Volunteer Reflections: Roger Manktelow

 

Hello, I’m Roger Manktelow born Eastbourne 1947. I live in Wadsley with Janet, my partner of 40+ years. Amongst other things I am a retired social worker and Guardian ad Litem. In my life I’ve worked as an apprentice telephone engineer, radar test engineer, manager of the Hillsborough Development Trust, I still retain a connection with the Hillsborough Walled Garden. I am also a professional indexer.

I came to Sheffield University in 1971 to do a degree in Political Theories and Institutions and later a CQSW. In 1987 I gained an MPhil at Cranfield Institute of Technology.

When I was looking for some additional voluntary work I told VAS that I would like something that reflected my earlier experiences, much of which involved research, analytical work, and problem solving. I thought that something in a library or archive might be suitable but nothing of that nature was available. The OUR Broomhall project however stood out for me as something I could help with although, at the time, I wasn’t sure how. So initially I offered to index the transcripts, work that I began but is still a work in progress. In the process however a number of themes emerged from the transcripts e.g. Carnival, Housing Action Area, Homework Club etc, I then extracted specific references to these. At the same time I began to write profiles of individual interviewees, but got only so far with this when I was asked to extract details about the Broomhall Centre from the transcripts for the proposed book. This I did and then wrote a narrative linking the various themes previously identified. I was then asked to develop an historical timeline for Broomhall itself. This I have researched and am in the process of writing an historical narrative, from the earliest known reference to the area in 1329 to the present day, which is almost complete.

My interests include politics, history and archaeology, I recently gained the Certificate in Archaeology at TILL, voluntary work and creative writing, I have several published full-length plays to my name. Currently I am also an editor for Sheffield Talking Newspapers.

I have found the work for the OUR Broomhall project interesting and instructive and have been made to feel very welcome by the team.