Reminiscing about the past

Tonight I was Googling pictures from Norrbotten, the county in Sweden where I am from, and came across what I think is a rather rare, but also very nice shot of Folkets Hus (meaning: The people's house) in Båtskärsnäs. So I stole it and uploaded it here of course. Ha! No, but all kidding aside; this of course sparked my interest to keep digging and I then found articles featuring some of my relatives but most of all it gave me a bit of a flashback to my childhood and I think I am going to keep poking around and tell you more about where I’m from later on. Obviously, some of you faithful readers already know this, but for the rest of you – A history lesson á la Peter!

A Folkets Hus is a community hall usually found in working class communities in Sweden and Båtskärsnäs is the name of the community where my dad and my grandparents and most of my family on the Helin-side grew up. The Folkets Hus era in Sweden is long gone, but the halls are still there, and they are still telling a story about older days.

Båtskärsnäs as a community was quite well known in the days when sawmills were still small and family-owned before the industrialization and was known to be a socialist community, and Folkets Hus was the central meeting point for both political meetings and union meetings as well as for dances and the hall was even the local cinema, and my granddad was the cinematographer in the evenings, as well as a sawmill-worker during the day.

My most vivid memory from this particular Folkets Hus were the paintings on the wall, and I believe they are still there. The old socialist leaders were all honoured: Hjalmar Branting, Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin.

It is funny how a simple thing like that can spark so many memories. I remember the summers on my grandfather’s boat and our daytrips out to Halsön, an island out in the archipelago and how he would take us hiking across the island, but never all the way across because half the island was inhabited by snakes, or at least so we were told. The island had a gorgeous beach where we played in the water and had picnic. Sometimes we also got to drive the boat, and I can still remember that special feeling when holding the wooden polished helm believing I actually were in control of the boat, when in fact he was standing right there holding a hand on the helm as well.

Another thing I remember is the traditional midsummer-celebrations that used to take place across the street from Folkets Hus and how it was always the exactly the same procedure every year. The band, Thores Trio, was playing traditional summer-songs, and people used to dance around the may-pole, just like it should be. Worth mentioning is also that I am actually related to members of Thores Trio, and the band was a bit of a cult institution in Norrbotten for over 60 years. They travelled around Norrbotten in their red and white Volvo Duett for decades, arranging dances and sang and entertained.

One particular detail I remember about that car, besides the fact that it was in mint condition, was that it still had the plastic covers on the seats even though it was probably 40 years old at that point. Us kids were of course not allowed to touch the car without supervision.

One year at the midsummer-celebrations I also won a very nice gift basket in a raffle, but of course I was much too young to appreciate the contents of it!

There is now only one member of the band still with us, but before the other members passed, they set up a fund for emerging local artists. On the Thores-fund website you can listen to a few sound bytes from when the band was active: Click here.

Hope you enjoyed the history lesson people! More to follow!