Oral history with Zoria Dawidowicz

Track 1:

00:00 Interview introduction

00:18 Name, date and location of birth.

00:32 Education in Manchester, moving to Liverpool, ancestors heritage and their move to the UK, attending Manchester Armenian church and learning Armenian at the church

04:25 Living in Stratford, Sale, Liverpool (working in retail fashion) and Rome (Working with the Missionaries of Charity)

06:03 Moving to Warrington, 1990

[06:40 Recording abruptly ends]

Track 2:

00:00 Reintroduction of interview

00:10 Family links to the textile trade and then scrap metal trade, other family businesses – clothing/fashion, carpets, property, furniture, accountancy

04:07 Links with family living in New York, America

06:14 Father: came to UK, opened photography business, mixed backgrounds growing up

07:02 Favourite meal growing up, parents good cooks and learnt from them, worked with sister at an Armenian restaurant on Palatine Road, Didsbury, Manchester when a student

08:27 Clientele of the restaurant, mixed clientele and a lot of famous stars (10cc, Denis Rousseau etc, TV stars etc)

09:50 Identifying with Armenian culture growing up, others perceptions of Armenia, Armenian language as a national identifier

11:48 Grandfather moving to UK to escape the genocide, his wish for his children to marry other Armenians

12:46 Tour to Armenia in 2017 with the church visiting historical and religious sites, other family visiting Armenia

14:50 Why involved with the Aratta project – record her family story and their Armenian origins

15:40 Childhood – growing up happy in Manchester, lots of memories in photos

16:22 Narrates photograph of restaurant she worked in the Armenia Hotel

17:30 Key features of Armenian culture

18:40 Importance of faith and attending church

20:13 Armenian food festival as part of the Aratta project

22:16 Armenian music

24:00 Interests and hobbies, health and fitness, charity work (counselling for adults and children)

24:52 Worked as a complex care health care assistant with children

25:19 Expectations of Armenia with experience from visit in 2017

26:57 Experiences of communist rule: Family living in Ukraine, lost land and relocated to Poland

28:35 Armenian names: her grandfathers and her father’s family name and how they ‘anglicised’ them to use in business in the UK etc

33:02 Importance of family and keeping connected regardless of distance, importance of family to Armenians and how this has been passed down through the family

34:02 Family occasions, family get togethers, holidays, parties, weddings

35:33 Gender roles within the family

36:22 Polish influence growing up

37:46 End of interview