This week the group of me, Ashleigh and Poppy went again to Lincoln Archives to research about a girl that had died in Lincoln during the war. We had next to no information about this girl at all. I was apprehensive at first, having recently joined the duo to collaborate on this piece and I didn’t know what the archives would even have about a specific death during this time period and if it was significant enough to link it to the Grandstand.
I however was soon to proven extremely wrong. We arrived and was given access to a folder in which we crowded around. Whilst flicking through the various pieces of paper and old new’s articles preserved in the filing one article just spilled every detail we needed to do this. Entitled “Tragedy at Highfield Avenue” it told of an event that occurred on the 11th June 1943 at 25 Highfield Avenue at approximately 5pm. It told of the death of 12 year old Margaret Elaine Marriott after the Lancaster MK III bomber, Code UGS, No.Ed 833 of the 1654 heavy construction unit tipped it’s wing on a telegraph pole on the street and crashed and blew into flames whilst it was on a training flight exercise practicing three engined flight over Lincoln. It hit 22 – 24 Highfield Avenue but caused further damage on the aforementioned road and Dixon Street. Her parent’s were working at their allotment at the time of the accident, And her brothers, aged 3 and 4, were rescued. If that wasn’t specific enough the article also went on to give us further information involving Margaret.
She attended South Park high school, and was reportedly popular with her classmates as the article says her classmates were visibly upset she had died. She was also buried at St. Helen’s Churchyard here in Lincoln, written on her grave was “Theres a friend for little children”. Safe to say we had hit the analytical jackpot. Here we had the tragic tale of a young girl’s life cut short due to a horrific accident. The girl now had a name, a personality, a family, friends and a school. She wasn’t just some nameless enigma we had gotten ourselves excited over. This new information has now became the basis of our performance in respect to her. Our idea is to track her journey from her house to her school then to her grave. We then however plan to bring her to the Grandstand.
Questions rise as to why we would bring her back here in the first place, surely it’s unrelated and serves no purpose to the site?
Well, despite me trying to avoid the macabre aspect of it, the plans for the Grandstand to be turned into a morgue during World War 2. So, hypothetically, if the plans did go through her body would have been taken here. In the 3 of us chronicling her journey to the Grandstand we want to keep her memory alive, and pay our respects. Our idea’s have come to fruition by using Poppy as a “vessel” in a sense to channel Margaret. Poppy we lay on the floor dressed as a schoolgirl as we highlighter around her body using tape, like a classic crime scene. We aim to incorporate flowers, and possibly white sheets to show the area as a clean space. This will be a durational piece and many different bodies will be shown in our area. We hope to leave a lasting impression with the audience but again it is still in the beta stage of work.
Our trip to the Lincolnshire Life museum helped as we stumbled upon a old children’s rhyme “Polly had a Dolly” that we could use in our piece as well.
In conclusion on this piece of research and work we have a idea, and it’s in the early stages but I believe if we get the video down and edited in the timeframe we intend to our idea can finally come to life.
Work’s Cited:
Tragedy at Highfield Avenue courtesy of Lincoln Archives