Margaret

Margaret showing Smokey's prize winning ribbons

One of my latest projects and one of my favourite ones so far is a five picture story piece. We got given two words fragile and touch, with these we would choose a subject we thought represented these words. For fragile I kept thinking about old people and how they're on their own towards the end years of their lives. Most of them have illnesses and aren't visited at all by relatives. I know this as both my grandparents were like this and my nan still is, although we visit her, she's on her own and has many illnesses but refuses help.

I wanted to show how fragile old people can be and that the public should care for them as much as they do children and pets etc. I was going to photograph my own nan but she wasn't comfortable with that so I got into contact with a few other old people I knew of. The one that came through was Margaret my friends nan, she is a lovely lady who lives on her own in a three bedroom house.

Margaret still plays the piano even though she has Arthritis
and has had to change the way she moves her fingers

As soon as I met Margaret she was so welcoming and offered me tea, biscuits and sweets. I explained to her what my project was for and that I just wanted her to relax, watch the tv & tell me about her life as I took photos. She was completely fine with this and introduced me to her cat Smokey who came trotting down the stairs, he was beautiful and she told me that he was a prize winning cat but now they're both too old to compete. She told be about her other cat Tinker that died quite old which shows she looks after her cats really well. I asked her whether she'd like to move into a bungalow or smaller house and she said unfortunately she can't afford to and she had this house with her late husband and kids, so too many good memories for her.

Margaret lives in her three bed house with just w her cat Smokey,
she had another cat Tinkerwho died recently. 

Aside from being on her own in a big house, Margaret also suffers from Arthritis quite badly and finds it hard to climb up and down her stairs. Even though she has this illness she still carries on with her hobbies like gardening, collecting trinkets and playing piano, she told me that she has had to change her way of playing as her fingers cramp up and swell. I asked her if she could play a tune and she was brilliant. Margaret told me of stories where she used to play piano for pantos in Weedon (a little village) and has been playing all her life.

I think it's incredible that although she lives on her own and has this illness she still lives her life and keeps up with her hobbies, most old people today just watch their tv and sleep but she makes sure she still has interests. I think Margaret is fragile physically but mentally i think she's strong.

An old photograph of herself and her late husband Jim