Collections Online

Oral history recording with Anna-Maria Woodford. Recorded as part of the Italian Memories in Wales project (2008-10), delivered by ACLI-ENAIP and funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Summary part 1 00.23 Anna Maria states her date and place of birth in Piedmont. She talks about her grandparents and parents birthplace in Sardinia where grandparents owned a vineyard. They had an attic where they would dry fruit. Her uncle would work the land, and offered wine to bandit groups who came from Orgosolo, to appease them so they wouldn’t steal from the land. She recalls spending time listening to guitar music and storytelling in the evenings on her holidays.

Summary part 2 00.12 The interviewer asks about her most vivid memories of her holidays in Sardinia. She talks about Sardinian dancing, fetes and fond memories about Sardinia. She then talks about her strict upbringing. At twenty one she left Italy for England with an Italian family, she describes it as ‘escaping’ from her strict family as they weren’t aware that she was leaving. She always wanted to learn English and moved to Chelsea where she fitted in well and learnt the language. When asked about her family home, Anna Maria says Sardinia was a holiday home more than a family home. They moved family homes frequently but settled in Lanzo Torinese near the Alps for a long time, where she went to college.

Summary part 3 00.17 By the time they moved to Lanzo Torinese her father had retired from the police, her mother never worked. She talks about her father’s work as a Marshall in the carabinieri. They were well off as a family, Anna Maria was lucky to go to a paid school; her mother had always told her to go to work and not rely on a husband to bring in money. Lanzo Torinese was a town, she had many friends there. They would go to dances, to the cinema. She talks about the films they saw, the actors she liked. She also describes the dances she went to, where they played rock and roll music. She talks about the clothes and shoes they wore, which were made specifically for her. She was privileged in that sense, though she wouldn’t ask others about their money situation. Presentation was a very important at that time.

07.02 When asked about religion, Anna Maria says that it was important but she wasn’t very enthusiastic about it as a youngster. She recalls missing church to go to dance to rock and roll music on a jukebox in a local cafe. At church people found out about this and she was punished. She felt that people were inflicting their views on her at a time when she wanted freedom. She talks about her college, run by nuns, where they had regular meditation times. She talks about the nuns and a flirtatious priest, which gave her a negative view of religion. She talks about one nun who she remembers vividly as a great open minded teacher, who wouldn’t impose religious rituals on the students.

12.28 Anna Maria talks about the college. There were two sides to the building, one side housed orphans and the other was a college. The orphans used to work for the kitchen. She was there from 11 to 18. She took exams to become a teacher, but didn’t follow that path and went on a Secretarial course. She carried out office work for a year but wanted to learn English, which pushed her to move to London. When asked if many women went into work, she says that she was lucky, due to her father’s contacts.

17.00 Anna Maria talks about a strong link to her Sardinian roots even though she was born in North Italy. She forgot about her roots to an extent whilst in London, when she went back to Italy she would miss Britain, she talks about it as a complex feeling towards her nationality. She talks about leaving Italy, the plans she had to make- which were mostly made by the Managing Director where she worked. She talks about being excited about leaving due to the strictness of her parents. She talks about her approach to bringing up her daughter as more liberal. She then talks about the journey over to England, the view from the plane and her first impressions- she went to Harrods the first Sunday she was here, she bought a hat, which was ’christened’ by a pigeon, so she had to go back and buy another one.

22.08 When asked about her expectations, Anna Maria said she had expected to return to Italy after a year. She stayed, and talks about fate and meeting her husband. She talks about wanting to experience a different life, as opposed to the restricted life she had in Italy. In London she felt free and talks about social life. She worked for FIAT in Berkley Square, and was one of the first to translate documents about Concorde. She explains how she found the job and what it entailed. Her first job was working as an Au Pair in Chelsea and talks about that experience as a positive experience. She explains how she met people from all over the world, and talks about the work. She had a lot of time to meet friends and describes going to clubs with them and Italian people. When asked about difficulties she experienced she says she found it more difficult when she moved to Wales. More people questioned where she was from, making assumptions about Italians being connected to the Mafia.

Summary part 4 00.15 When asked how her parents met she describes the story. Her mother was fifteen and her father 35 years old. He asked her parents and had to be sure that she was from a good family. She talks about where they lived, their relationship and the age difference. She talks about a photograph of her parents at their wedding being blessed by aunt of hers who was a nun. She goes on to describe this aunt as a remarkable woman who worked in a home for disabled people. She talks about visiting this place and the effect it had on her.

04.26 She talks about religion and going to church. When asked to compare Sardinia and the North of Italy she says it was difficult to compare as Sardinia was a holiday home for her. She tries to describe the difference, and explains the negative attitude of people from the North to Sardinians. She now feels more of a link to her Sardinian culture. Her parents moved to the North due to her father’s job, and she describes it as unsettling. She talks more about the catholic religion.

Summary part 5 00:00 Anna Maria continues to talk about religion. She says it was strict and often made her feel guilty. Now she is more comfortable with religion because it is not forced upon her and she can deal with it in her own way. She talks about religious processions carried out every year in Italy. In Sardinia, people would dress in traditional clothing. As a child she would wear smart clothes for these religious occasions.

02.18 When asked about politics she talks about how her father would give speeches for the Democratic party in the North of Italy. He was a poet and wrote a book when he was in Corsica for five years during the war. There, he was looking after political prisoners as a policeman. He would tell her stories, often about women that he met there. An artist would make paintings to accompany his poems. She describes the poems and paintings, and the stories he would tell when he came back. She talks again about politics. She talks about his strict approach to bringing her and her sisters up. Her father had death threats as many people were leaning towards the left at the time. She describes the political situation in Italy now as worse, due to the many different political parties and corruption there. Anna Maria says that her mother was a very devout Catholic. Whilst her mother spent much of her time in church, her father was often occupied with politics.

Summary part 6 00.01 Anna Maria talks about the war finishing when she was 6 years old. She remembers the American soldiers arriving in their tanks, and recalls asking an American soldier to marry her. She talks about being reunited with her father, and how difficult it had been for her mother looking after the children on her own. Her mother never had to work. She has a lot of respect for her mother, for bringing up a family on her own from a very young age, as all her family were in Sardinia. She continues to talk about her family, which wasn’t a large family. There were some difficulties between her mother and father’s family. She explains this may have been due to her mother’s family having money, though her relatives were also well off. She talks about other relatives in Sardinia- she describes a cousin in detail, and also her husband was a Major in the army.

06.15 They try to go back to Sardinia more often now they have more time, though much of their time is spent looking after her grandchildren. When they go back they meet up with family, many who have moved away to Holland, and also come back to visit. They meet in the local small bar. She has inherited part of her mother’s house, which she describes. Anna Maria talks about her grandparents’ hometown. She talks about the climate in Wales as preferable to the heat of Sardinia. She is going back to Sardinia to see if she wants to move there. She talks about going back and how she feels there, and the positive aspects of rural Italy. She talks about the people there and the friendly community. She talks of the elegance of Italy compared to British culture. Anna Maria also talks about the difference between Italian and British people, and aspects of British cultures she felt she has adopted. She talks more about possibilities of going back to Italy.

16.35 Anna Maria describes how she met her husband in Knightsbridge at a cafe and then at an Army Dance in Leicester Square.

Summary part 7 00:00 Anna Maria talks about her other jobs in London. She also talks about socialising in clubs, in a particular Italian cafe in Kings Road. She recalls some Italian people saying that she was ‘sold to the British’ and being protected by the English Cavalry who Anna Maria and her friends mixed with in London. She found that the difference in culture was appealing to other people, in Wales it was a little less open minded. She recalls her different jobs and the social life in London with other Italian people; on Kings Road for example. She settled well in London and felt safe there. She recalls language problems she had; misunderstandings like mistaking chicken for kitchen. Anna Maria learnt English in Italy primarily.

06:58 They left London to move to Penarth where her husband’s family were from. Her mother stayed for six months with Anna Maria. She didn’t like Penarth and didn’t speak the language, however, she was very independent. People noticed that Anna Maria was Italian immediately and she became tired of being introduced as ‘the Italian’. Her mother in law very much appreciated the Italian side of her heritage. Anna Maria had left her heritage behind her until she moved to Wales when she became involved with the Italian community. She talks about Italian friends she has in Wales who she enjoys talking to about Italy. She says that her husband has been very supportive and that she feels at home wherever he is. She would meet people through the church or at dances.

18:30 Anna Maria is told that her house seems ‘Italian’ to other people. At one point when she was younger her daughter felt ashamed of her mother’s accent, she didn’t like the fact that she was different from her friends’ mothers. Anna Maria notes that when she was young she would feel similarly ashamed of her parents being from Sardinia. She now, however, embraces it. Anna Maria has experienced problems at times but is still proud of her heritage. Her granddaughter has an Italian pen friend through a school project. She talks about a lot of the Italian community not being integrated in the Welsh community; she feels that perhaps they need that link and are happy because of it.

23.00 Anna Maria wanted to learn Welsh and embraces the Welsh culture, comparing British culture to Italian culture. She talks in more detail about the Sardinian culture which she considers very rich- she found out that bagpipes come from Sardinia. She feels that there is an affinity between the Welsh and Italian, particularly Sardinian, people. Anna Maria’s family are an English/Welsh mix with partly Italian, however, Maria thinks she considers herself as British.

30.30 In Wales Anna Maria says she is considered as ‘eccentric’. She continues to talk about the Sardinian culture and compares the dancing to Morris dancing. At one point she worked for Fiat in London where her Italian was very useful. She fell in love with the English language and that is why she emigrated.