British working class photography 1989 – 2024

First of all when did I get so old that a collaboration of art can be dated to the last 35 years, from the date I married and had my first child. But it definitely means that I was there! So I thought it might be fun to explore, not least you don’t get much more working class than a dustbin mans daughter! Although I married up, as so many pretty working class girls did in the 80’s, the class divide never quite putting us in our place. We didn’t really look at it like that, we just married for love. I was shocked when trying to get into an area of social work in my fifties, during the long and arduous interview process, to be judged and verbally commented on that it was ‘very unusual for people to marry out of their class’, by some snooty middle class social worker! You see a working class background is stamped into your DNA, no matter how much you earn or where you manage to go to university, your identity is clearly visible for any that care to take more than a casual glance. It’s in the way you look, dress, walk, eat, talk. I for one have always been proud of my identity but if I weren’t it would be practically impossible to escape and those that have and try to discard their heritage, I feel lose something of themselves, they’ve sold out and are then without identity, never quite fitting into the middle class world that they try to aspire to, their working class friends never quite trusting them. I’m lucky, I live in an area where the working class, who managed to stay in quite an expensive area, are still tight knit. We have weathered the storms and when we get together we often just have a good laugh at how damn poor we were.

So obviously, I was going to go and see this exhibition. I’m hooked before I go. It did not disappoint.

The End of History brings together twenty six contemporary working class artists who use photography to explore the nuances of life in all its diversity both inwards into their own lives and communities and outwards to the wider world. Here are just three.

Kelly O’Brien, a visual artist and lecturer’s work was I feel very powerful with her look at hidden histories, her Nan’s back and bra painted quite the picture of hard work and sacrifice. For me, I think it was one of the strongest pieces in the whole exhibition and completely inspirational. If you were to take a political stance, you can immediately see that all pigs are not equal just from this one image.

Anna Magnowska’s an illustrator, sexual health nurse and art physiotherapist has had to juggle several roles to support herself in her art practice. Her encounters while working as a waitress were particularly informative of the power dynamics within society. Having worked as a waitress as a pretty 21 year old, I can testify that you get this in all directions from the power plays that bored middle class housewife’s or their business owning husbands direct at you, (this coffee’s too cold, its been sat there 3/4 of an hour while you chat, I’d like a free top up – every single time they come in), the leery men who think you’re game for anything, or the head waiter that you never go anywhere near in a dark corridor or else he will try to pin you against the wall and feel you up.

Another favourite was Tom Wood’s pieces on bus journeys. Buses are the domain of the working class in a way that no matter how many incentives the government trial (and the £2.00 a trip is a reasonable incentive but don’t let me bang on about how practically everywhere, especially London, get’s free travel at 60 years of age) you will never get the middle class out of their vehicles, no matter how much you tax them or how cheap you make the bus. (unless its short hops in London) People will travel on the tube and trains, but a smelly old bus where in my opinion you can see the whole of working class life unfold before your very eyes, the middle classes would rather look away.

I love bus street photography, I find it fascinating, the bus is a complete world within itself. I find bus travel very illuminating and wonderfully chatty. You can make strong connections in five minutes and never see them again. I find myself thinking about people I’ve met or seen, talked to, or didn’t. Bus travel is often a window into a person’s soul, a great leveller, where people are just themselves, where they sit and be, where everything can be revealed without them realising. The joy of going shopping, the weekly trip out, going to pick up the grandchildren, visiting the sick in hospital, the grind and tiredness of work, new outfits with a new boyfriend, its all there ready to be revealed as you hop on the bus to your destination. Other artists i’ve found and loved was Nick Turpins, On the Night Bus and Night Owls, Portraits of Life on the Night Bus by Sarah Lee if you fancy a look.

Getting back to Tom Wood’s pieces, these two caught my eye. Aspirational fashion for young working women juggling children and buses and graffitied bus stops are the epitome of the working class space, almost as iconic as a fag ash and smoke filled sports and social club.

I think a very thoughtful show to take time over.

And of course the bonus was that I have now been to see Dippy, she was still waiting for me and i’m happy to say will be here until next year.

I think Valentines would be a lovely time of year if it weren’t for the hopes and disappointments that it has invariably sprung upon me throughout my entire life. Hubby was hopeless, bless him, and unfortunately before him I never seemed to attract the right sort of boy who would, (as we watched from the pub yesterday) stride down the town, with the most glorious bouquet of flowers for their beloved.

So this year I choose me and wish to share with you all the things I have loved over the last month or so.

Firstly, I think I can share, we have a baby on the way and I will then come by the name of Nanny. Or Nan, or Naaaaaan as they grow older. And… it’s a girl! So there will be lots of lovely dresses and skirts and ruffly ballet skirts and ra ra dresses and oh the worlds my oyster, it will be lovely.

But first there had to be a Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmerman in yarn that had been carefully put in my stash at least 15 years ago with the sole intention of becoming the first garment that I ever knit for my first grandchild. Knit in Regia Square Colour 6 ply (dk) in colour way 1125 (still available on Amazon as Square Circus!) And next I carefully hunted down the exact shade of red ladybird buttons that I had imagined for years. It came out perfectly, exactly as I had imagined.

Next on the list was looking through Vinted and finding a big stash of baby wear for 0 – 3 months, which i bought and carefully washed. And this image made me happier than you can ever imagine.

Is that not the cutest pile of clothing you ever did see? Hopes and dreams are wrapped up right there, it makes me very happy.

What else has made me happy this year? Well we now have a wedding and for a week or so, dresses were flying in and out of the mandycharlie household. I’ve settled on two, one in dark green the other dark teal so both on the same palette, to be chosen the day before the wedding as to which I feel most confident in, being a woman who barely shows her legs these days. Although I have intentions to change that a little this year. We have just a few weeks to go so the “motherofthegroomdiet” is in full swing, wish me luck, another half a stone would be nice.

I tried my luck at growing some tulips in water, basically because I didn’t fancy my chances planting them while Noah was rushing to finish his ark because of all the rain. They were very pretty, I don’t think I would plant so many in the same container next time but I loved them.

Not one to blow my own trumpet, but others do it for me occasionally most notably by my friend Mary at knitting this week 🙂 so I’d better mention it. I won Greatest Loser of the year award at Slimming World for the 2nd year running. Just so’s you know, I’ve lost 6 stone 5 lbs now. Still a way to go but feeling so much lighter, stronger and healthier. It’s all good.

There has been food. Of course there has been food and one of my favourite dishes this month has been this Ramen inspired Slimming World Food for the Soul inspired dish I made which was very good.

And lastly there have been lovely people. A night out and an afternoon in the pub, theatre trip, knitting group and slimming group, line dancing group, a lovely friend who picks me up to go swimming, another who takes me to the gym, just enough to break the monotony of the continual rain, I am grateful for them all. 

So happy Valentines to you all. Have fun. x

Has been quite the journey in the last 12 months. Last January I was very much new widow deep in grief but this New Year I feel very much that I am allowed to have fun and be happy. I have to say that I have had a lot of support along the way and I am very grateful for that, they know who they are.. to have been able to catch that spark of joy again, and have fun, has been an absolute blessing and I am very grateful.

So this Christmas I decided that I was going to do A lot. And at times I thought I had bitten off too much and was going to feel exhausted, but pacing myself when I needed to and doing what felt right at the time I was able to enjoy every aspect.

Firstly I put my Christmas tree up mid November, much to the horror and amusement of my closest friends. I asked on Facebook if they thought it was too early, and it was a very divisive question I have to tell you, but they knew, whatever they said… it was going up! So up it went and I felt better for seeing it in all its glory having not seen it for two years.

Next turkey thighs and drumsticks started to come into the supermarkets, so I started to play with them. You can always tell when I’m in happier times because my creative brain is either at the plot, kitchen, sewing machine or knitting, so I think I probably bored to death my Facebook friends with pictures of stuffed turkey thighs or drumsticks being dismantled and made into one concoction or another, all of which have proved delicious so I make no apologies for the forensic detailing.

And then over the last month I’ve basically been building one positive experience after another. Obviously those that know and love me understand I love good food and I relish the change in the seasons this time with an R in the month so bringing in good quality shell fish. (although apparently the French make no such distinction!) So I’ve enjoyed mussels and most recently half a dozen delicious oysters with a shallot vinaigrette and a couple of glasses of champagne. Who says us singletons can’t enjoy exquisite food on our own. Keith Floyd often extolled the virtue of a single supper, where the ingredients were either too costly or laborious for a dinner party or where it no longer fitted into the ideal of food fashion and I completely agree with him. I want to renew my acquaintance with a freshly grilled lobster (having previously bought your live lobster) with garlic butter to dip the tails and claws into with a glass or two of a chilled white burgundy is something on my to do list this winter. 

And sometimes the ingredients can be as cheap as chips or as in this case these wonderfully fresh sardines, this tasty supper was just pennies but oh so good.

There were theatre trips, Slimming World parties where I dressed as a Reindeer and along with my partner in crime won best Festive dress, most amusing it was, especially when trotting around Sainsburies still in full costume.

The Santa hat was found and worn on all excursions.

A wonderful evening spent with friends turned out brilliantly.

Along with a roasted turkey dinner for a good and supportive friend and meeting friends at the pub to while away a rainy afternoon.

There were Secret Santa’s at knitting and the smuggling in of the mince pies, along with a lovely evening Carol singing at St Johns Church and I nearly forgot another choral event I was invited to at the last minute at St Barnabus, the cutest church you ever saw, so tiny and adorable which was absolutely charming.

Christmas lunch at Son no.2’s was wonderful full of fun and laughter.

And so this has gone on. Dad’s 88th birthday… Where son no.2 and fiancee came over to see him as a surprise.

Ending with New Years Eve parties and an unplanned New Years Day party.

How lucky have I been, I feel very lucky indeed.

This year plans are already coming together, theatre trips have been booked and I must get to the cinema soon to see Wonka, I wouldn’t want to miss that. Gym memberships has been bought, swimming has been booked, knitting will restart. I must start a new quilt and start again on the allotment just as soon as it stops raining. Back to Slimming World next week, they’re basically my family now, they know more about my inner workings than my Dad! We laugh, we commiserate, we plan world domination!, or at least how not to get dragged down the crisp aisle, my nemesis.

It’s good, all good.

Happy New Year to you and yours,

much love, M x

Or as I’ve always referred to them since childhood, the Happy Fields.

The truth is I haven’t been back since before hubby became quite ill. So they were calling to me, but it is quite the walk from where I live, there and back and although when I was younger it would have been no bother I have in the last few years become lazier and fatter.

When I was a child I walked everywhere in Kenilworth and beyond, often walking with a friend to Leamington to see her Nan. We thought nothing of it. Then I got married and although I don’t drive, hubby did, so I just got used to using the car, although I did try to get hubby to see the joys of walking he never really took to it. Often even driving to the allotment, which is only a few minutes walk. I’d always tried to stick to the walking, but had become lazier as I headed through my fifties and really this is not a place I want to be. My ultimate plan is to be like the fit late eighty year old women on the allotment, they are a site to behold and have only become so fit because of tiny details that have formed habits which have stacked one on top of the other.

My fitness both mentally and physically has increased over the last year, I’m feeling better than I have in a long time. Mainly coming about by pushing myself, especially at the beginning, but there is one habit that I want to add and that is a several times a week walk to the Abbey Fields and back, hopefully with a swim included when they finish the new swimming pool.

Habit stacking the tiny details that make you healthier and therefore happier, that is my winter project for a better me.

And my reward will be the changing seasons of this lovely view.

I had an urge for fruit cake, but there is no way I can contemplate staring at a whole fruit cake for weeks on end. And I can’t give it to the dogs, which is my normal plan to hoover up the leftovers as dried fruit is toxic to dogs. So I enlisted Dad and then later son no.1’s help. They both readily agreed, although they didn’t realise that they were being set up, or even if they had they would still be very happy about it.

And you all know what this means…. It’s going to be that type of fruit cake! For those that don’t it’s hubbys mothers trusty Christmas cake tin all wrapped up. I’ve started to save the brown paper I wrap around the outside, this is the third cake it has protected, I’m pleased about the thriftiness.

Fruit soaked overnight with twice the recommended Brandy. Only because I noticed the fruit had soaked it all up while stirring it before going to bed, so I threw in another 100ml. Some fruit almost refuses to soak up the alcohol, but this particular dried fruit did very well.

All ready for the oven, with very careful almond placement.

After four hours on 140c

Which after an hour or so I started to anoint it with more Brandy. And then after another hour another big splash of Brandy. So far this cake has had about 350ml of Brandy. Mind you I did join it by imbibing a splash of the cooking Brandy in a latte, with some lovely dark brown sugar for ellevensies. The cooking Brandy was very good, weird that it was in a plastic bottle, but £11.50 a bottle from Sainsbury’s, the ratings were good, so I thought I’d try it.

Already to be wrapped up for the tin. I’ll let it mature for a couple of days and then divide into three.

I noticed while shopping online as I was comparing prices for fresh salmon with Sainsbury’s that they had a product that was the offcuts from preparing their fillets costing £11.50 a kg. As a home cook that has regularly prepared whole salmons into fillets for the freezer I understood the process. The reviews were less than favourable complaining about bones and fins etc. And I thought how bad can this be? Only one way to find out, so ordered a pack.

This is what came for just over three of our English pounds.

So I skinned them and found two bones and one fin.

I have an extensive pantry and I decided on Sushi which was probably a bit daring for a Sunday, but I tasted the fish and it was still very fresh and three days in date. I’m sure it’s probably packed at the same time as the fillets. So I prepped for that and there was so much.

I used just over a third of this. I feel I could get a salmon quiche out of the leftovers. But I’ll probably have a simple egg fried rice with salmon.

Very well seasoned sushi rice with rice wine vinegar, sugar and salt. With salmon, spring onions and finely shredded iceberg.

Prepped up with a dipping sauce of Japanese soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and sesame oil.

Yum! The dogs and I shared as it defeated me at the end. I think this is a good purchase and I’ll be buying it again.

I’ve been on a bit of a turkey fest in the last few days. It all started because Son no.2 has taken on the Christmas lunch this year and is creating his own version of Christmas which I know will be delicious, (he’s even making hazelnut marzipan! as one of the components in the dessert) but I fear it will probably remain turkey less. I like a bit of turkey, I do. But there is no way I could even with the smallest turkey do justice to it. Let alone how expensive they seem to have become these days.., I could get quite a decent cut of beef for the same price.

So when I saw something on TikTok and went ‘oooh…’ I’ve been waiting for Turkey thighs and drumsticks to come into supermarkets ever since.

The first thing to try was deboning a thigh and stuffing it with sausage meat. And it was pretty easy to do. Less than five minutes to wield my freshly sharpened filleting knife, remembering to go back for the knee cap. I still have to purchase a proper boning knife, maybe next year. Then stuff it with sausage meat and tie it up with string. Not bad for a first attempt I think.

Keeping the bone to make a trivet with vegetables and then roasting it off and slicing.

It was good, very good. Enough for three or two very hungry men. Or several sandwiches in the week, which is what I seem to be doing with it, it goes amazingly well with a homemade chutney, you can feel Christmas is in the air. I’m promising myself a proper dinner with it tomorrow along with the gravy I’ve saved. And one was popped in the freezer, happy days.

And you would think that would be the end of my journey wouldn’t you, but no, you know what Mandy is like when she gets the bit between her teeth.

I found some turkey legs. Laughs out loud. So I bought a couple, well three… and four more thighs.. Well it’s a seasonal item and I was so happy to have found an idea that worked.

This morning I prepared the turkey leg for a roast.

That was a lot more work. Look at all the tendons I found. I am pretty sure I did find them all, but at one stage I just kept finding more and more. It must have taken a good fifteen minutes, maybe longer. So I thought well, this will be a good experimental roast, but we will do something different for the other two legs. I stuffed this leg with peaches and rosemary and a little salt.

It was a lot trickier to roll but it came out just about okay in the end.

So then I was left with these two wonderful turkey legs.

And I thought I would take them into the America’s where they use sweetness very often with turkey, well with all meats really.

I sprinkled them with soft brown sugar and a little sea salt, doused them with a spicy barbecue sauce, added Marsala wine and water, the rest of the tin of peaches and rosemary and thyme from the garden. Then covered them in foil and cooked them low and slow for a good three and a half hours, maybe longer, I lost track of time.

Until they were ready. The fat stuck on the foil on one of them, never mind.

Let them cool and then stripped the meat and very carefully removed the tendons. Removed all the woody herbs from the gravy and mushed the peaches about a bit and rejoined the meat to the pan.

It was totally delicious by this point. I bagged up five portions that weighed seven ounces each. Enough for me for a single dinner and a sandwich and there were quite a few delicious scraps for the dogs.

And while all this was cooking. I prepped four more thighs for the freezer. This time adding a tablespoon of cranberry sauce to the three sausages that went into each one. I felt that it would benefit with the additional treat of a touch of sweetness.

So that is me winter turkey ready. I have six mini roasts for two/three people and five ready made turkey suppers for one ready in my freezer.

As all children do I learnt about apples from a young age, A is for Apple is the first book we are shown as we begin our reading journey. Followed swiftly it seemed by the terror of watching Walt Disney and Sleeping Beauty, does she choose the bright red apple from the wicked witch? Later, as I have learnt about food in art I’ve admired Van Gough and Cezzane and most notably Rene Magritte with his bowler hat and huge green apple in The Thomas Crown Affair. Shakespeare penned the line ‘apple of my eye’. The apple is everywhere and not just in an electronic way.

My first love of the apple came about, like most of my first loves from my Nan’s garden. Nan had three apple tree’s, one that was in the middle of the veg patch that we were not allowed to go to, lest we trample the veg. I used to watch that tree shed its apples onto the dug over winter earth at the start of winter and look forlornly as the sad apples shrivelled up and decayed. I suspect Nan had too many apples by this point. The other two we could climb up and reach the fruit, trying to dodge the sleepy but crazy wasps that were in search of sugar. It must have been one of the first jobs that Grandad did when they moved into a brand new council house having been evacuated from Liverpool during the II World War. He planted three apple trees and a plum tree as they were very mature trees by the time I came to recognise them. What foresight, although with rationing still hot on their heels it may well have given them more insight about food security. They also had chickens and a very big veg patch with two greenhouses.

So when I was offered my allotment five years ago (having given up my previous allotment to go to London) I was ecstatic that there was an area with mature trees and fruit bushes. It was the middle of winter so not a leaf to be found so I wasn’t exactly sure what I had, but felt sure that I had two apples at least. I actually had a very good pear tree, two apples, a hazelnut tree, red currants, gooseberries, blue berries, blackcurrants and a josta berry. All mature. I’ve since added strawberries, raspberries, thornless blackberries and loganberries. Good old fashioned allotmenting books understood that it was the value, financially, of the fruit grown that then paid the allotments way for the rest of the year. And I was very happy to take over a founder members allotment who had understood this and put the backbone into an excellent plot.

I digress. (as always!) Since then I’ve learnt to prune, although I haven’t quite mastered the art of thinning the fruit out. I’m always a bit terrified of that bit. Mainly because if you get high winds in the spring, as you often do, there will be a natural thinning out. If you’ve ever noticed scrawny looking pears that are hard as nails after high winds in the market place, don’t buy them, they’ll never ripen, it’s just the farmers trying to make the best of the situation.

There weren’t any high winds this year so I have ended up with many small fruit. Which actually I don’t mind. One of the reasons I don’t enjoy commercial apples is the size, the chewing can go on for too long. Also, they don’t have the same spring in the taste as a freshly picked apple and once you taste the difference it’s difficult to go back. I rarely eat fruit out of season these days, unless its been prepared in season and frozen (or jammed!).

So today, being a rainy day, I prepped some of my apples, stuffed them full of butter, sugar, sultanas, pecan and cinnamon.

Then baked them, cooled them and popped them in the freezer for mid winter treats.

And then as I’ve now mastered the art of when to pick the pears, pears are picked when they are unripe, they only ripen off the tree. Pick them too early they never ripen, pick them too late and they rot from the inside out. I’ve been picking a couple a week for six weeks to test them, to see if they will ripen, and I’ve finally mastered what to look for, which is pretty much indescribable, its just a feeling of plumpness in the fruit and a glow on the skin. I’ve basically eaten a tree full. Which has been marvellous and I’ve not told anyone because they are so beautiful, a honeyed dripping perfectly juicy and ripe pear is a thing of beauty, I eat three in a sitting and I’m just not willing to share!!!

But I had some of the buttery mix left so I thought I would bake some off for my future self.

Another job I finally got done today was to pod the dried up runner and french beans. I use beans a lot in my winter cooking and it gives me great pleasure to be able to grow my own protein. If I could keep a pig I would, but as it is I’ll settle for the beans that are too old to enjoy, or that I’ve simply grown tired off because something else has sprouted up that has taken my fancy.

Drying until ready to be placed into jars.

I was sitting here lamenting the lack of biscuits in the mandycharlie household, being very much an ingredient kitchen and the last of the digestives bought for cheese and dog treats having been nibbled weeks ago. Mentally I was going through my cupboards as to what I might munch on, when a plan started to form. A quick rifle through the cupboards brought together all the necessary, the last of the Valrhona, Noir Guanaja, I literally have a handful left. Is there anything more comforting than having a kilogram of this sat in your store cupboards, as used in the best Michelin starred kitchens (according to my highly regarded chef of a son). Ground almonds, peacan nuts, juicy sultanas, vanilla and almond essence, flour, sugar, eggs,baking powder. Yep, I was all set. I would have included a hint of orange zest, but alas I was without.

A quick weigh, chop and mix and I soon had them ready for their first 25 min bake in the oven.

After baking.

A five minute cool and then slice through at an angle with a serrated knife. I’m sure my angles are not sharp enough, but no matter.

Then another 15 minute bake.

And finally all of them together cooling before being placed in the biscuit barrel.

Not bad eh, from ingredients languishing in the kitchen cupboards.

As some of you might know I have in the last two years lost a substantial amount of weight, intentionally. I intend to carry on for quite a while longer so I don’t want to invest in a large wardrobe but things were getting a bit ridiculous in that I only had one pair of jeans that fit well having shrunk out of all of them. It’s easy enough to take in a skirt or wear a loose fitting dress but trousers or jeans are a different matter.

I found that Seasalt have an eBay shop that they seem to sell their end of lines at a much discounted price. Its a bit hit and miss on sizes but it doesn’t take long to look and I found three pairs of Lamledra corduroy but they were only in a regular length which is just a bit neat on me, I really need their tall version, but beggars can’t be choosers when three pairs were the same as one at full price. Two pairs were purchased in the size I am now and one gaily coloured pair to shrink into by Christmas.

Trying them on I felt they needed that touch of length and fortunately I have a reasonable sewing stash and located my tailors grosgrain ribbon and set to work. Opening up the seams with a seam ripper and attaching the ribbon.

Then flipping it over and sewing it down. It probably added less than an inch, but made the difference where they now look like they are not trying so hard to be long enough.

All three pairs done. Hopefully the original stitching lines will fluff up in their first wash.

And if they shrink in length on washing I’m thinking of adding a paisley cuff to them with a matching back pocket. We shall see.