stories and editing them and putting them together and working with John, (hang on no John we’ve got quite a lot, it needs to fit in a book.)That it is a feeling, it’s the people, its about acceptance, its about being together, its about community which is something that stories that’s why I storytell, why I tell stories it is something that all communities geographic, communities, communities of people that come together, are common things that are really, really important. And I think that is what they would say was the same. I just want to say thank you for letting me help tell those stories, because they are wonderful. It was so much fun and a lovely project to be part of, well done everybody and thank you for gifting the project your stories