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Janette posted an update 1 month, 3 weeks ago
Apologies for the big absences. I have had a lot to get my head around and the battle is not yet over, but I am starting to ease myself back into addressing an unfinished WIP. I have found a brilliant library: The Bradford Mechanics Institute Library, who serve teas to your table while you write. I love that you have to be a member (for the small annual fee of £30), which means people cannot simply wander in off the streets and chat around you, so offers a much better writing space.
Progress is extremely slow – but it is progress all the same and who knows, this WIP might just end up being completed, hopefully to a readable standard. If not, it keeps me out of mischief.
To this end, I identified problems and changed its original plot, which includes my MC’s move to Manchester to be with her theatre performer brother, who gets her into stage costume design. My problem is I know nothing about the theatre world, especially Manchester’s in the mid 1970s: the era of my novel. This is a ‘grasping at straws’ exercise, I realise, but does anyone here know anything about 1970s Manchester or its theatres? I am willing to adapt to another northern city if anyone has similar knowledge of there.
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Hi @janette, I grew up close to Manchester in the 1970s. I don’t know a great deal though can remember the atmosphere and what it looked like. There was a sense of desolation despite the moneyed suburbs. I don’t know anything about the theatres – a memory of the Library Theatre but that’s all. But if you think I can help, send me a private message and I’ll give you my email. All best, L
Thank you, Libby, I’ll bear that in mind. It’s mostly theatre life I’m interested in, but I may want to pick your brain some time when I come to refining descriptives.
Hi @janette, feel free 🙂
I know nothing about Manchester in the mid 70s. I did do a few trips by coach from Newbury to Wigan in the early 70s (to the Casino) fuelled by optimism and fabulous blues music, Not so many that I was a regular. Happy to discuss.
Thanks, Ath
I was born in Manchester, but no help, as I left in 1965, aged 10! The Mechanics Institute Library sounds amazing. Dad was a member of one in Hull when he was teenager before the war, and made a point of joining one in Cardiff when we moved there in 1965. All part of the workers’ education movement – he was a big supporter.
I’m also looking at how backstage works in theatres, particularly the wardrobe part, meanwhile I aim to generalise and hope it suffices.
Yes, the Mechanics Institute Library is amazing. I only wish I’d more time to explore it. Ours at least, had the education part of it taken over by the council, but it is interesting to see how many groups gather for meetings there. They are hugely supportive.
Mandy’s son Sam has done backstage work, but I think that was more technical – lighting etc.