Farewell, farewell

Yesterday was my last day as an Opening Up Archives trainee with the Greater Manchester Record Office. I saw the advert for this National Archive sponsored scheme in the Guardian over Christmas 2012. I had a full time job in a beautiful place, Haddon Hall in Derbyshire, literally on my doorstep. But I knew if I didn't apply for this one year post in archives, in Manchester, I would regret it for ever. So I threw caution and my fate to the winds and filled in the application. In February I was invited for interview and was offered the job. The Marshall Street location, on the scruffier shore of the Northern Quarter and Ancoats, couldn't have been further from my working surroundings at Haddon. What would it be like to step out of that door on a dark winter's evening? Could I hack a return to Manchester? These concerns became insignificant when snow fell at the end of March 2013, just as I was about to start. Buxton, where I had intended to catch the train, was cut off for days. Snow was still piled high in drifts created by the snow ploughs at the beginning of April. I arranged to travel over to Manchester the day before I started work to be sure of arriving on time. Things settled into a pattern. The commute to work using the Hope Valley line introduced me to old and new friends. The archive collection introduced me to familiar material I had brought into a different archive in the early 1980s. It also allowed me to explore stories from the archives I will never forget.Old friends appeared at every turn. New friends and colleagues added to the enjoyment.Then I got the offer of a base in Manchester for the winter, in a 1930s apartment block I had fantasised about living in for years. New opportunities opened up at every turn. Great connections with Melanie Smith of Mudkiss, leading to writing music reviews . Wonderful rekindled friendships at Hardy's Well. Finally, in the last few weeks, I was caught up in the reopening of Central Library, a building that represents so much that is good about Manchester and means so much to so many generations of people who have called Manchester their home. More on that in another post. Yesterday one aspect of my homecoming came to an end. Tomorrow I will leave the lovely studio flat that has been my second home for the last six months. It has been wonderful to come home to Manchester, to feel so stimulated and yet so relaxed in the city that always had great significance for me in the past. I wasn't sure how we would fit together again this time last year. Now I know that we will never be apart! I don't know what the future will bring, but I'll never doubt my identity as a Mancunian. This mysterious little staircase in Central Library seems to symbolise my mood. I'm not sure where I'm heading, but thanks to my year in Manchester, I know it's going to be intriguing.