Our first family, from Long Street, is the Green family, who have lived in the same house for four
generations. The oldest generation still alive is Michael, born in 1959 and Debbie, born in 1962. Michael’s
parents also lived in the house before they passed away. Their children are Kim, born in 1985, who now lives
elsewhere in London, Brian, born in 1988, who lives with his parents when he is not working abroad and
Christopher, born in 1991, who lives with his parents, his partner and daughter, Emily, born in 2018, who
are living in the house too.
Click on the participant and child links to listen to extracts from their
interviews.
Michael Green
Transcript
Michael: You know like your mum and dad, didn’t they… they both worked hard… you know
they wasn’t very
wealthy… but I can’t say that some people… We wasn’t wealthy but we was all right if you know what I mean…
and they both worked hard and I think you get that without realising it… you got to work for whatever you
want.
Debbie Green
Transcript
Debbie: But you see, I’m registered child-minder
Eve: Mind you, you could get that work anywhere
Debbie: Yeah…. People actually come to me, cos the name’s out there. The school
recommends me as
well which they’re not supposed to but they do
Brian Green (Brian was interviewed on Skype from India)
Transcript
Brian: So, I work in the International Development sector. I think my parents don't
understand exactly
what I do. It is kind of related to charities. It's a private consultancy and we do projects for various
governments or multilateral bodies, for example, and UNICEF, the World Bank…
Sometimes we do projects for private sector organisations. We do a lot of work for the Indian
government as well, so it's a private company that I work for but it's in the development sector so it
covers a wide range of things, like urban development, women's empowerment, agricultural development and
that kind of stuff; sanitation, that’s sort of where I am now. So I'm stationed in South India, in
Chennai. I've been here since February.
Eve: So are you going to travel all over the world are you going to be based in India
do you think? Or
is that unclear at the moment?
Brian: I mean my job is here and I've done a fair amount of travelling. This will be
my seventh time in
India and I do a lot of work here and travelling here. I've also been travelling around the world, to
Jordan for example, but more in the leisure capacity. I've been to the US, Morocco, Norway, Finland,France
…
So, yes, very untypical places from those my parents would have gone to.
Eve: So you've moved a long way from your roots really…
Brian: Yes I have. It's sort of where my jobs are taking me really. There are certain
countries where I
wouldn't want to stay any longer than a couple of years. This is not a permanent move anyway. I will be
going back to East London when I come back.
Christopher Green
Transcript
Christopher: I didn’t go college. I felt I was better with my hands so I thought, ‘I
want to get a job’, so I moved over to Tate and Lyle refinery… I got a job there so, since seventeen till
now that’s where I’ve been basically I suppose, spent most of my time there.
Eve: What do you do there?
Christopher:It’s not very nice but insulation, so it’s quite itchy, so that’s
basically it. It’s also metalwork as well, so we design and make metal as well. That’s the most difficult
bit, but other than that, it’s pretty itchy.
Eve: I can imagine. And do you like the company you work for?
Christopher: Erm.. For a while I enjoyed it… probably not so much now … even though
I’ve been there for a while, it’s got samey samey… I enjoyed it at first but.. whether I’ll change I don’t
know. I’m not sure whether I’ll change I don’t know whether I’ll stay there or not but… it might change..
I might start enjoying it again, you don’t know
Eve: Yes. Do they provide any opportunities to sort of…do different…?
Christopher: Well, funnily enough, I’m just a contractor so I don’t actually work for
Tate and Lyle themselves, but there’s always job offers, they’ve always got job offers to actually work
for Tate and Lyle, so I could take one of those opportunities really
Kim Green
Kim: (was not interviewed but is in family tree). She works as a teacher in a
different part of London)
Click on the participant and child links to listen to extracts from their
interviews.