On Wednesday we had our third online lecture.  A bit nearer home than East Germany or Okinawa. Professor Lawrence began in East Bristol. His lecture took his own parents Doreen and Ronald as his starting point. Using family names, stories and a map of East Bristol streets he examined the idea of working-class community in mid-century Britain. Looking at the stories his parents had told him about their lives he began a wider historical enquiry.  Were working class communities closer in the mid-20^th century, did post-war affluence change working class Britons or had there always been a mixture of individualism and community?  He examined, individual working-class voices which have survived through sociological research interviews including shipbuilders on the Tyne in the late ‘60’s and single mums on Kent’s Isle of Sheppey 1978-88.  These contemporary voices came through in a very different way to those of older people looking back on their lives. The talk was illustrated by some extraordinary photographs.  As usual we had really thoughtful and lively questions including one from Professor Lawrence’s former history teacher at Bristol Grammar and former Bristol HA officer Philip Revell.  We also received some really warm email feedback from members

“I loved the content of tonight’s lecture and it tied in well with something I’ve been doing for years with my own ancestry….I started researching some of the actual names to put some flesh to the bone and began to associate them with the social history of their time.
For example a great uncle at 34 killed on the first day of the Somme leaving behind a wife and family similar to many children who suffered that fate. …” “Many thanks to the Bristol HA Branch for sharing tonight’s talk by Jon Lawrence. A fantastic evening, interesting and relevant.  Could I please sign up for the next session with Ronald Hutton, sounds as if it will be just as good as tonight’s offering.”