Introduction

Every Saturday during the school year, children of African and Afro-Caribbean descent come to the West Indian Centre on Carmoor Road in Manchester for supplementary tuition in Mathematics and English with a black cultural slant. At the centre, we believe that children of this background do not receive sufficient grounding in their historical reality from the National Curriculum, hence the supplementary classes.

As part of the Ghost Project, pupils between the ages of 11- 14 years were given photographs of black life in Moss Side between the 1950s to the 1970s. They especially looked at the intriguing structure of the infamous and now demolished Crescent Flats in Hulme, but they also chose pictures that interested them. Here is their imagination, in poetry and prose, of the Disappearing Histories of Moss Side.

Special thanks to Martin De Mello who asked the school to take part; Washington Alcott (Head of the Supplementary School) who provided the fascinating photographs that brought the past into the class; and finally, to Devon Pinnock (Maths Tutor) for his enthusiasm and assistance towards the smooth running of the classes.

Jennifer Makumbi-Morris (English Tutor)

Please click on the students’ names to see their poems.

Nelson Kofi
Tauzeni Vanessa
Tauzeni Tasha
Abbisai Amba
Azeez Usman
Kirabo Razik