THE STOREY'S STORY:
Memories, Stories, Poems, Images
Edited by Rodge Glass

Published by Litfest Publications, Lancaster
to coincide with the 2004 litfest, price £5

Reviewed by Michael Nunn

A valuable addition to the local history of Lancaster
As the title declares, this paperback volume is a collection "derived from a variety of sources,' as a note hidden somewhat in the text explains. Immediately striking and fascinating to my mind were the recollections from people worked or studied there in the days when it was, as originally intended, a teaching establishment. One of the contributors, Dorothy Cooper, is 88 and recalls lessons at The Storey in 1936. Chemistry was particularly memorable for her, but I won't give the plot away!

There are also photographs ancient and modern, within and outside the building, (including one of a sprightly-looking Ms Cooper) though some are unnecessarily overlaid with text and other graphics. This does not allow them to speak in their own right, as the former students and workers do. Some are not easily identifiable, others are clumsily juxtaposed, and many are uncredited.

Two double-page spreads are especially striking: one, towards the end of the book, of very fine two brush and ink drawings by Moreen Francis; and four black and white "Stained glass watercolours' by Robert Ashmead.

There is also a dozen fascinating photographs from the Lancaster City Museum Collections which show The Storey and the people in it at work, dating from the 1890s up to 1939. Among these is a ‘then and now' pairing of a group of students at a distance of – well, er, many years.

This volume is both a welcome additional resource for the history of Lancaster, and also a welcome contribution to the debate about future of this important building and its illustrious heritage.

Copyright © 1 January 2005 Michael Nunn