During the work Brilliant did in February and March with Middleport Matters, as part of #DiscoverMiddleport and our project Discover Bamboo, we commissioned Spencer Jenkins to co-design a bench and artwork.

Spencer co-designed using place and people. Starting with a site visit and walk around looking at details on buildings, parks and streets and through conversations about those things, materials and making. Here are the images of files shared by Spencer, as part of the process.

When Spencer was thinking about what he’d seen and experienced, Spencer met Sandra at the Stitched Up session, where she talked about the Middleport Pottery canal cranes and their connection to her family history. 

Sandra shared some archive images as well as the rich story of the family connection, see Sandra’s story in her words below.

Stitched Up also made some cushion covers from patchwork and knitting for the bench and sculpture that we named ‘Sandra’s Story’ on the day of we unveiled and you can see them with Sandra on the photo below by Nat Willatt, and the #DiscoverBamboo and #DiscoverMiddleport Bamboo Block Party on Sat 29 March.

Spencer created ‘Sandra’s Story’, the bench and the artwork, and here is the full ‘Sandra’s Story’ from Sandra Smith:

Hi My Name is Sandra and this is my Story. 

I come from a family of canal boaters. My Grandad George Page was a regular and well-known character along the Trent and Mersey Canal. 

He was a very hard-working Man.  He even met and married the love of his life Dolly on the Waterway, and between them they had 9 children.  

Before the days of Motorways and HGVs the canal boat was used to transport all sorts of goods across the UK, and the cranes that appear along the canal were used to help load and unload heavy goods from the boats.   The crane at Middleport would of been used to unload raw clay, and load the finished pottery products that would of been taken to Liverpool via the canal network for further distribution. 

My Grandad was a regular character along the Trent and Mersey Canal, and he often came to Middleport.

My Mother has vivid memories of being on site at what is now Middleport Pottery and seeing the big steam engines, at full working speed, and looking for a replacement lid for the Boat’s teapot, from out of the discarded scrap piles.

Sadly, George lost his wife Dolly back in 1962 when she fell into a lock during icy conditions.   George continued on the boats and was at the helm of several in his time, including the Grenville and the Trout. 

George Page sadly passed in 1995, a few years after he gave up his life on the water. 

The Trout returned to Middleport in November 2018, where it took part in the filming of the BBC series Peaky Blinders,  under the guise of Tommy Shelby’s boat, The January.  An honour also held by its sister boat, The Clematis. During its time at Middleport, I was lucky enough to be able to stand in my Grandad’s footsteps on board The Trout.  

The last photograph is taken from my position on the helm, looking across the boat, towards the crane at Middleport. 

Thanks to Middleport Matters, Middleport residents and visitors and everyone who was part of this special Brilliant Bamboo project as part of the #DiscoverMiddleport.

Images of Sandra and George supplied by Sandra and her family, the image of Sandra on ‘Sandra’s Story’ by Nat Willatt.