Walk Post 068 - Manchester Women
Nov. 14th, 2010 12:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thousandmilesblogDate of Walk: 06/11/10
Walk organized by: Philippa Cave
Start time: 14:00
Start location: Manchester Town Hall
Walk length: 3.434 miles including walk to start and from finish
Weather conditions: Cloudy, cold
Statue of Enriqueta Rylands in the library she founded
Details:
Women's history is an area that's still working to find attention and respect. For that reason, it tends to be presented in quite a serious way. Male tour guides in particular can't really risk sounding as if they're trivialising the subject in front of interested parties. This can mean that important women of earlier times are presented as quite stern and proper, and more than a little intimidating. They seem, through their speeches, hunger strikes and other great endeavours, to inspect the women of the present with eyes that are unimpressed, and perhaps ever so slightly disapproving. Have we taken on the torches they carried and borne them in a way they'd be proud of? The odd voice recording or tale connects across the years like a friendly wave of solidarity, but largely they're quite difficult to identify with.
That's why I'm ever so glad I went on this walk.
The tour guide was fantastic. It was a privilege and a joy to listen to her. She spoke unhesitatingly and enthusiastically, without reference to any notes. I don't mind guides using notes, I could never remember all those names and dates myself, and if a guide does walks on several different subjects it's not going to be practical to speak without some sort of crib sheet. It's just that this looked very much like a woman who lives her subject, and knows all the juiciest gossip. Names, dates and anecdotes flowed from her lips as if it all happened yesterday and she knew them all well. She connected with these people. I did too.
Starting from the Town Hall steps, we walked along Cross Street, round to St Anne's Square, through the dead centre of Manchester to Deansgate, through the very beautiful John Rylands Library, out past the new library, down to St Peter's Square, across to Manchester Central and the Free Trade Hall, and finally back to the spot just behind the library. On the way we learned about the Manchester Mummy kept inside a clock, the dietary preferences of Elizabeth Gaskell, the spiritual bet-hedging of Mancunians, the largely unchanged moral standards of what is now Manchester's financial district, the husband and law enforcement officer who turned out to be female, the troubled relationships of the Pankhurst family and the scandalous smoking habits of a theatrical legend.
I'm still not sure what the women of yesteryear would think of those of today, but they look a lot friendlier from where I'm standing now.
Annie Horniman, revived the Gaiety Theatre in 1908 and brought repertory theatre to Manchester
Evil Giraffe
Walk organized by: Philippa Cave
Start time: 14:00
Start location: Manchester Town Hall
Walk length: 3.434 miles including walk to start and from finish
Weather conditions: Cloudy, cold
Statue of Enriqueta Rylands in the library she founded
Details:
Women's history is an area that's still working to find attention and respect. For that reason, it tends to be presented in quite a serious way. Male tour guides in particular can't really risk sounding as if they're trivialising the subject in front of interested parties. This can mean that important women of earlier times are presented as quite stern and proper, and more than a little intimidating. They seem, through their speeches, hunger strikes and other great endeavours, to inspect the women of the present with eyes that are unimpressed, and perhaps ever so slightly disapproving. Have we taken on the torches they carried and borne them in a way they'd be proud of? The odd voice recording or tale connects across the years like a friendly wave of solidarity, but largely they're quite difficult to identify with.
That's why I'm ever so glad I went on this walk.
The tour guide was fantastic. It was a privilege and a joy to listen to her. She spoke unhesitatingly and enthusiastically, without reference to any notes. I don't mind guides using notes, I could never remember all those names and dates myself, and if a guide does walks on several different subjects it's not going to be practical to speak without some sort of crib sheet. It's just that this looked very much like a woman who lives her subject, and knows all the juiciest gossip. Names, dates and anecdotes flowed from her lips as if it all happened yesterday and she knew them all well. She connected with these people. I did too.
Starting from the Town Hall steps, we walked along Cross Street, round to St Anne's Square, through the dead centre of Manchester to Deansgate, through the very beautiful John Rylands Library, out past the new library, down to St Peter's Square, across to Manchester Central and the Free Trade Hall, and finally back to the spot just behind the library. On the way we learned about the Manchester Mummy kept inside a clock, the dietary preferences of Elizabeth Gaskell, the spiritual bet-hedging of Mancunians, the largely unchanged moral standards of what is now Manchester's financial district, the husband and law enforcement officer who turned out to be female, the troubled relationships of the Pankhurst family and the scandalous smoking habits of a theatrical legend.
I'm still not sure what the women of yesteryear would think of those of today, but they look a lot friendlier from where I'm standing now.
Annie Horniman, revived the Gaiety Theatre in 1908 and brought repertory theatre to Manchester
Evil Giraffe
