The Mucky Kids Project
Tuesday, March 30, 2010 at 05:53AM 
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
Reader Comments (1)
Just want to say what fantastic shots these are. They just capture 'the moment'.... it's a shame that very little has changed and that the housing of our nation is still in such turmoil and likely to get worse before it improves!!! I love photography and hope to be able to capture the same sentiments of today's children (given the current PC climate, that will be an almost impossible task......) thank you for sharing..... the song is very apt.