Women Of Hackney At Work
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Terrie Alderton, Bus Driver
Complementing Contributing Photographer Sarah Ainslie’s new exhibition Women Of Bethnal Green at Work which opens today at Oxford House, Bethnal Green, here is an earlier series of Sarah’s portraits.
Sarah took these portraits in Hackney between 1990 and 1991 as a commission for Hackney Museum. “I was aware there were a lot of women in the workplace but mostly in behind the scenes roles,” Sarah explained to me, “I wanted to give them visibly and also show the variety of work that women were doing.”
Loretta Leitch, Electrician
Rosemary More, Architect
Fontanelle Alleyne, Environmental Health Officer
Hackney Registrar of Births, Marriages & Deaths
Jenny Amos, Heating & Ventilation Engineer
Carol Straker, Dancer
Annie Johns, Sculptor
Sue Hopkins, Doctor at Lawson Practice Baby Clinic
Lilly Claridge, Age Concern Charity Shop Manager
Karen Francis & Carolyn Donovan, Dustwomen
Helen Graham, Street Sweeper
Denise Martin, Truck Driver
Judy Benoit, Studio Manager
Luz Hollingsworth, Fire Fighter
Diane Abbott, Member of Parliament
Dionne Allacker, Joanne Gillard, Winnifred John, Clothing Warehouse Supervisors
Lanette Edwards, Machinist
Nora Fenn, Buttonholist
Jane Harris, Carpenter
Eileen Lake, Chaplain at Homerton Hospital
Dr Costeloe, Homerton Hospital
Ivy Harris & E Vidal, Cleaners at Homerton Hospital
Sister Ferris Aagee, Homerton Hospital
Joan Lewis, Homerton Hospital
Sister Sally Bowcock
Valerie Cruz, Catering Assistant
K Lewis, Traffic Warden
Gerrie Harris, Acupuncturist
WPC Helen Taylor
Mary, Counter Assistant at Ridley’s Beigel Bakery
Mandy McLoughlin & Angela Kent, Faulkners Fish & Chip Restaurant
Terrie Tan, Driver at Lady Cabs
Maureen McLoughlin, Supervisor at Riversdale Laundrette
Anna Sousa, Hairdresser at Shampers
Jane Reeves, Councillor
Carolin Ambler, Zoo Keeper
Mrs Sherman, Dentist
Eileen Fisher, Police Domestic Violence Unit
Yvonne McKenzie, Jacqui Olliffe & Dirinai Harley, Supervisors at Oranges & Lemons Day Nursery
Jessica James, Active Birth Teacher
Di England, Supervisor at Free Form Arts
Sally Theakston, Chaplain, St John’s Hackney
Photographs copyright © Sarah Ainslie
Photographs courtesy Hackney Museum
Take a bow ladies!
Would be lovely to know what happened to them all, what they’re doing today.
The diversity of women’s professions is amazing. A beautiful article!
Love & Peace
ACHIM
Wonderful women of Hackney! They have kept it going throughout the ages . I was born in the Hackney Hospital in 1950 . During the blitz my mother was an air raid warden . I have a photo of her in her black uniform doing a knees up with her mates . I recently learned from my sister that one night as the bombs were falling on Hackney she was in an air raid shelter where an Irish lady was giving birth. There was no help available and nobody could come so she stayed with her and it came into the world with her help . Eventually an ambulance arrived in the morning and she was able to go home and sleep
Somehow very touching. An admirable range of activities.
I recognise so many people I knew back then, when I too was a working woman of Hackney. Why were those were better times, even though our Governments tell us they were worse? I think it was because people could do all kinds of jobs with dignity and expect to be paid enough to live. We had greater equality, were more relaxed, and less anxious. Our smiles were more genuine because the world had hope.
Optimism, focus, dedication, gumption (in heaping portions!), service, contribution. I could go on and on. These two posts, with Sarah Ainslie’s portraits of women, have lifted my spirits.
We just had elections here in the US, and I noticed that every poll worker in our community voting station was female. They volunteered for long hours with welcoming smiles and sensible
professionalism.
Sisterhood! “You go, girls!”.