Lowry's Salford Then and Now Songs of Praise


Lowry's Salford Then and Now

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Transcript


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Hello. It's Russell Watson in the city of Salford,

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and I want to take you back to 1976.

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I remember very clearly, even though I was just a boy, the death of a man

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who, more than any other, shaped the popular image

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of this part of the world.

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He lived here for nearly 30 years. This is Station Road, Swinton,

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and up there, in a tiny little attic, is where he created

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all his beautiful paintings and drawings.

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He was, of course, Laurence Stephen Lowry.

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And he perfectly captured the industrial Salford of last century.

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But I'm curious to know what is left of Lowry's world.

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I'm off to find some of the landmarks

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captured on canvas by Lowry, and meeting fellow Salfordians

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who are making a difference in their community today.

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And in an old cotton mill sketched by Lowry,

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I'll be performing the classic hymn, Jerusalem.

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Just a short walk from Lowry's home at the end of Station Road

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is St Peter's Parish Church, the setting for our hymns tonight.

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And amongst the congregation is someone that I'm really

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looking forward to meeting.

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She's been coming here for almost 65 years,

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and she has a Lowry tale or two to tell.

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But first, the hymn, Lord, Enthroned In Heavenly Splendour.

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I've never been a chocolate eater.

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Joan Etchells has been going to St Peter's since 1945.

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She continues to be an active member of the congregation and has

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fond memories of Lowry visiting the butcher shop owned by her in-laws.

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Five to eight, he used to walk down on the other side of Station Road

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till he saw them drop the blind, then he'd come in the shop.

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He didn't like coming when there was a crowd of people.

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So in many respects, he was quite shy.

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Oh, very shy! A very, very, shy person.

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When I first met him, he said, "Oh, you're the bride to be, are you?"

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And I'd heard he didn't talk and so I said, "Yeah, I hope so."

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And he started laughing, so he said, "Yeah, I've heard a lot about you."

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-You made an impact.

-Yeah.

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My mother-in-law said she'd never known him

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talk to anybody like that.

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Wow.

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He was a wonderful, wonderful man.

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He always had this trilby cap on and this long raincoat,

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and in that pocket, he always had a pad and pencil.

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That was his doodle pad, he called it,

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and in this one, he always had a packet of sweets,

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and if he saw a child, he would give it a sweet because he loved children.

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We used to meet him once a month,

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and we always met him outside the art gallery in Moseley Street,

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and he used to say, "Let's see what they've pinned up for me this week."

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And then we went in the cafe in St Peter's Square

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and had a coffee with him, you see, before he toddled off to his club.

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I didn't know, but he came to our wedding

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and he sat at the back of the church.

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2nd of April, 1945.

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-We were married there.

-That would be...65 years, then, wouldn't it?

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I couldn't live without the church.

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God, he's helped me an awful, awful lot.

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When I had my daughter, that was 1948, she was very poorly

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and they didn't give us any hope for her at all.

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And I went into church that morning, and as true as I sitting here,

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I knelt down to pray and somebody touched my head to say,

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"She's going to be all right." And I have never, ever forgotten that.

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I had a similar sensation to that singing the Schubert Ave Maria,

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and I walked onstage,

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and it wasn't actually that long after my gran had passed away,

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and I felt a little touch on my shoulder.

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I looked back - nobody there -

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and it was just one of those special little moments.

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People, they think you're silly, they think you're barmy

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-if you say anything like this.

-I don't think you're barmy.

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I believe that there is life after. I do, really.

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That is my belief.

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Larry famously captured the industrial scenes around him.

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Now those cotton mills and factories,

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once the life blood of the city, are gone

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and the old docks have been replaced by a new centre for media.

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Salford-born Lisa Haywood was worried about

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how the influx of newcomers would affect her community.

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I knew a lot of people that did work there and that and it was sad.

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It was really scary cos you thought, "They're going to take over.

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"I'm not having it. This is Salford!"

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Do you know what I mean?

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-I certainly do know what you mean.

-And we weren't happy about it at all.

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We just didn't like it, the thought of it.

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When at church she met the chaplain of MediaCity, Lisa told her

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what she thought.

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"You talk funny, you've got a different accent to us

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"and you're posh."

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So you had preconceived ideas of it based on...

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-Just the way she talked.

-Just the way she spoke.

-Yeah.

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And I thought, "She's one of them. She's got money.

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"She's one of them."

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Next time she come to church she went, "I'm back."

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We went, "Didn't think you'd come back."

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She went, "Well, you're not putting me off." We got talking to her.

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She's great, she's absolutely great.

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Hence the saying, "Never judge a book by it's cover."

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That's what she's learnt us, and by God,

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she's learnt us that statement, yeah.

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Remarkably, with the help of Hayley, Lisa decided to become

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a volunteer in the chaplaincy office,

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which is based in what was once a pie factory.

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I really enjoyed it.

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She said, "One day, we'll do a big business breakfast." And I thought,

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"Oh, no." And I went, "All right, then." I don't like letting her down.

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So I went and I was nervous. My legs were shaking.

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I'm thinking, "Oh, my God, please help me."

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I could feel my face going redder and redder and thinking,

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"Don't talk to me. Please, just go away." And this one man went,

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"You all right, love?" I went, "Yeah, yeah, fine."

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He went, "What you doing?"

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"I'm dead nervous," I said, "I'm not like yous.

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"I'm not clever. I don't even know half the words

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"you're coming out with." He went, "Well, ask."

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I said, "It don't matter." He went, "No, it does matter."

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He said, "You are as good as us. Ask.

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"If you don't understand something, ask."

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And I thought, "Oh, right, well, I will."

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Well, they couldn't shut me up.

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They couldn't shut me up and then I started relaxing.

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I do them now with her once a month and I love it.

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I don't feel intimidated by lots of people in suits

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walking in now cos I always think, "You're no different to me."

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Lisa has been an absolute blessing to me, really. I do think of her

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as a great gift. Lisa's a real bridge between the two communities,

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and I think for me especially, the way her faith has grown,

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she really has learned that God is there for her,

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what ever she's going through.

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OK, So I think we'll get these Julia meetings...

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It's like someone's been sent to change my life, like, show me

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what I'm actually worth.

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I thought, "I'm just a person from Salford like everyone else,

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"growing up and nothing's ever good going to happen to me."

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And now I think, "No, something could happen good to me now,

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"because I'm getting on with things."

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God's listening to me and he does answer me, so it's good.

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Now, as well as his industrial scenes,

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Lowry drew and painted the parks of Salford and there were lots

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to choose from, because over 60% of Salford is made up of green spaces.

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Buile Park is the location of a project run by the charity

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START in Salford, an arts project for people

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with mental health problems.

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The aim of the project, really, is to bring people together,

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to allow people to mix and make new friends,

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to feel good about themselves, to build up their self confidence

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so they can get back into community life.

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Gardening in particular can be very therapeutic,

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and all these ways of expressing yourself

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can help give focus and purpose and something to be proud of as well.

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Stops me from getting depressed, suicidal.

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I like meeting people, you know, having a chat.

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You always find out about different things.

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I think nowadays, mental health still has a stigma,

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yet it affects us all, whether we're made redundant, whether our

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relationships break up, or whether there's a bereavement in the family.

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They're all mental health issues that can affect anybody.

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Your mood is, you feel a little bit better, even if

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it might only just be for a while. You know, it just helps.

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Your mind is focused on something else other than yourself.

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Suffering and despair

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and sadness are very much common to human experience,

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and Jesus, in the gospels we're told that he experienced that

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despair on the cross as he cried out,

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"My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"

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Just the other day,

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we were talking to some parents of some of our members,

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and just in passing they said, "You've given us our son back,"

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and that was really quite emotional.

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I suppose that's what makes me so passionate about the project, really.

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It's people who have problems the same as I have,

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so we all pull together, we help each other much as we possibly can

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and we all understand each other and that is the main thing.

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TRUMPETS PLAY

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Public buildings were another of Lowry's favourite subjects,

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like this 1926 sketch of Salford Courthouse.

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As a boy, it was Graham Jackson's ambition to work there.

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My father was a foreman on the docks

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and my mother used to be a seamstress for a friend of hers.

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I was the first one in the whole of this very large family

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to obtain a degree.

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It was a real big deal, so to speak.

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A proud day in 1978 when Graham qualified as a solicitor.

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But at the beginning of last year,

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after over 30 years in the profession,

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Graham was made redundant.

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I'd never had one day out of work.

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Then suddenly to be put in this situation

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where your whole life is turned upside-down, you really then,

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or I really then started to question my faith and saying,

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well, am I getting anywhere with this?

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Is God helping me?

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I was really, really low in mind and spirit.

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I don't think you can't feel guilty for being depressed.

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It's sometimes, I think, difficult,

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when you're in the situation yourself, to look outside of it.

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It really was a difficult time.

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One particular priest who came, he didn't know anything about me

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but it was just his sermon.

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He spoke so movingly about

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you don't know what God has got in mind for you for the future,

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but there is a plan.

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I think I came to my senses and said, "No, God isn't abandoning me."

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I think that I'm being given far more time now by God

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to be able to do things to help other people.

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The upshot being that you now feel like you have a new meaning to life?

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Yes, indeed.

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-I've been fortunate enough to travel a lot into Africa.

-Oh, my word!

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To see people living in the bush, in mud huts, walking miles for water,

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being afraid to leave their children because of people coming

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and either physically or sexually abusing children.

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It puts your own difficulties into perspective.

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Yes, I'm looking forward to the future

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and I think there are opportunities.

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Maybe I don't know what they're going to be

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but God has something in mind for me.

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I'm sure he's not just going to abandon me.

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-The twists and turns of faith are continuous.

-Yes.

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Sacred Trinity is Salford's oldest church.

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Lowry sketched it in 1925 and it's one of his views of the city

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that has remained unchanged.

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Back then, no-one could possibly have imagined that Sacred Trinity

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would hold a monthly Goth night.

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Goth and Christian Kolyn Amor is one of its founders.

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People have said to me, "You can't be a Goth and believe in God."

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And I just start, "Well, I am a Goth and I do believe in God."

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Goth night is based on Christian principles.

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I'm trying to encourage a group of people that perhaps

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might not ordinarily engage with church in any way,

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just to get them across the threshold.

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It's not quiet, believe me!

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But people feel safe to be themselves here.

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What do you say to people who are judgmental of you?

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Generally, nothing.

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Because I think they're the ones that have an issue, not me.

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My parents, for example, when I was a teenager.

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I was going to ask, how did you... How, for instance...

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They weren't big fans. They aren't big fans, still!

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-No, they're lovely.

-Ah, lovely.

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But I wouldn't feel like me if I didn't express myself like this.

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I know it sounds a bit daft, it's just clothes, it's just hair styles,

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but it's such an expression of what's inside me,

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that I would feel crushed if I didn't express myself the way I do.

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I'm wearing a Sophie Lancaster bracelet, who was a Goth,

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and got beaten to death because she felt so strongly

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that she wanted to look that way.

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Some people took a violent response to that.

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Obviously, some of the imagery and music

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and stuff that goes along with Goth culture can seem quite dark.

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Very occasionally, some people have not been happy with that

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and have challenged me to say,

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"You shouldn't be doing this," or, "You can't do this."

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-Within the world of the Goths, or?

-Both.

-Both?

-Yeah.

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-So there's been conflicts from both ends?

-Yeah.

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But my perception of Jesus is

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that he tried to reach those kinds of people

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that everybody else didn't really want to hang around with.

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Or was outside what was accepted in society at that time

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and if we can do a tiny bit of that, then I think that's quite good.

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# And did those feet in ancient time

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# Walk upon England's mountains green

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# And was the Holy Lamb of God

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# On England's pleasant pastures seen

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# And did the countenance divine

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# Shine forth upon our clouded hills

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# And was Jerusalem builded here

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# Among those dark satanic mills

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# Bring me my bow of burning gold

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# Bring me my arrows of desire

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# Bring me my spear O clouds unfold

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# Bring me my chariot of fire

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# I will not cease from mental fight

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# Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand

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# Till we have built Jerusalem

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# In England's green and pleasant land

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# Jerusalem! #

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Almighty God, may we live with hope in this, our earthly community,

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and anticipate with joy, the heavenly city

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and the communion of all the Saints

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through Christ, our Lord, Amen.

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And the blessing of God Almighty,

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the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

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be among you and remain with you, this day and always.

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Amen.

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Next week, Pam meets people who believe they've encountered angels,

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including author Lorna Byrne

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who says she's seen angels since she was a child.

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The hymns will be angelic, of course,

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and there's music from Sir Willard White.

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Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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