Searching for the Mucky Kids

Today I went to Burley to try work out what if anything was left of the area where my dad took the Mucky Kids photos. Very little remains apart from one wall next to some stone stairs and the area is now a pretty wild hillside.

We met and interviewed a very helpful woman called Janet, who lived in the area in 1970. She gave us a lot of great background detail on the people and place where the photos were taken, 40 years ago.

Here are a few photos to show what the area looks like now in 2010. They're just snapshots, but they show what is left of the Rosebank area.

Today was very useful for establishing the history of the houses featured in the Mucky Kids photos. According to a sign that was erected on the Rosebank, the houses were privately built between 1877 and 1883. We were also told that they were cleared and demolished over a very short period from around 1969 to 1971.

We have also discovered that some of the families that lived here were offered houses in the Gipton area of Leeds, so that may be another place for us to start looking to find what happened to the kids. Currently our information suggests that some of the children in the photos may have been from local gypsy families, who lived in the area at the time, although this is not based on any definite facts. If they were gypsies, this really could turn into a difficult job to find them now.

It's an interesting project, and so I have started filming the process of finding the kids. This seems to be the best way to collect as much information that people can tell us. I'm hoping this documentary will provide a good record for a lot of the social history from the Burley area in this period.

I have found out the names of some of the local community groups and will be asking them to see if they can help us in our project. Again, we're very interested to talk to anyone who lived in this part of Leeds in the late 1960s or early 1970s.

We'd especially love to talk to anyone who lived in the Rosebank area, namely Rosebank street, Rosebank Grove, Rosebank Crescent, Rosebank Mount, Rosebank View, Rosebank Terrace, Rillbank Road, Rillbank Lane, Rillbank Avenue, Rillbank View, Rillbank Street, Rillbank Place, Rillbank Grove, Westfield Road and Belle Vue Road.

Email: kelvin@kelvinjay.co.uk

Tel: 07976 318245

The Mucky Kids Project

Burley, Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK. October 1970. Photos by Ken Wakefield. Click here to see the rest.

My father, Ken Wakefield, went to an area of Leeds that was due to be cleared in the autumn of 1970. He was there to create a photographic record of the houses that were to be demolished. To his surprise though, there were many young families and kids still living in these houses.

He wandered the streets taking photos of kids who were obviously dirty and had been playing in the derelict houses. Despite the cold October weather, some were not wearing shoes. Playing with broken toys and on broken bikes, the kids seem to accept their surroundings as normal.

Thirty five years later, in 2005, we came across the negatives and some of the original prints. For the last four years I've been wanting to really do something to share these wonderful images. And so I have  begun The Mucky Kids Project.

The first aim of the project is to hold a print exhibition of the photos in 2010, the 40th anniversary of the photos being taken. We will publicise it within the Leeds area and hope that it will be possible to trace some of these children who will now probably be in their mid 40s. Please take a look at The Mucky Kids Photos and see if you recognise anyone.

If it is possible to trace some of these people, then I would like to photograph them, perhaps with their own children, and we'd like to find out what happened to them after what appears to be a very difficult start in life.

A secondary aim of the project is to go back to the Burley area and see how conditions are for the people living there now. 

I would like to create a set of images that tell the story of the people currenly living in Burley and also be able to hold a future exhibition where the two sets of photographs can be viewed, compared and contrasted.

So we are appealing to anyone who may know or recognise these children to get in touch with us. The photos were taken in Burley, specifically the streets Rosebank Mount, Rosebank View and Westfield Road.

To date, only Westfield Road still survives. But if you lived near there or know somebody who did in the late sixties or early seventies, who maybe able to help us find these kids, then please contact us.

Email: kelvin@kelvinjay.co.uk

Tel: 07976 318245