Voices from the Ouseburn in the Study of Place

A presentation for the Tyne and Wear Geography Association in June

2018 by Cath White

Rawlings E (2018) “Reflections on ‘place’ ”(Teaching Geography Summer 2018 p 56) suggests

A development of the threefold approach to the study of place originally suggested by

Cresswell in 2015 :

• Descriptive regional geography whose aim would be to identify and describe

particular places and to draw out the salient characteristics of each distinct place

• Social Constructionist approaches practised by a range of critical geographers

interested in particular places as instances of social, economic or political processes

• Phenomenological approaches concerned with recognising place as an essential part

of being human

Although I’m going to focus on the phenomenological approach which looks at ways of
responding, sensing and being creative in place it is important to note that Cresswell
suggests in more recent place writings all three levels of place theory can be seen as
operating together.
Let’s look at the Ouseburn and how it can be used to build up a picture of place
in terms of being in the world

You can look at resources from the Ouseburn Trust which will build up a picture of the past
place of the Ouseburn and you can compare this with what you see in the present.

There is a Victoria Tunnel DVD (Price £3) You can obtain it from:
www.ouseburntrust.org.uk/shop/Victoria-tunnel-dvd

This will give you a useful background to the Victoria Tunnel by

• Giving an overview of the history of the tunnel
• showing you Marian Jones cycling the overland route of the tunnel
• giving you a number of wartime memories by residents of the area.
There are history resources at the end of the DVD,

The Victoria Tunnel DVD and constructing place

• Sights
“It was brilliant sun when I got out”
“There were search lights and barrage balloons”
• Hot and cold
“The tunnel was quite dry and warm. It was warm and cosy down there.”
“It was not very pleasant – you grabbed all sorts to put round you.”
• Feelings
“We were exhausted. The bombing went on for a year.”
“My aunty was very nervous. It made me a nervous person which I still am.”
“No one took care of you – they were too busy. People just got on with it.”

There is a CD which you can buy from the Ouseburn Trust for £2 entitled
War-time Voices
You can get the CD from www.ouseburntrust.org.uk/shop/warime-voices-cd

Four people give their memories of using the Victoria Tunnel during the war and from this
resource you can construct a picture of place

War Time Voices CD and constructing place

• Different reactions by different age groups
“Poor little souls didn’t know whether they were coming or going” “ Little children –
it was all a bit of an adventure for them” “It was quite a social event to get out of the
tunnel. If you were out after midnight you didn’t go to school the next day”
“Some elderly people it bothered them. They were shaky” “ You were worried you
know, because you didn’t know what was happening”
• Feelings of heat and cold
“Eventually you warmed up. If you had a blanket with you, you were warm”
 • Senses
“You could see the flames… you could smell the sweetness of sugar that was
burning”
“ You would hear the shrapnel pinging off the roofs, pinging off the streets – it meant
you ran faster”

There is a You Tube Video entitled Voices from the Ouseburn made in 2011
It can be found at : www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW5bFFqWxjY8feature=youtu.be
Again you can build up a picture of place from this as you see how people use the Ouseburn
and what they say about it.

This is a very particular portrayal of place by people who work in it , not people who live in
it.
“It’s a community of interest rather than a community of place in a traditional sense, so not
a community of residence in the sense of people who live , eat and sleep in an area.”
“The Ouseburn’s always been full of creative people. I’m creative and I wanted to end up
here.”
“It’s quite an exciting place to be as a child”
“I work with disadvantaged young people and give them access to horses. It’s about
vocational training, social development, personal development, employments skills and all the
calmness which comes from the therapeutic gains of working around horses.”

Voices from the Ouseburn and constructing place

“One of the themes of the Ouseburn is that people go to enjoy each other’s company and
to chat, to have conversations.”
“The Star and Shadow ..is run on people’s passions and energy. ..They really think about
what they do and the ethics of it.”
“It’s an oasis within the area of ideas and innovation.”
“I think we are very lucky to have an area which isn’t big, but it’s big enough where people
can just enjoy being here…a natural environment with a lot of interest and a lot of heritage
and still a lot to keep people here.”

Questions to ask:
• What kind of place is portrayed?
• Are the people representative of the place or do they represent a particular group?
8way thinking

In 2006 Ian Gilbert devised a thinking skills project called 8way

thinking. He drew on Multiple Intelligence Theory (Gardner1993,1999,
2004) and the Philosophy for Children approach to produce a
‘multidimensional polycognitive enquiry tool’ (Gilbert 2006 p. 17)

Gilbert I. (2006) Grimsby Fish Dock Number Two ‘8way Thinking’ and
‘Around Deeply’ Teaching Expertise 12 Summer 2006
www.teachingexpertise.com