Personal memories of ordinary people give us a unique and powerful view of life in the past. These reminiscences of Rochdale people were collected by Helen Caffrey in the closing months of the twentieth century. She interviewed a group of Rochdale residents about their childhood, schooldays and working life – the good times and the not so good. Extracts from these interviews have been transcribed onto the page so that the memories can be read as they were told, in the subjects’ own words. The resulting book forms a timely record of everyday life in the town as seen through the eyes of the people who grew up there.

There are fond memoriesof street games, church and chapel events, carnivals and shopping but people also recall the hardships of war and trying to live on a low income before the advent of the Welfare State. Rochdale Voices is a unique record for the historian but it will also appeal to anyone who has ever lived in Rochdale. For older readers it will be a nostalgic journey but for the younger ones it will be an insight into a world that might have been familiar to their parents and grandparents but will seem remote from their own experiences of the town today.