GROWING UP IN SUNNISIDE

The village of Sunniside lies 2 miles east of Tow Law.  Situated on a ridge approximately 1000’ above sea level, the settlement was originally constructed in the late 1800s to serve the needs of the local mining industry.  At one time the village was a thriving community with a population large enough to support a school and a wide range of local shops, but with the demise of the coal industry the population has dwindled and local services have been severely curtailed. 

Against all the odds the village continues to support a community association which manages a small community centre housed in a converted terrace of three stone houses.  In addition to organising a wide range of activities for both young and old the association is undertaking to collect and preserve historical information about the village.  This has already begun to happen in a number of creative ways including edited video footage of older residents reminiscing about a variety of subjects, and a textile wall-hanging featuring clues to the past as well as images of contemporary life.  The photos and text you see displayed on these web-pages form part of a small exhibition which will be expanded for future dissemination in the form of a booklet.

In creating these web-pages we have chosen a selection of comparative images which show both the similarities and differences between past and present experiences of growing up.  Obviously, some things never change, like a child’s love of dressing up!   However, the bleak images of the bricked-up school gateway and the vandalised sweetie machines tell a different, sadder story.

Each sequence of past and present images is presented alongside an appropriate detail from the textile wall-hanging, thereby adding colour and extra interest to the display.  The wall-hanging was made in 1995 by residents of all ages (male and female) and contains aspects of  village life that people felt were important.  Notably, it features things which had already gone and others (such as the shop) which were soon to disappear.  Text accompanying the sequences is kept to a minimum in the hope that the images will speak largely for themselves.

To view the web pages which were created for Sunniside see: