... the thing I remember most was being wakened up in the morning with the clatter of clogs on Robert Street pavement, all the mill workers. That was my alarm clock when I was at school and the great doors of the mill being opened and you could hear the roar of the machinery, you know, and the great steam engines starting, you know, and going full blast. It frightened us as children. We weren't allowed to go close to the doors really, I think the men were frightened of us getting in and doing, you know, getting into trouble. Only at night... 

MISCEL/1206/17

Waking Up In The Morning

The Greater Manchester Sound Archive is available at Manchester Central Library. The collection includes hundreds of oral histories, radio and music recordings.

You can check the catalogue at http://gmlives.org.uk. If you can't find what you're looking for in the catalogue please email us on archiveslocalstudies@manchester.gov.uk.

Unlocking Our Sound Heritage (UOSH) is an ambitious partnership project led by the British Library and supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund to address the threat facing the UK’s sound heritage. Sounds held on physical formats risk being lost as the carriers degrade over time and the equipment to play them is no longer produced. The project aims to transform access to and preserve the nation’s sound heritage, to create sustainable centres of excellence in digital audio preservation and to involve new audiences in engaging with their audio heritage in innovative ways.

Archives+ at Manchester Central Library is the hub partner for the North West region, which covers Cumbria, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The hub will digitise around 15,000 recordings on 5,000 cassette and open reels held all over the region. The British Library will archive the digital files and provide access to a proportion of them online. The project will recruit volunteers across the region who will spend time learning how to sort, catalogue and promote the region's sound heritage.

We recognise that from time to time material published online may be in breach of copyright laws, contain sensitive personal data, or include content that may be regarded as obscene or defamatory.  If you are concerned that you have found material on our Soundcloud for which you have not given permission, contravenes privacy laws, is obscene or defamatory, or in terms of copyright law is not covered by a limitation or exception, please contact us at archiveslocalstudies@manchester.gov.uk.