Are you Lancastrian: a questionnaire

Are you Lancastrian? A Questionnaire

I’m in the middle of writing a book about Lancashire history, culture and identity. It will be called Lancastrians: Mills, Mines and Minarets and will be published by Hurst next year (see www.hurst.com). It covers a vast range of subjects including work, play, housing and health, education, art and literature, music, religion and politics.  It includes the Lancashire émigrés (Russia, America, Australia etc.) and also the ‘new Lancastrians’ who have settled here in the last 250 years. By ‘Lancashire’ I mean the historic county, pre-1974 boundary changes. I have a concluding chapter looking at the future of Lancashire and whether the idea of a ‘Lancashire identity’ remains strong, including in places that were ‘taken out’ in 1974: Greater Manchester, Merseyside and ‘Lancashire north of the sands’. If you could take a few minutes to fill in this questionnaire I’d be really grateful. I will ‘anonymise’ any references to individuals so if quoting I’ll say ‘Andrew from Darwen said..’ or ‘Sunita from Bolton said…’ etc, unless you are happy for me to quote your full name.  Give it a go – and I’ll need responses by September 27^th please. It’s a word document you can continue over the page.

The Questions……

1. Your name (first name only if preferred) and age  (if poss.)………………………………………………………….
2. Where were you born?…………………………………………………..
3. Where do you live now?…………………………………………………
4. Do you regard yourself as Lancastrian? YES/NO
5. If not, what is your prime identity, e.g. English, Mancunian, European, Northern etc?:
6. Whom would you say are the five greatest Lancastrians? (feel free to say why!)
7. Do you think ‘Lancashire’ should be re-created as a single administrative unit? YES/NO If YES, what areas should be included………………………
8. Should more political power be devolved to Lancashire/The North? YES/NO
9. Yorkshire has its own political party (The Yorkshire Party yorkshireparty.org.uk). Should have Lancashire have something similar? YES/NO. If YES, feel free to say what its objectives should be:
10. Any further general comments:

Your name and address (not for publication, ditto the following)

Email

Phone

Many thanks for your help. I will keep you updated on progress with the book. If you don’t want to receive further emails, please say here………………………

Please email this back as a word document to paul.salveson@myphone.coop (preferred) or print out and post to: 109 Harpers Lane, Bolton BL1 6HU, Lancashire