All language subtitles for Tish.2023.1080p.WEBRip.x264-CBFM

High levels of unemployment
have always been

a hard and constant feature of life
in the West End of Newcastle...

Society has no solutions
for them...

My work depends on an investment
of time...

Intensified as it is by
the government's

extreme free market philosophy...

The Demon Snapper...

Of Dad's inexperience...

Gone since Thatcher...

The confused fantasies...

Your diverse community...

I've been documenting the human
effects of unemployment...

The consequences of which
will be enormous.

Young people already experiencing
problems...

The future is nevertheless clearly
discernible...

Dear Ella,

I give you my heart.

The joy in her photographs
is incredible.

The history of working class people.

She recognised, you know, beauty,

but it was usually as a means
to an end.

She was a fighter.

She wasn't going to sit still.

She fought the good fight.

If you want to photograph the tribe,
got to be part of the tribe.

You've got to dance the same dance.

When I think of my mam,
it's always people.

She just took pictures of what
was in front of her

because she saw that what
was in front of her,

her world and the people in it,

they needed to be seen, do you know?

And she knew that, with this camera,

she could capture it,

show people and give people a value.

Do you know? These people existed.

They mattered. They lived.
They were there.

And my mam was going to make sure
that they were seen.

I'd seen her work in a show
in Aberystwyth,

and I walked round that show

and saw lots of work that
I'd seen before,

and then I saw some that I hadn't...
Yeah.

..and that I was really captivated
by,

and I just thought that
this is different -

I need to meet this person
and find out why.

My mam had died and I was
clearing out her stuff,

and I found this letter,
and it was from you. Yeah.

And you had been to meet my mam,

but it was just saying how much

you'd enjoyed meeting her. Yeah.

And you found her honesty, like,
so refreshing.

And you don't...

You don't meet many people
like Tish.

I've always sort of thought

that history is so posh, you know?

It's so much about rich wealth.

Someone from that place
genuinely recording

and making part of history
the lives of people,

experiences like mine,

was really important,

and there she was doing it.

So all of that made it feel
more imperative

that her work was actually embedded

as part of a history of Britain.
Yeah.

A history of working class people.

I have no idea why Tish's work
wasn't better known.

Those photographs just felt
really honest

and I just couldn't work out how
someone had managed it.

Yeah. Do you know what I mean?

Yeah, you just needed to know
who and why and how. Yeah.

How's this person...? Where have
they come from to do this?

How have they got the insight
to be able to do this?

You know, grief's a horrible thing.

And at that point, when you got
in touch with me,

you were obviously, like...
It was so raw, yeah. ..very raw.

I have to say, I've never seen
a reaction like this.

I've never seen somebody...
Really?

No, so driven, Ella!

So driven.

You know, it's so, like,
"Let's get this done!

"Let's make this right!"

OPERATIC MUSIC PLAYS

What was it like, being Tish
Murtha's little sister?

Well, for a start,

she demanded that, when the new baby
came along,

it was going to be called Eileen.

No-one had any say at all?
Nobody had any say.

That was what was happening.

So she would've been two and a half.
Two and a half

and she was already so determined?
Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, she was...

Yeah. Yeah. Very, very determined.

So this is... Tish.

..Tish. Me and Mark.

My brother, Mark, yeah.

I love it. School photo.

She was the third oldest,
wasn't she?

Was she quite protective?
Of the younger ones?

Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, that was her role.

That was her job, really.

I mean, there's nine months
between some of us. Yeah.

And my mother was sort of
very gentle. Yeah.

She was great. Wonderful mother.

Encouraged us to be interested
in all sorts of things.

You know, interested to cultivate...

..creative and artistic things
that she'd seen in all of us,

in all of her ten... Her brood.

And I can remember her buying us
things like crayons

and pencils and paper,
even when she couldn't afford it.

I've been quite close to Tish

because we used to go on our travel.

She used to take me around with her

and I was probably a pain
in the backside to her.

But, when we moved to Elswick,
it was a very different...

..completely different
to South Shields.

I call it the darkness on the edge
of town...

EILEEN LAUGHS

..because it was!

It was a strange world.

It had a floating population
of people.

There was always arterial blood
spilt along Elswick Road.

And, you know, sometimes
it's funny, isn't it?

Your memories are black and white,
but the blood's always red.

All around us was these
derelict houses,

some of them got knocked down
and levelled,

so there was always a wasteland

where the kids could
have fires and...

But it was things like this.

And the name of the street there,

in all its finery.

EILEEN LAUGHS

So, do you know the picture of you

where you're with three other boys
and you're on the pillars

of the old church?

You look like statues?

Yous just look like yous
just own the place.

Do you know? Like...

What did he makes yous do?

What, even as kids?

Yeah.

We used to look in the bins...
Have a scavenge?

Look for treasures, yeah?
Oh, yeah, we were proper skip rats.

So she found a camera?
Yeah. Yeah.

We used to go in the old houses
and people had just left,

and there was always stuff in them.

There was encyclopaedias.

Some of the most amazing books
and encyclopaedias.

And I think she probably got it
in one of those houses.

It was considered to be the worst
square mile.. Bloody hell.

..in England at that time.

Often you'd get cars driving up,
and driving along beside you

and asking you, you know, to get in.

And there was lots of curious people
who were probably fine,

but you just didn't know,

and you had to learn quite quickly
and be streetwise.

So I think she took to carrying
that camera

because you had to keep
yourself safe.

You had to keep your brothers
and sisters safe.

She always felt safer when she...
Yeah.

..even though it had no film in it.
Yeah, that's right.

So when do you...? Like, when do you
remember her first starting

to be interested in photography

and actually having some film in a
camera and taking photographs?

Probably about...
When she was about...

..15, 16.

I remember me and her

taking photographs one weekend
of each other.

I mean, I didn't know how it worked
particularly

and I think Tish was just learning
anyway,

so we took these photographs
of each other.

That was one of the very first.

I mean, so damaged, but...

It's beautiful, though.

And she must have had access
to a darkroom,

and I think Jos and Bob had set
one up in their house.

I met Eileen first at a kind of
youth club. Yeah.

She must've taken me back
for a cup of tea.

Tish must've been there.

And then they started coming up
to my house

where I was a student
at Ravensworth.

I introduced her to the darkroom
and she raved over it.

You know, going into a dark room
and seeing actual photographs

appearing in front of your eyes
in the dark. Yeah.

Well, she...

I have this.

And it says on the front of it,

"To Jos and Bob,

"Do you see what you two started
when you gave me the use

"of a camera and darkroom and made
me go to college?"

I thought it would be a good idea
for Tish

to get formal instruction,

but she was petrified.

She was convinced that they
wouldn't take her.

Yeah, she didn't have confidence in
herself sometimes. No confidence.

And I think we literally turned up
at the front door

and I walked in and said,
"You're going in."

Then I left her to it.

Well, I'm teaching on a course
in Newcastle, at Bath Lane.

So, what was she like?

She was tough.

She wasn't going to take
anything lying down.

She was tough. She was strong.
Yeah.

Fortunately, we had cameras that
we could lend students.

She brought some stuff to me.

You know, "That's my mam.
That's my nan.

"And that's my uncle. That's..."
Yeah.

I said, "These are fantastic, Tish."

I said, "Go and do some more."

Yeah. You know, she recognised
beauty.

But, in fact, to me, the photographs
that are the ones that...

It's the ones of childhood. Yeah.

And it's to do with childhood.
It's not to do with poverty.

It's not to do with...

That's where the joy comes from.

Your mother wanted to learn
how to take photographs

with a specific idea in mind.

You know, she wanted to document,
she wanted to photograph,

to use as evidence and proof

to make people's lives better,

or to stop injustices and
that type of thing.

She wasn't interested in the rest
of the bollocks.

ETHEL LAUGHS
Dennis was subversive, shall we say?

I mean, for instance, when we did
the studio portraiture,

it was a lot more free than it was
probably meant to be.

The problem was that the course
she was on

wasn't a course that she
should've been on.

Oh, why not?

Because it was too specifically
commercial,

which did not include documentary,

so I did bend the course
a little bit.

This is... School report?

Yeah! Well, it's... Oh, no.
Oh, my God!

"I intended to take pictures
of the cemetery railings..."

TISH: But the caretaker locked
the gates.

This meant I could only take
pictures

of the cemetery railings
from one angle,

so I decided to take the pictures
of the railings around the tomb.

I thought that the wrought iron
patterns on the rail

were very like funeral urns

that went very well with the object
they were enclosing.

On 12A and 13A,

this is what I was trying to show.

The other shots were taken to show
the different angles,

but the pictures did not come out
as I expected.

They seemed blurred and
not sharp enough

to show the harshness
of the subject.

She was true to herself

and she was true to the medium,
and...

..she was brilliant.

She was very, very good.

It was like she was born with the
silver camera in her hand.

Well, I liked her work.

A lot of it centred around members
of her family

and they were at the tough end
of working class life,

and so she just photographed them.

The penny dropped later that what
they had in common was unemployed,

you know?

And they were in her neighbourhood.

They were good, they were intimate,

they were strong
and they were powerful -

they were like her.

She was very brave round here,
I'll tell you. Mm.

I mean, people with cameras
around here

are normally people from the DSS

or the local police force
or whatever.

People'd become very suspicious.

I mean, she took a few chances.

The fact is that people knew
she was Tish Murtha

probably allowed her a little bit
more credence. A bit more leeway,

yeah. Yeah.

She was one of the kids.

Because of where we lived,

you couldn't just be
a passive bystander -

you had to be involved.

She kind of honed her eye,
if you like.

And because she was a very
determined person,

she wasn't going to be
told that, well,

"You need to take pretty pictures -
that's what a camera's for."

She knew, you know,

that what was in front of her...

..was as important as anything.
Yeah.

I think she knew that this was
as valid

as any book you picked up
and looked at,

that what she was seeing in front
of her was our life

and it needed to give it a value,
you know? Yeah.

To put it there and say, you know,

"We are here. We have a value."

Definitely.

You couldn't go anywhere
in this country

and do documentary photography.

There was a magazine in those days,
a photograph magazine called

the British Journal of Photography,

and loads of courses were
advertised in there.

And I must have somehow or other

seen this thing about Newport
College of Art.

Here we go. Are you ready for this?

So, this...

Have a look at this and just...

"Be at Newport College of Art

"and ask for David Hurn or John
Charity on Tuesday, the 25th of May.

"Good luck. Dennis."

Good grief!

I remember Tish very clearly.

She was the shortest interview
there's ever been. Yeah.

Because they came in and the first
question was,

"What do you want to photograph?"

And she literally did say,

"I want to photograph a policeman
kicking kids," you know?

And I said, "You're in!"

It was a bit strange, really.

We all turned up at college
that first morning

and she was a bit sort of concerned

as to where she was going to sort
of plonk everything, I think,

more than anything else.

And I seem to remember saying
to her then,

"Where are you staying?"
Because everybody...

I was relatively local.

And your mother sort of said,
"Well, I don't know yet.

"I'm still working on it."

And I got the impression, I think,
that what her ultimate plan was,

that when everybody had gone,
she would've probably found

a corner in a darkroom somewhere
and settled down.

I suggested to her that I had
a spare room

and she was quite welcome
to come and stay.

This camera here... Yeah.

So this is my mam's old one...
Yep, yep, yep.

..that she bought on hire
purchase... Yes.

..from Dixons Newport... Yes.

..in November, 1976.

And you were her guarantor! Oh!

DAVID LAUGHS

Oh!

God, that was dangerous.

£189.

How sweet.

Well, that was one of the most
sensible things I did.

I set up this sort of pattern
of working

by which you worked with
a single person,

and then a relationship
between people

and what's called an
establishing shot.

I've seen it on the contact sheets,
yeah. On the contact sheets?

If you look at the John Ford movie
Stagecoach,

the film opens up with
a big landscape -

actually in Arizona, bizarrely -

and it's this little, tiny
stagecoach going...

That's an establishing shot!

It tells you where the film...

The film is taking place out there.

And then it goes in and it shows
you the stagecoach.

And then it goes in and you see
the close-up of John Wayne.

All I was doing was teaching them
how to do that

with any story you did

and what was good was she didn't
fight me on this.

Did she fight you on much stuff?

Yeah, nearly everything.

ELLA LAUGHS

But just because she was her.

She obviously felt most comfortable
if she felt she was having a say.

OK.

And I loved that.

You see, this is so typical of her,

in that she would seemingly be
this abrasive person,

but she was the person that was
keeping her files

and captioning and doing all that
back at home.

She was quite a firebrand,
I suppose,

and you could tell that straight
away.

You know, there was no
messing about.

It's reflected in her work,
isn't it?

Very gritty and very to the point.

But what I think impressed me was
that there must be

quite a few people that
she photographed

that would've said, "No," you know?

"I don't want to be photographed."

But there was no sort of barrier.

We just got completely taken over
by doing documentary work.

We shot about 20 rolls of film
a week,

and we had to go out and do
a portrait

of a worker or something.

So we'd all be going out
doing lollipop ladies

and street cleaners and going into
schools and everything.

And Tish went down and
went into pubs -

that was her home ground.

And I suppose that's what struck me
straight away,

that this was someone who had
an agenda.

At the end of the course
was the Queen's Jubilee...

ELLA LAUGHS

..so we all had to take pictures
to do with it.

At first, your mother was not
interested at all,

so we did spend a while sort of
persuading her to come round.

If you sort of worked down a list
of the things

that the Jubilee did,

street parties were obviously quite
a strong...

And you could break that down into,
then, posh street parties,

middle class street parties and
working class street parties,

and clearly that suddenly became
what in fact she did.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

So, how did Tish make you feel?

I think probably jealous to
a certain extent. Really?

Yeah, because, I mean, her work was
what the course was about.

One important thing that David
taught us -

you had to get empathy
with your subject -

her background obviously
helped her do that.

And she had an opportunity to show
the rest of the world, I think,

what life was really like.

She had a wonderful picture
of a couple,

a disadvantaged couple,
who were sleeping on the street

and it's so tender.

It is so tender.

She had a passion and she knew
what she wanted to do.

You can't teach somebody
how to have passion.

Were you in Newcastle when she came
back from Wales? Yeah. Yeah?

So did you notice a difference
in her then?

Absolutely, yes.

And there was so much going
on politically at that time

as well, wasn't there? Yeah.

You know, there was a whole
generation

of disenfranchised and disaffected
young people who had nothing.

And there were so many hurdles
on the way up

to her getting to that point.

The address alone -

the area we lived in was a no-no,
was a block.

It seemed that, OK,
she'd made a step

and gone beyond Elswick.

And I think she needed to learn
the technical things

and she needed to perfect that

and know how to create
a beautiful image,

to give it a nice finish,

but the actual content
she knew already

because she'd lived it.

RADIO: Last month,
Vickers management

announced its intention to close
its Scotswood factory

in Newcastle, putting almost
800 jobs at risk.

The workers launched a campaign
to oppose the closure

and issued a list of demands,

including clarification on how
the decision

to close the factory was made

and disclosure of what discussions
had taken place

with the Government for financial
support and new investment.

Yesterday morning, the workers took
over the factory, locking the doors

and gates to stage a sit-in protest.

TISH: I don't like the term
"community photographer" -

makes me think of middle class
trendies.

My use of photography
and my approach to it

is based on the conviction
that the fundamental value

of the medium is its capacity
to provide direct,

accurate and vital records
of the conditions,

events and experience that shape
our lives.

I've been documenting the human
effects of unemployment

and the unsuccessful campaign
against the closure

of Vickers' Scotswood works.

I hope it shows the effects
of unemployment on men

and its repercussions on society.

I think it's a strong exhibition
and can raise a few issues.

INDISTINCT SINGING

She was frightening. Frightening?

Your mother was a bit scary, yeah.
Was she?

Oh, yeah! But she was only
a tiny little thing!

I remember her telling me
that the management

had taken chisels to the last two
dates on the equipment

so that people couldn't say,

"Well, you know, no wonder
the bloody factory isn't efficient

"because you haven't actually
changed this since 1932."

Tish was firmly on the left -
unabashedly on the left -

and she did work for different
unions at different times -

not to get paid,
but just to help them.

She was committed.
She was a committed individual.

She was committed to working class
struggle,

which is continuous
and never-ending.

She came from a family with a fierce
reputation.

Her brothers were pretty tough,
you know?

You didn't argue with Tish Murtha

because you didn't want her brothers
coming after you, that's for sure!

Whoa, whoa, whoa! And certainly you
didn't want her dad chasing you.

Oh, God, no. Yeah.

OPERATIC MUSIC PLAYS

In the background of our life,

there was always this opera.

You know, all these romantic arias.
Yeah.

So that actually really
sort of heightened...

The tension? ..the tension.

There was all this, you know,
sort of aggro.

And you not knowing,
when you came in,

what you were going to have
to deal with.

I don't know how my nana did it!

Some of the things she put up with,

other people would've gone,
you know? Yeah.

In spite of having children.

But she stayed for us.

He was harsh with all his kids.

He was a man of his time,

that's all I'm going to say.

He was a man of his time.

How do you get over something
like that, Carl?

Even though we were scared of him,
we would challenge him. Yeah.

And it's always quite a dangerous
place to be

because you don't know where...

You know, you don't know
where the line is.

You know, I think he'd been quite
violent with my mother as well.

He would line everybody up and say,
"Right, everybody bend over."

Used to like to show people
his control...

..because he used to use the belt.

Well, I know my mam had...

She had some scars.

God, yeah.

She refused to cry... Yes.

..which I think...
Yeah, that's absolutely true.

..says a lot about my mam's...

Strength of character.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

You know, she wouldn't...
She wouldn't let him see.

My granda, he had the fight
with the council.

He was threatened
with rent arrears.

So you were going to be evicted?
Yeah. Yeah.

He said, "Well, that'll mean my kids
will end up in care," sort of thing.

And, you know, "OK, go ahead
and do it."

He called their bluff -
and they did it.

How old were you?

I was four. Gosh.

And Tish would've been six,
six and a half.

We were taken to this huge place

and told we had to be
very quiet and...

We went in and we were lined up,

and then the nuns all came and...
God!

..chose which ones they wanted.

You know, "I'll have this one.
I'll have that one."

So we were... We were separated.

They were cruel.
They were very cruel.

You know, horrible...

..quite violent women, they were.

And the funny thing about it,

and probably Tish is just the same,

I hadn't realised I was really
alive properly

until that moment, you know?

She was a very determined person.

She'd come from the school
of hard knocks, basically.

And I was involved with Side Gallery
at the time

and helped get a commission for Tish
to photograph juvenile jazz bands.

TISH: Although the regimentation
and discipline

of the Second World War and its
accompanying boom in industry

encouraged their decline,

jazz bands have re-entered the scene
and reestablish themselves

in new form,

mainly in the areas where economic
and social deprivation

are the norm.

These pictures were taken in
the West End of Newcastle,

an area categorised by and noted for
its inadequate facilities,

including everything from housing
to public telephones.

Children's leisure activities
are no exception.

And the jazz band reigned supreme,

as much a feature of the area
as the high-rise flats

and the local dole office.

In addition to the official band,

small groups of children who,
for various reasons,

are not eligible for membership -

the jazz band rejects,

improvised toy bands.

These often start out as an attempt
to emulate the big band

but involve the child's imagination

to almost the same extent as the
official band denies it.

To be accepted into and remain in
the juvenile jazz band,

a child must put aside
all normal behaviour

and become the plaything of
the failed soldier,

the ex-armed forces member
and their ilk.

Any spark of individuality
is crushed

by the military training imposed

until the child's actions resemble
those of a mechanical tin soldier

acting out the confused fantasies
of an older generation.

A recent move by local authorities
in Newcastle

gives jazz bands the official
seal of approval

by the allocation of grants
from local funds,

ensuring that, whatever the demand,
these poor substitutes

for creative recreational activity
are here to stay...

..with a little help from the
taxpayer.

She didn't like juvenile bands

because she thought it was
a complete waste of time

and energy to blow on a kazoo

when you could've learned
a musical instrument.

It used to drive her mad, you know?
She hated it,

but she knew it was part of the
culture of where she grew up.

It was kind of like the view that
this was somehow creative.

And Tish would go on and say,

"They're marching up and down there!
It's like some bloody neo-fascist!"

And, also, she kind of wasn't very
comfortable with the relationship

between the people who were training

the young girls wearing
extremely short skirts.

You know, and looking back on it,

it is a bit kind of bizarre,
isn't it?

But I remember writing a letter
to the Evening Chronicle.

Yeah, cos people all started
writing in,

calling her the "Demon Snapper".

And I think you wrote in to
defend her, didn't you?

Yeah, I did.

TISH: In reply to letters
in Family Extra

on April 4th,

I would like to make it quite clear
I am not attacking individuals

or specific juvenile jazz bands.

Having observed the growth
of these bands

throughout my childhood,

I feel I'm as entitled
as the next person

to draw my own conclusion based on
these experiences

and I find the photographic medium
a suitable vehicle

for their expression.

The amount of controversy generated
by the exhibition

has been as much a surprise to me
as to anyone else.

Since the discussion is now
under way,

I would like to invite any member of
the public to bring their views

to a debate scheduled for April 25th
at 7:30pm at the Side Gallery.

Hopefully the issue can be
thoroughly and fairly discussed.

Tish Murtha, the "Demon Snapper".

She didn't come across as a person
that you'd mess with...

Did she not? ..that
easily, you know?

No, she didn't mind upsetting people
if it brought the agenda forward,

that it was militaristic,

that most of these bands were run

by failed Sergeant Majors
from the Army,

bullying the kids into being
performing monkeys, really.

It's very important that people
from within communities

record their own community.

If there's any bleakness in my work,
it's bleakness that I've felt.

You know, the thing is, with myself
and your mam,

we were living in these
marginalised communities

and we were part of the community,
which was a rare thing at the time.

It was a different story
when you're actually

from the place that you're
working in.

You've got that mentality that
you're photographing

your people, really.

You're part of the tribe and you're
trying to do your best

to sort of represent the tribe
in the best way.

You know, when I first saw
your mam's jazz band work,

I was just amazed how close
she got into people.

She spent time with people,
which is obvious.

You've got to invest a lot of time
actually getting to know people

before you can get close to people

and where the camera becomes
the secondary thing.

You're just there as part
of the crowd

and you're documenting things.

She invested a lot of time
in that work.

She would spend months and months
photographing

these kids in Elswick.

There's the photograph of the guy
with the cigarette

hanging out his mouth, and he's
playing cards

and stuff like that. Yeah.

To take a photograph like that,
you've got to be there

for a long, long time to study
what's going on.

I would like to see the photographs
either side of that one, you know?

Tish used to work on a body of work
rather than just a single image.

Where you're building up a story,

you're building up the narrative

and you're bringing all these
characters in, you know?

And it builds up a wider picture

rather than just one
single portrait.

I'd been sitting on our wall
at the front of the house,

just entertaining the kids
as they went by.

All the kids seemed to run
over the road

and went in this direction.

And when we got there,
we saw the brothers

jumping out of the top window.

That type of activity was
all day long.

Nothing else for them to do.

That is reality.

That's the way it was.
That was your life?

And that's... We're entitled
to show it.

What were you thinking
about on that wall?

Do you have a favourite?

I love this one of you.
You're stunning.

Do you know, like...?

What was happening there, then?

Yeah.

There you are.

"Handle with care."

What did you want to do, then,
when you grew up?

You wanted to be an actor?

"Carl was admitted to John Marley
School in September, 1977.

"He is an honest young man

"and we have no hesitation
in recommending him

"for any position of trust.

"This letter is intended to be shown
to prospective employers."

And you were just...?

And you were sent out to just...?

It was just slave labour.

It was a Thatcherite scheme.

Take the numbers down of
the youth unemployed.

It was a Youth Opportunities scheme.

For your dole money,
you had to join a scheme

that would do voluntary work
here and there,

but that's all you were ever
going to be good for.

You can see why some of these kids
turned to crime.

They were forced onto these silly
schemes that led to nowhere.

"We'll stop your money if you don't
go on it."

And treating them like they were
little children or serfs, serfdom.

She was seeing her brothers,
particularly,

who literally they were a forgotten
generation of young people.

There was nothing for them.

You were often sent
for an interview,

but, as soon as they knew you were
from Elswick,

you didn't stand much chance.

Tish identified with
youth unemployment

because she was unemployed.

She knew exactly what was happening
to them, what a struggle it was.

She was so angry about it, you know,
and she wanted...

She record it. She recorded her
friends in their struggles,

these young kids who couldn't
get jobs, you know?

They'd left school without
any qualifications.

If they had qualifications,
what job were they going to get?

There were no jobs going.

Where there is discord,
may we bring harmony.

Where there is error,
may we bring truth.

Where there is doubt,
may we bring faith.

And where there is despair,
may we bring hope.

TISH: High levels of unemployment
have always been a hard

and constant feature of life in
the West End of Newcastle.

The area, built up in
the 19th century

on the basis of heavy engineering
and shipbuilding,

once at the very centre
of the economy,

has been contending with the
accumulated effects

of industrial decline and stagnation
for much of the century

and its physical symptoms
are apparent

in the area's general air of
dereliction and decay.

The official assessments place

the actual number out of work
in this area at 1,700 -

over double the rate in comparison
with the rest of Newcastle.

Approximately 1,100 of these
are under the age of 30.

Clearly a very serious situation.

Nevertheless, the Government's
Youth Opportunity Programme

obscures the real situation,
as those participating

are officially termed employed and
never enter the statistics.

Carl Murtha left school
in summer 1979

with a number of qualifications,
an excellent reference

and an ambition to work in some
capacity with a drama workshop.

His experiences since then
have convinced him

that he and hundreds of others
like him

will never be allowed to be
anything more

than part of the growing reserves
of a fully expendable

cheap labour market.

After six weeks of constant
searching for work to no avail,

Carl and his mate Cuddles,
from the same street,

received cards from the
careers centre

which informed them that,

"An exciting opportunity has arisen.

"Report to this office at once."

They were asked to hand in
these cards

and told to report to the city's
cleansing department,

where they were officially
introduced

to the joys of sweeping
the Newcastle streets -

one of the Manpower Services
Commission schemes of the YOP.

The main criticisms of both lads on
the scheme was not the small wage

of £20.55 for 40 hours per week
hard graft,

usually in atrocious weather
conditions,

but the physical and mental bullying
of the work's gaffers...

..one of whom had the strange habit

of sticking brush shanks through the
dungarees of the smaller built lads

and hanging them from the
nearest beam

until he had the curious
satisfaction

of seeing him burst into tears.

One lad in particular

was singled out for a stronger dose
of this treatment

is now receiving psychiatric help.

The chargehand responsible
for the bullying

has now joined the police force.

Young people already experiencing
the problems of adolescence

are left to cope alone
with a situation

that their educational training
has not prepared them for,

forcing them into a state of
premature redundancy

the minute they pass through
the school gates for the last time.

What is becoming clear to
the generation

now approaching maturity

is that our society has no solutions
for their problems,

can give no direction
to their lives.

Unemployment and all its associated
deprivations

are not only getting worse,

but new technologies threaten to
make the situation permanent.

Behind empty, pathetic talk

of increased leisure opportunities
and freedom from repetitive labour

stands the spectre of enforced
idleness,

wasted resources

and the squandering of a whole
generation of human potential.

This is vandalism on a grand scale.

Hidden in a smokescreen of cynical
doubletalk and pious moralising,

the shape of the future is
nevertheless

clearly discernible.

Cuts in social spending,

including unemployment benefits,

mean that the conditions under which
they must endure

their enforced idleness will
rapidly deteriorate

to become an intolerable burden,

the consequences of which
will be enormous.

No established channels exist
to represent

or even acknowledge the interests
of those involved,

and the failure of the
political parties

and even the trade unions

to contribute anything other
than platitudes

to the situation increases
the alienation

of the youth still further.

The intractable nature of
this problem,

intensified as it is by the
Thatcher government's

extreme free market philosophy

opens up a period of bitter
conflict,

as young people grow more
and more frustrated

and refuse to accept the logic
of an economic system

which deprives them of a productive
and meaningful future.

It must never be forgotten
that there are barbaric

and reactionary forces
in our society who,

while having no intrinsic appeal
to the youth themselves,

will not be slow to make
political capital

from an embittered youth

should the Labour movement fail
to give their search

for new social, economic and
political values

a positive and sustained direction.

Tish Murtha.

May, 1980.

ELLA: She was really angry.

Really?

Obviously you're her youngest
brother

and she loved you very much,

and she was so angry at what
was happening to you

and all of your friends,
do you know?

And the only thing she could do
to try and help you

was to shine a light.

I mean, because it got talked
about in Parliament.

So, did she break you?

Good.

It was this whole thing about
documentary photography

and it's about getting stuff
published -

as in, is it kind of like art
when it's in galleries?

How does it fit in?

You know, so much of it is whether
you do fit in

and whether you hit the...

Is it new? Is it different?

Are you authentic?

Are you gritty enough?

And your mother wasn't into that
type of stuff at all.

Do you know what I mean?

I think myself and Tish were more
or less seen as novelties, really,

both natives of the northeast.

And we were doing it for ourselves,
really.

Had I come from a different
background,

I probably would've had more
chance of breaking into

the so-called art world.

If you don't keep above a certain
level with exhibitions

and stuff like that,

it's very easy to drop out of it.

For someone like Tish,
who was uncompromising,

she would've found it very difficult
to toe the line.

You've just got to have
the determination

to see things through.

A lot of her good work was done
before any involvement

with anything like Side Gallery.

I got support from Northern Arts

and I'd had support from the Arts
Council of Great Britain.

I can't remember Tish getting
any support

from either of those bodies.

TISH: Dear Dennis.

I left the Side Gallery
for a number of reasons,

but mainly because of their peculiar
attitude towards me and my work.

They wanted to manipulate it to fit
their group philosophy

of "working class culture" and
"poverty is beautiful, man".

Oh, it's sickening.

On top of that, they wouldn't
provide adequate

darkroom facilities to do the work
they employed me to do.

And the boss' girlfriend was
getting really spiteful

and bitchy towards us,

damaging expensive photographic work
by bursting into the darkroom,

switching lights on accidentally
on purpose.

So, as they obviously thought
it was all a big joke

and thought I should just be
grateful

for any situation they offered,

I told them where to stick their job

and what an offensive, incestuous
little clique they were.

Anyway, I won my case against them

and got six weeks full dole benefit
backdated.

Financially, things are a bit rough
at the moment,

but I'm a damn sight happier
out of their clutches.

This photography world and those
who operate it

really make you sick at times.

ELLA: She moved to London -
I think in '82.

Yeah. I think. I think so.

Karen -

she was a dancer, wasn't she,
from Canada?

Yeah.
They were living in a shared house

and my mam had got this commission
from The Photographers Gallery

to do this project on Soho
and sex workers.

And Karen was working in Soho,
so they worked together,

they collaborated. Yeah.

TISH: Dear Marilyn,

Karen and I had tea with three male
prostitutes last Sunday

in a semidetached house
in Wimbledon,

where we had cucumber sandwiches
with the crusts removed,

Earl Grey tea and indulged in
nothing but polite conversation.

It was most bizarre.

Anyway, we managed to behave
ourselves

and have been invited back.

Best wishes.

Tish Murtha.

PS. Soho going well.

Was working all night last Tuesday,

but was chased off by a transvestite
with an axe.

We'll try again because I need
the money.

I think I met your mum in London,

in Camden,

through Karen.

And she was featured
in the nightlife,

sort of Soho.

So we were sort of just
out of college

and just starting to work
as an actor,

and then these things we sort
of developed

so that we had some
sort of income.

We just clicked. Had a good eye.

I knew she could take
a good picture,

if you know what I mean.

And then your mum used to come
with us on the circuit,

and she used to meet the girls.

The circuit was about a dozen
strip clubs,

where all the girls would work.

So it was Mayfair and Soho,

and you'd start about eight,
nine o'clock

and finish about two in the morning.

Wow.

You'd do ten minutes ten times
or 12 times a night.

A lot of them weren't licensed,

but they'd have the punters drinking
non-alcoholic lager,

not knowing that they were drinking
non-alcoholic lager.

And then sometimes you'd go in
and do the act again

after you'd done the circuit

and there'd still be the same punter
there with the hostess. God!

But the actual exhibition
went down very well,

and a lot of the girls
on the circuit came.

It was a celebration

and the pictures were astounding.

It was like an intimate look
into the other side of Soho.

So there were prostitutes,
strippers, punters,

but nothing was posed. No.

I think even there was one of Karen
outside the theatre,

sort of standing against this light,

and it sort of summed up...

It was a rainy night in
the West End, you know?

But people still worked.

MUSIC: Flamenco Sketches
by Miles Davis

She was rushing around and...

I mean, she was... You can see there
how skinny she was. Mm.

Do you know? And she said she'd gone
to the doctors,

and she thought she was dying.

And the doctor had recommended
that she drink...

I think it was half a pint
of Guinness every night.

So she was drinking this Guinness

and she wasn't really feeling
any better.

She'd gone back to this doctor
and she was saying,

"I think I'm dying."

And it turned out she was, like...

Oh, pregnant? ..pregnant with me.

Your mum got bigger and bigger
with you

and we agreed that I could
photograph your birth

and I set up shop in the
labour room...

I brought... ..with her and Jimmy.

I brought some contact sheets
that you made... Oh, right.

..to have a look at.

They're so beautiful.

I can see why she wanted you
to take them.

I mean, this...

That's, like... You emerging.

..wow.
With your little dark hair.

For birth pictures -
they're significant,

but they're not very pretty.

She loved them.

I think my absolute favourite...

..and it's, like, where...
Oh, yes.

..she's waiting to meet me.

And I just think the lighting...
The lighting was terrific.

She was so proud of them.
Well, it was a lovely moment

and it was good that your dad
came along

because Jimmy holding Tish,
going ooh!

I'm glad that, you know,
she had some support.

I'm glad you were there.

All the time your mum was pregnant,

she knew she was going
to have a boy.

You were going to be called Nimrod.

Why?! Well, Nimrod Variations.

Elgar, you know?

Her favourite classical musician.

But then you came out and you were
a little girl.

LAUGHTER

TISH: It's nine o'clock.

It's very late for a baby girl
to be awake.

She should settle down now,

or she'll never wake up for Ramona
and Dennis.

Goodnight, dear Ella.

I give you my heart.

And then, once you were born,

you more or less became a sort of
fixture in our social life.

And it was Tish, and then Tish
and Ella.

And Tish and Ella was almost
one word. Yeah.

Tish and Ella against the world.

And I just then became your
fairy godfather.

I didn't want to be your godfather

because I'm not particularly
religious,

so that's why I decided to be
your fairy godfather.

And you were in and out of
the darkroom with her

because I can remember,
when you were tiny,

you used to watch the photos and I
used to watch her develop stuff.

It was magical, wasn't it? Yeah.

I saw a statistic recently.

80% of women are in education
about photography,

but then, actually working in it,

it's only something like 15%.

And it's just interesting
to try and understand

why so many women can't make...

I mean, it's a very
male-dominated...

Yeah. Well, I think...

I know I could have and I was
capable of doing it,

but I couldn't with having a child

because I couldn't work out
how to look after...

You know, I couldn't afford
childminders.

It just seems, though,
like it's always women.

It's always women who have to
sacrifice their careers.

I feel...

The time in my mam's life, you know,
that she'd moved to London,

she was having that exhibition
in The Photographers Gallery,

and she was on the cusp of huge
things.

And obviously I wasn't planned,

and I arrived!

And I've always felt really
responsible, you know?

Because it's difficult. You can't...

With a kid in tow, when you're
a single mam...

No, but...the other side is that
Tish was given offers,

opportunities. I mean, everyone
recognised her talent.

I mean, I got her a job teaching -
lasted half a day.

LAUGHTER

Oh, God!

She wouldn't... She couldn't
compromise.

She had to be a photographer.

You know, like, the Side often tried
to sort of pull her in,

but she was really against them
and feeling they were...

She was always suspicious
that people were,

you know, using her. Yeah.

She had been treated badly
by certain people. Yeah.

And I think it does make it...

It makes things difficult, you know?

She was suspicious
and I just do feel...

..very responsible.

I mean, I didn't ask to be born,

but I think I must have changed
her life irreversibly.

You were the best thing she
could've had. Do you think?

Yeah. Was she happy?

She loved you so much.

You were... You were the bee's
knees.

You could do everything.

You were so musical. Yeah.

She'd drown you with jazz.

Well, I'm named after Ella
Fitzgerald, aren't I?

Do you know? Like, it's...

She made me feel like the
most special person.

Oh, yeah. No, you were.

You were magic.

RECORDING OF ELLA: So, after play,
I'm just gonna say who this is.

It is Ella Murtha.

But, first,
I'm going sing Twinkle Twinkle -

that's my favourite song.

And I was the star in the
Christmas play, and I had to sing

Twinkle Twinkle,

so I hope you enjoy it.

And I am a very good singer,
my mummy says.

And here it is...

SINGS ERNESTLY:
# Twinkle, twinkle little star

# How I wonder what you are

# Up above the world so high

# Like a diamond in the sky

# Twinkle, twinkle little star

# How I wonder what you are. #

She suddenly took you back up north.

I think she was fed up of -

it sounds silly - of being poor.

She used to tell me
she'd go down to Camden Market

at the end of the day and pick up
vegetables off the floor and things.

We went back to Elswick
and she was taking photos again.

She was doing a whole series -

it was Elswick Revisited.

The area had changed drastically
from the youth unemployment pictures

just, you know,
a mere ten years before.

Well, not even ten years before.

And, for a time,
I think we were happy.

I mean, I don't know...

I don't know whether
Tish was ever really happy.

Well, she was very driven as well
and photography was her life.

But I think every so often someone
would sort of give her stuff,

or money, or things came her way.

She was a good friend and she was
very good to me at times, you know,

because you go
through miserable times

and she'd sort of spark me up.

We had some really good times.

TISH: Hello, David.

I have a Northern Arts Award
for 2,500 quid, paid in instalments,

which is basically to explore racial
tension in this area.

It's a very tough one to crack,
this.

But I'm taking snaps again,
which is good.

That's another good one.
I don't know...

Oh, this is interesting!

This boy here, who's got his back
to us... Yeah.

..he contacted me via Instagram

and he said,
"Oh, I think I met your mam in sort

"of like the late '80s
in Elswick Park.

"And she came over and she started
asking us about our views

"and why we felt like that."

And he said she was the first adult
who had actually listened to him

and wanted to...

..know how he felt.

And he said that she talked to them
about removing the emotion

from a subject and looking
at it from other point of views,

and he said it changed his life
and he took that into his life.

Was she taking pictures
right at the end?

The last pictures she was taking
will have been these.

This is when she was in
Middlesbrough,

so she spent a lot of time
at Linthorpe Cemetery

and it's quite bizarre,
looking at all these pictures,

considering
what was just around the corner.

When she found it, she was at peace.
It was very serene.

"Here is your angel
in her summer finery."

I always
like the fact that she wrote

something on the back of pictures,
like a little postcard.

When I see her handwriting,
like, I can imagine her voice.

Yeah. I feel like she's here,
do you know, like...?

It's unusual to see colour, isn't
it? Yeah!

But she, she had to do
colour in the later days, though,

because, after the credit crunch
and stuff, she couldn't get hold

of any of the chemicals, so she...

She couldn't get black and white
film either. No, no.

So... She always had trouble
getting black and white film.

TISH: Central Middlesbrough is
a culturally diverse community,

which has been portrayed unfairly
to my eyes

as an area of crime,
prostitution and drugs.

A community which is at ease
with itself in so many ways

is currently threatened
by redevelopment plans,

implementation of which is already
seeing the beginnings

of the demolition process.

Originally built to house
the workers

from the local steel industry
in the late 19th century,

as well as the descendants
of these families,

the community includes Asian,
African, Arab, Chinese, Turkish

and Eastern European populations.

I would like to build
a celebration of the community.

Initial work has explored the local
Mela in the restored Albert Park...

..the transformation of the narrow
back yards into flowering gardens.

Young mothers...

..life on the streets and
in some of the meeting points.

My approach is informal, generating
an understanding of what I'm doing

by giving copies of my photographs
to the people with whom I'm working.

I'm only seeking funding to support
the cost of materials and equipment

that would both enable this process
and produce exhibition prints

through which a full celebration
of the community can be achieved.

Childcare responsibilities have made
the pursuit

of my documentary practice difficult
over recent years.

My work depends on investment
of time, building of relationships

of trust that allow
access to the different parts

of the community
and to individual lives.

Through the development
of this project, I will hopefully

generate renewed interest in my work
as a documentary photographer.

Whatever happens to the community
of central Middlesbrough, the work

will stand as a celebratory
record of a diverse community

which has found ways of living
together in relative harmony.

Through the validation of these
different lives, this community

and possibly other marginalised
communities, may feel empowered

to challenge decision-making
processes that all too often

ignore their views.

The impact was what you see
there, that is the impact.

That's the evidence,
that's all you want.

If it's good enough
for us to live like that,

then that was
the price worth paying.

Mind you, we haven't come very far.

We've been unfortunate to have

the wrong people
to look after our interests.

They've failed again.

We always use money as a weapon.

But there's a lot of people
who actually control

that particular funding, maybe
send it in the wrong directions.

Me mam's absolute favourite...

It is!

That's you!

Yeah.

Yous look tight.

Are you pleased that she took them?

Yous just never stood a chance,
did you? None of yous.

I mean, no wonder me mam was angry.

How had older Tish changed from the
young Tish that yous met in Elswick?

We'd missed each other for quite
a few years -

would it be 20 or 30 -
I don't know, since she came out?

Probably the last time was when you
were a little one

and she came out to see us. Yeah.

In terms of like her personality,
had she changed?

Not really. She was...
Maybe she hadn't got the feistiness

that she had when she was younger.

No, she had that edge
when she was young

and it was, her, I think...

She'd had like a fire in her belly,
didn't she?

That's right. I think it had been
extinguished, I think,

by life and just surviving.

After Middlesbrough, she moved
to Elmhurst, and then from there

she was close to me in Teesside.

But then the camera,
there was something wrong with it

and it was fogging up. There was
something wrong with the back.

Well, it had had a life.

LAUGHTER

I mean...

Yeah. I mean, extraordinary.

She battered the hell out of it
for God only knows how long.

She got her money's worth out of
it, though. Oh, she certainly did.

They were great cameras, though.

I mean, she should got
that because of Don McCullin.

Don McCullin used to
cart them into battlefields

and all kinds of things.

TISH: Happy Christmas,
Eileen and Ali.

Hope 2010 is a
great year for you all.

Thought you might like
a copy of Photoworks.

The article by David
Maller is nauseating claptrap,

but I like what the editor Gordon
did with me photographs.

Thank you for the shoes.

They should fit OK.

My situation at the moment
is a bit rough.

One week I eat, next week I don't.

I am moving, only four streets away,
but it overlooks the park.

Not by any means perfect, but it'll
do until the boat comes in.

See you anon.

Love, Tish.

This new welfare state...

..must encourage work,
not dependency.

We are giving young people

and the long-term unemployed
the opportunity.

A £3.5 billion investment programme.

We are adding today the option
of self-employment as part

of the New Deal,

but I think it right and fair
that they have to take

one of the options on offer.

We want single mothers with school
age children

at least to visit a Jobcentre,
not just stay at home

waiting for the benefit cheque every
week until the children are 16.

I remember the dole were giving her
a hard time at one point.

They wanted her to work in a factory
or something,

and she just wasn't having it
and I was sort of supporting her

and saying, "No, stand up for
yourself."

It was the time...
Do you remember New Deal?

Oh, God, yeah. All of that.

She did actually get sent and...

She was sent to a meat-processing
place.

But she was so tired because
they were doing night shifts,

they used to come pick her up
in this bus thing,

and she was hallucinating.

She was just so tired.

And the smell, because, I mean,
she was a vegetarian and... I know.

Like, it was...

She had so much
talent and she just couldn't make

a living from photography.

No. She just couldn't do it.

TISH: Patricia Anne Murtha, CV.

I'm an honest, reliable
and trustworthy person

with the ability to work on own
initiatives

or as an effective team member.

Having previously
completed college training

in documentary photography,

I am now seeking a position
where I am able to fully utilise

all of my skills and knowledge.

Thriving on new challenges
and responsibility...

..I'm versatile and adaptable

and can successfully transfer
my existing skills and knowledge

to new situations.

Given the opportunity...

..I'm confident that I will prove
to be an asset

to any future employer.

During my spare time

I enjoy walking to keep fit.

To relax, I listen to music
and read a variety of books.

I like gardening
and grow my own fruit and veg.

I'm also a keen photographer...

..and develop my own photos.

January 14th, 2013.

Got an email number as requested
by the Jobcentre.

Made inquiries at Aldi Chichester
for position of store assistant.

Have no retail experience,
so response not very positive.

January 22nd, sent CV and letter
to the Punjab Kitchen Ltd,

Elden Street.

February 3rd, spoke
to Mandy about waiting staff.

OVERLAPPING: February 8th,
checked the Universal Job site.

February 13th,

also wrote to Beebe's Coffee Shop...

OVERLAPPING: February 14th, sent
CV to Sodexo... February 16th...

..visited various retail outlets at
the Gateshead Retail Centre to make

inquiries about vacancies.

She was living, like, hand-to-mouth.

Like, I helped her where I could,

but I was on maternity leave.
Of course you were.

Do you know? She spent her
final few weeks traipsing around,

trying to get jobs in a kitchen.

She was terrified to turn
the heating on.

And DO you know, the worst thing
of all?

Like it was, did she heat or did she
eat?

Yes. And, when she died,
I ended up getting a cheque for £100

because she'd been religiously
putting this £20... Yeah.

..on, but terrified
to have the heating on

and she was in credit.

You know, she could have had
the heating on, but she felt

so worthless and like she
didn't deserve to have a warm house.

And it's just like... Oh, Ella!

But, you know, when she was in that
coma, right...?

I remember.

I rang them because...

SHE EXHALES

Just take a breath.

..when I should have been looking
after her and worried about her,

I was so stressed out that she was
going to get sanctioned

while she was in the hospital
and she was going to lose her house.

When she's in a coma? Yeah.

So I rang them because I couldn't
get any sense out of her.

I said, "Did you sign on on Friday?"

And she, she just...

She'd...

She just wasn't making any
sense at all,

which I now know is, do you know,
what was going on in her brain.

And so I rang them and I said,

"Look, me mam, she's had a brain
haemorrhage, she's in a coma.

"I don't know whether she came and
signed on on Friday, but obviously

"please don't sanction her."

And they just refused to talk to me.

They refused to tell me
if she'd been. Really?

They said, "It's against data
protection.

"We cannot discuss that with you."

She was just a number.
We're all just numbers to them.

But, you know,
like, she was so special.

She was... She was so talented...

She was. ..and they didn't care.

I just like to come here because
it feels like going full circle.

Yeah. You know, she was born here.

Yeah, she was.

Do you know? Like, her happy
childhood memories are here.

We had happy times here,
on this bench!

Yeah. Oh, yeah.
It had to be this one.

It had to be this one.

Tish's work,

I remember when I first looked
at it, remember the kind of thrill

of what photography was
and what it could do.

They clearly weren't those sort
of explorer pictures.

You know, you feel when someone's
exploring a culture, when someone's

exploring working class culture
and they've just stepped in

and they're going to step out,
back to wherever, later.

Just parachute in, parachute back
out. Parachute back out.

And they've got their pictures
of people, kids looking slightly

grubby and stuff like this.
This felt like my childhood.

And it became clear when
I met your mum, when I learned

more about the work and talked
to her more about the work,

that it was because that was her,

and she'd made something which was
so clear and so honest and so raw.

She was allowed to be invisible
in a way that someone

from the outside wouldn't be
because that was her life.

Now your mum's work is central
to people's thinking about...

..documentary photography
from that period.

It's not peripheral any more
and that's...

That's something, innit?

So, you know you've been helping me
with the Clary and the Tate.

Do you know how you set
up your darkroom? Yes.

I was going to ask whether you would
like to print them.

Oh, God, I'd love to.

I would love you to print
them for the Tate collection.

That's a really nice thing. Erm...

Yeah. God, yeah.

MUSIC: Vissi d'arte, Tosca
by Puccini

To actually say that Tate Britain
have acquired me mam's work

for their permanent collection,
I mean, the whole thought of that

is just...

It's quite overwhelming, really.

Think she'd have loved
to have seen her work on the wall

and, do you know, be recognised
for just how talented she was.

A lot of people say to me, like,
"That could have been me.

"That could have been my brother.
That could have been us."

Pictures of real people,
real stories, real lives

and for it to be recognised

because, you know, me mam's work
was brilliant

and I mean, I'm biased, but for
other people to recognise that

and for Tate to recognise that...

..what more could you want?

MUSIC: Vissi d'arte, Tosca
by Puccini