In 2018 members of Bury U3A set out to explore how the American Civil War affected the area around Bury. This study was initiated by the Greater Manchester Network of U3As 'Cottonopolis' active learning project. Consequently our research group in Bury U3A was called the Cottonopolis Group.
We decided to focus as far as possible on the specific effect of the crisis in the Bury area. A lot has been written about the bigger picture, but nothing appears to have been written specifically about Bury and its surrounding townships during this period.
Our group members chose aspects to pursue and several members joined together to interpret their findings through textile craft. This involved visiting the National Trust collections at Gawthorpe Hall at Padiham.
We also made a joint visit to Bury Archives, followed by numerous individual visits there and to other regional archives.
We decided to focus as far as possible on the specific effect of the crisis in the Bury area. A lot has been written about the bigger picture, but nothing appears to have been written specifically about Bury and its surrounding townships during this period.
Our group members chose aspects to pursue and several members joined together to interpret their findings through textile craft. This involved visiting the National Trust collections at Gawthorpe Hall at Padiham.
We also made a joint visit to Bury Archives, followed by numerous individual visits there and to other regional archives.