In March 2020, as the Overspill project was drawing to an end, the world went into lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Here we explore what life in lockdown has been like some people in Darnhill.
Memories of the Overspill being built
I remember from 3 or 4 years old there was six of us in a 2 bedroom house. We had an outside tipple toilet loo shared by three houses. Our mums took it in turns to clean it out. In the winter, we had frozen pipes, thick frost on the windows, gas lighting and candles […]
An Overspill estate called Darnhill: A poem by Katie Haigh
An Overspill Estate called Darnhill Darnhill started out as an overspill, A place for families to make a new home. For me it’s where I went to school, A place my Mum had attended before. My mum grew up on Heap Bridge, When farms and fields were all around. Darnhill did not exist in her […]
Growing a family
When I got married in 1975, we had a flat over the shops in Darnhill. When my son came along, we needed something bigger. We rented off a little old lady and the house was on Bamford Road. The house had an outside toilet and a tin bath by the fire. One new year, my […]
Oral history Interview: Kath
Hear Darnhill resident Kath talking about her husband’s move to the estate as a child. They didn’t bother changing schools for him. So there was this problem of travelling backwards and forwards. So their only transport was the 163 bus which at the time just went on literally onto the start of the estate and […]
Darnhill: Time Machine
In the Summer of 2019, a group of young people from Darnhill’s Youth Service group worked with an artist and film maker to research Darnhill’s history and then write and record a film. The film was shown within our Time Machine at the Darnhill Festival 2019 and was also on display for three months at […]
Overspill at the People’s History Museum
Between October 2019 and January 2020 the Overspill Project was lucky enough to exhibit at The People’s History Museum in Manchester. In case you missed it, here are the boards that we had on display.
Snow in the Overspill
I never lived on Langley but worked at St Mary’s Primary School on Wood Street. The school was being remodelled but was all over the place. On the grounds we had porta-cabins and we were in a tiny office. We were breaking up for the Christmas holidays and the school had to close very early […]
Working on the Overspill
I was 7 when moved in 1953 from the pre-fabs. We moved to Finningley Road from Heaton Park. Lots of other neighbours moved to Darnhill and others to Langley. A lot of people moved from Heaton Park to Langley. My father did the water pipes for Langley and Darnhill. Catherine
Heap County School
Thank you to Denise N and Alison F and for these fantastic photographs from Heap County school, Darnhill. Alison features in the photograph below, along with her uncle who was the headteacher!
