The magazine of the photo-essay
November 2016 issue
by Chris Hunt
“A free, really high quality photo-essay magazine. Fabulous!”
Stephen Fry. British actor, writer and film & documentary maker
Forty years ago, in the mid-1970s, I embarked on a project to document
the lives of my neighbours who lived in a small street of terraced houses
close to the centre of Manchester in North West England. Beeton Grove
is a typical working class community, of the kind characterised on
television by the long-running soap Coronation Street. I lived in there for
a couple of years and got to know a few of my neighbours, which made
me curious about the others; what made their lives tick, what kind of jobs,
families and thoughts did they have. So I knocked on everyone's door
and asked if I could interview and photograph them. Fortunately, only four
declined, so I set about my task armed with a tape recorder and a Leica
camera. The original book had been forgotten about until last year when I
decided to seek a publisher, and after a successful Kickstarter campaign
Bluecoat Press issued the book in 2016.
Washing day at No. 9.
Beatrice Kielty with three of her eleven children, No 5.
Beeton grove kids.
Back yard, No. 9.
Tommy Murphy, No. 8.
Bobbie Cunningham, No.9.
Darren Cunningham, No. 9.
Carmel Killeen, No. 13.
Terence Doherty, No. 12.
Josephine and Michael Gulfoyle, No. 10.
Lounge, No. 11.
Marie Smith, with her mum and lodger, No. 3.
Michael Noone, No. 11.
Mrs Keegan's shop.
Lounge, No. 19.
Marie Burke, No. 1.
Patrick Burke, No. 1.
Students House, No. 18.
