21. A Year in the Life of Elizabeth Gaskell’s House
Posted
7th March 2025
in 10 year Anniversary, blog, Blogs & News, Gaskell House Blogs
3- 7 March 2025
Despite the sunshine this week, dark clouds were abundant in my inbox (and the wider world) and I was reminded of the quote from North and South – ‘the cloud never comes in that quarter of the horizon from which we watch for it.‘
It has been a week of mixed emotions and self-doubt, and even the thought of International Women’s Day (8 March) made me feel despondent rather than celebratory at the start of the week. (To quote myself -‘Women’s history and the achievements of women shouldn’t only be promoted once a ***** year’ etc. etc.)
I started the week with not one, but two, negative decisions on funding applications/expressions of interest. And then a further email informing us that a legacy donation wouldn’t quite be the amount we had been led to believe it would be and not quite the reply I had hoped for in regards to some other funding. Added to this, visitor number and takings this week were pitiful – if people don’t want to visit the home of a women writer during Women’s History Month/the week of International Women’s Day – I reckoned we must be doing something terribly wrong.
Managed to pull myself together to put together some social media posts, filmed a volunteer sharing a story about Beatrix Potter and the Gaskell family, and sent out an extra email to our database to promote the book sale on Sunday- so we could still turn this around…
And to be fair it wasn’t all doom, gloom and dark clouds. We did get the news we had been shortlisted for the Historic Houses education award for our online educational programme; we picked up several 5-star visitor reviews, and our partnership event for International Women’s Day with Chawton House and the Bronte Parsonage was a gratifying success. The four page article we had been promised by Historic Houses members magazine also landed on my desk on Thursday. (Thank you Tolu at HHA)
Even the garden was trying to lift my mood. The crocus have exploded into colour alongside the snowdrops and there are green shoots everywhere. Its a well used cliche, but it hard not to be hopeful when you see, and feel, Spring is on its way. I even managed to walk through the garden without my coat on – that must be a record for Manchester in the first week in March! (Was this how Elizabeth felt when she went out without her bonnet I wonder?).
On Tuesday I did escape briefly to join tour guide Philippa Vishnyakov for an hours ‘net-walking’ in central Manchester. The theme of the walk was stories of women with an international connection. Philippa was brilliant and it was just what I needed. I highly recommend joining one of her tours.
Throughout this week and last we have been sharing the news with our volunteers that one of the staff team would be leaving us in mid-April. (I’m currently worrying about how we can manage with one person less in the interim period, before someone new can be recruited.) Anyway, in an effort to cut some of our expenditure doing forward we made the decision to reduce the new role down to three days but I’m mindful that change can make people feel anxious and unsettled and I tried to speak to everyone to make sure the team are ok and they know what’s happening. Like many small museums we don’t have an HR department so it is down to me to do this and to promote the new job and be the main point of contact for applicants. FYI – Details of the role are here.
The highlight of my week was meeting up with and chatting with two of our writers in residency for a publicity interview on Thursday. Listening to them speak, made me cry (with happiness); their eloquence, passion, feminism and understanding of the House and Elizabeth was incredible. It filled me with utter joy and helped me to appreciate (and remember) exactly why I love my job and why I do what I do. Thank you Guruleen and Princess for renewing my faith.
And so on International Women’s Day I want to thank all the amazing women who volunteer, work, visit and support the House in its aims to celebrate the life and literature of Elizabeth Gaskell and her relevance today!
I am proud to work with, and meet so many incredible creative, inspiring and enthusiastic women – and it is thanks to one women – Janet Allan – that the House even exists today. Without the determination of Janet and others, the home of Elizabeth Gaskell would have been yet another aspect of women’s history that would have been lost. On International Women’s Day we should remember that the battle to champion and promote the voices and work of women has not been an easy fight, its not finished and nor should it be limited to just one day or month a year!
Sally Jastrzebski-Lloyd
