car wash cultures and secret gardens

thought map

2010-06-30T05:54:00.000-07:00

This drawing represents my thinking about time spent in Cheetham Hill - Jai and I gave our talks last week about how our proposals for work are growing from the research process.
My work has grown out of reading about work and capital (Marx and Engels in Manchester as well as our walk with the Jewish Museum guides) and in parallel , looking at 19th century thinking about science, religion and philospohy - specifically through the work of Frances Hodgson Burnett in "The Secret Garden" her simple tale of the healing of damaged children through positive thinking and connection to nature and manual work. Both strands create a powerful contrast. It had these ideas in mind as I walked around some of the derelict green spaces in the area and talked with people about their own working lives at the Car Wash....
Jai's work looked at another aspect of work, an even more basic form of craft - making bread. So together our work encompassed a history of the development of work. From the simplest humblest craft of breadmaking - common to all cultures - to aspects of long established patterns of capital and global labour markets typified by Cheetham Hills vibrant economy.

2010-06-03T02:06:00.000-07:00

The sketching walk yesterday to Great Horrocks. Alistair, Beth, Zorina and her children joined me on a walk, passing by the former home of Frances Hodgson Burnett on Cheetham Hill Road (now modern flats opposite St Lukes Church which lies derelict). We walked along Rayburn Way to the public footpath sign, past the caravan site and then skirting the metrolink depot, climbing the mound to overlook Collyhurst and the city centre. Luckily the sun was shining and everyone was delighted at the place, the view and the escape from the frenetic pace of the main road. We nibbled grapes and sketched and painted. I think Hodgson Burnett would have appreciated our effort to slow the pace, to listen and to experience nature - allbeit surrounded on all sides by urban activity.........The area of Great Horrocks is apparently the new development area for the new Irish Heritage Centre - click here irish heritageThis appears to have already gained planning permission, so if you want to experience this particular "secret garden" you need tovisit Great Horrocks as soon as you can....

(more images on the images page)

wash......and glow

2010-05-20T03:15:00.000-07:00

Last week I spent most of my wednesday at Wash nd Glow (because your car's worth it) near Manchester Fort on Cheetham Hill Road. Hosted by the very friendly owners, brothers Amir, Irfan and Imran. It was fascinating to hear the story of how they built up their business, expanded into other initiatives and their visions for future enterprises. All the while, they fed me and gave me cups of coffee in the very pleasant waiting area / cafe bar. They even made my car glow! I met some of the men and women who work on various aspects of car washing and also those who run adjacent businesses that serve the passing customers: a phone outlet, a steak take-away, a garage and a barber. Wash and Glow seem to have created a fun and pleasant atmosphere for customers, whilst stringent standards are paramount and the washing of cars is taken very seriously, with each car being checked. Workers I met represented a wide span of the globe and surely a good cross section of Cheetham Hill's diverse communities.

Sketching Field Trip

2010-05-20T02:07:00.000-07:00

Explore Great Horrocks, (a secret garden in cheetham hill?)
a sketching afternoon

Wednesday 2nd June
meet at Buddleia Space, 573 Cheetham Hill Road 2:30pm - returning by 5:30
weather permitting - call Alison on 07767356302 if in any doubt or with any questions
(look for the premier newsagent opposite the old library)

we will be walking for around 30-40 minutes to get to Great Horrocks and using steps and over rough ground.
Please bring your own sketching materials - paper / sketch book, pencils, charcoals, pens, paints etc and something
to sit on if required.

return to the secret garden the day before the election

2010-05-06T03:13:00.000-07:00

yesterday I returned to my "secret garden" and found it full of birdsong. I entered via the bridge, found off Collyhurst Road, just beyond the weir on the Irk. I remember another railway bridge in my childhood - an abandoned RAF camp near our home was my playground - overgrown and a great place to play, to discover oneself, and it was entered via a similar bridge - intriguing graffitti, ignored corners piled with dust, weed clogged crevices, odd pieces of litter - a torn cardigan, crushed beer can, patches of burnt grass

There was frenetic birdsong, a distant mobile tannoy from a political party roaming the estate across the river valley goes in and out of earshot; a tinny radio somewhere with its jingles, and the clang and drone of the metrolink depot. Occassionally a distorted amplified call to someone on the shopfloor of some works on the Irk or from the back of The Fort crackles loudly. Someone taps a hammer, tinkering with a fairground ride in the caravan site. The air is damp but warm - and I smell a familiar sense of chilly summer afternoons. I sketch and try to spot birds.

It seems that my secret garden reaches all the way up to Queens Road - but there are no footpath signs from that end - I've emailed the council to find out why - and I've also asked who might be responsible for the footpath that skirts the caravan park, which is littered with junk and unpassable...
I stand on the ridge which over looks a re-claimed meadow. There are these vents which indicate this has been contaminated land - I wonder with what and how safe it might be and what the plans for it are...click here for a map of the area
The view from the ridge is panoramic, the surrounding hills, the new flats (apartments) and the skyline of familiar CIS, Arndale, Piccadilly Hotel, Beetham Tower, Urbis...Its the iconic skyline Manchester dosnt have from anywhere else perhaps...

drawing the scene slows me down, breathe in the air, look harder, think better, hear everything - brings me into the moment.

I'm hoping that some of the folk from St Johns will join me on a sketching trip up here sometime soon. I'm sorry I didn't drop in yesterday there, but I was trying to think something over - so, next week I hope...

buddleia launch

2010-04-29T14:17:00.000-07:00

The launch at Buddleia Space at Cheetham Hill Road was a great event this evening. I've met someone who knows someone with a special interest in "The Secret Garden" that I will follow up with.

I had my portrait drawn by Oludele, which was an interesting experience. He draws on newspaper so has to grapple with whatever images and text are around. He selected a car advert which had plenty clean space - but a fiat500 in the middle which he then needed to block out - but it gave a sort of intensity bto the centre of the image which I liked....

People responded well to the car wash ideas. I met a few people from the St Johns drop-in which takes place on Wednesday afternoons and hope to meet with them again soon - maybe going out on a walk to sketch The Secret Gardens...

working at The Car Wash....

2010-04-25T03:20:00.000-07:00

Following my Secret Garden walk, I wound up back at Wash and Glow for a meeting with the owner. Amir set up the business a few years back with his two brothers. Its gone from strengthy to strength and seems to have spawned a mini village of small businesses around it. Theres a car audio place, an MOT service station, a barber, and a coffee shop where customers are treated to free coffee. Amir offered all the support for our proposal as he can give. He tells me that there are some fascinating stories to be told by his workers who come from across the world. I'm really looking forward to spendinga couple of days meeting the workers...

further investigations

2010-04-24T03:48:00.000-07:00

I missed the walks organised by Buddleia through the hidden greenspaces, so on Wednesday, I took the opportunity to explore for myself. Starting at the greenspace opposite the metrolink on Woodlands Road, I walked through the little vale with stream scattered with debris including glittering red tinsel and a semi burnt tree; it always seems the saddest kind of vandalism to attack a tree. I sat on a bench looking at the tree for some time. The path comes out near the "model allotments" where we met Emilio a few weeks ago. Crossing over Hazelbottom Road and down Smedley Lane to join the River Irk through a very pleasant valley and underneath the massive viaduct. I ended up walking along Collyhurst Road past industrial units which leads into the City. But after passing the HMG paint works I spotted a footpath sign that led up a mysterious staircase that seemed to just lead into the air. My suspicions that this would lead me back up to my "secret garden" hidden by the Manchester Fort were correct. But the excitement of climbing the stairs and then walking along a bridge that seemed to have no purpose other than to give me a spectacular view of the skyline of manchester gleaming in the sun, was memorable. At the top of the mound I looked over the city and in the neargound the quiet Travellers estate, where in the sunshine, a man was working away on repairs to one of the slumbering fairground rides that they store there.

Themes in The Secret Garden were apparently influenced by Hodgson-Burnett's growing interest in Theosophy - a kind of spiritual philosophy that has continued to influence many practices and movements today, such as the Steiner education system. The idea that proximity to nature, positive thinking, exercise and ideas in eastern religions such as Hinduism or Bhuddism might create better conditions for health and a broader understanding of the relationship between people and the earth were controversial and far out in her day - hence the "secret" nature of the transformation of the children in The Secret Garden.

At the same time, in Manchester, theories about capitalist economy were being written by Engels and Marx. The realities of poverty and exploitation, which was the cost to the millions at the bottom of a system of Capital were well known to Hodgson Burnett in her early life in Cheetham Hill.

These ideas - a questioning of religions, science and spiritualism and the realities of economics helped to shape the modern city and there was a relationship between people interested in all the new thinking and ideas ( reputable and dangerous alike) that proliferated in the 19th century.

2010-04-19T09:10:00.000-07:00

Also

Click here to see clips of the MGM 1949 version of The Secret Garden at YouTube

My other inspiration about Cheetham Hill relates to the birth there of the famous children's author, Frances Hodgson Burnett. She moved to the USA as a child where she became a writer.
One of her most famous books was The Secret Garden, which draws upon her interest in Theosophy and perhaps reflects her own experiences of grief and loss.

I have also been looking at some of the "hidden" access points to Cheetham Hill's green spaces - also explored in the recent Buddleia organised walk around the Irk Valley, titled 'Secret Gardens of Cheetham Hill"

Interview with GMR at an ungodly hour

2010-04-18T14:00:00.000-07:00

I strategically arranged to meet GMR at the coffee shop at Manchester Fort. The Fort is the big shopping precinct, housing all the usual suspects - a certain DIY chain, a certain designer outlet, a certain large pharmacy - and The Coffee Outlet.....the reason for meeting there was mainly the coffee - and once stoked up with a large americano, we drove convoy style into Wash and Glow round the corner. This Car Wash has become my default Car Wash - partly due to proximity with the Fort. They actully sell their own coffee at the car wash, but they dont open at the hour that the lovely Rachel from GMR wanted me. So we stood in the sunshine and waited for Beswick to finish his patter and then proceeeded with the interview, where I managed to explain something about the proposed project.
Bemused Car Wash operatives began to stroll in whilst the manager was bringing out the various components of the job - large vats of detergents and water, hoses, gloves etc, lining them up on the forecourt. Meanwhile the workers, of a variety of languages gathered to chat and smoke - an advantage in this job I imagine - you dont have to go outside for a fag - your already there...

picture shows the entrance to Manchester Fort

car wash cultures?

2010-04-18T13:34:00.000-07:00

For sometimne I've been interested in phenomenon of the hand Car Wash. Over the last ten years, the old petrol stations round Manchester have closed down and these small businesses have sprung up in their place, literally. So now there are fewer places to buy petrol, but more places and more people who wash the cars.

Who own the Car Washes? Who manage them? Who work there? and why dont people wash their own car any more? - and why are the hand car washes taking over from the automated or DIY car washes on garage forecourts.

Apart from this working at the Car Wash seems like such a very hard job - its like a modern form of 19th century mill working - but it's on display for all to see. Long hours - harsh conditions - cold, wet, back breaking and low pay - or is it?
At the car wash, cultures collide. Here I sit idly listening to Radio 3/4/5 (depending on the time of day), nice and warm with the blower on, wondering what to do for tea, while this young lad with red raw hands and wet feet is leathering my windscreen. The Car Wash becomes a metaphor for dislocation and disconnection, for a division of class and cultural experience - separated only by the shatterproof screen.

Invited by Kerenza Mc Clarnan to take part in her Buddleia commission project in Cheetham Hill, I soon found that Car Wash Culture predominates on The Cheetham Hill Road....