36. A Year in the Life of Elizabeth Gaskell’s House
Posted
4th July 2025
in 10 year Anniversary, blog, Blogs & News, Gaskell House Blogs
30 June – 4 July 2025
It has been one of the best and longest weeks. There was a lot packed in, but surprisingly everything went to plan.
I started the week with a private group tour for 30 secondary school students on Monday, and Gaby and Ellie finished the week with a wedding on Friday for a wedding party of 19. In between was filled with exhibition set-up (action shots of Katy and I below), prep for the launch, a new retail display (photo next week) and a mini-road trip for Ellie and I from Central Library to Elizabeth Gaskell’s House with the five big plinths. A preview of the music video that Manchester band, The Guest List, filmed at the House earlier in June, was shared on Instagram, and we mused on how everything in the city has gone mad for Oasis.
We were open to the public on Wednesday as usual and on Thursday until 2.30pm – so there was the usual need to cover volunteer lunches (on tickets on Wednesday) and “two soups” to be made in the Tea Room on Thursday. We had some press interviews and filming on Thursday afternoon with our writers and Unity House, and I precariously cleaned bird poo from the Drawing Room window (photo below) plus other odds and ends to do ahead of the launch of the exhibition. I really did overthink everything and likely annoyed the hell out of the team (thank you Katy, Gaby and Ellie).
And then finally it was 5pm and lots of lovely people, including friends and family of the writers, project partners, friends of the House, Trustees and volunteers arrived and the wine was poured! Thank you to all who came and supported us (when there were clearly other very ‘big’ things also happening in Manchester). I’m looking forward to reading some of the comment cards next week over a cuppa although it is worth noting that this isn’t the end (yet) – we’ve still got workshops to deliver in the autumn, evaluation to collect and ongoing marketing until Nov.
I allowed myself a small moment of time to feel proud (plus a celebratory coffee and sausage barm) on Friday morning, and then it really was back to work as usual. Gaby passed over the copy for the summer holidays family workshops and I sent the brief to the freelance designer on what we need for leaflets that will go into local schools. I shared photos of the launch (including on social), read some of the press articles/listings and sent thank you emails to the staff and volunteers team who helped.
I finished the week submitting to the Oasis madness and put my article live about Oasis and Elizabeth Gaskell!
Sally Jastrzebski-LLoyd
