---
title: "Packs’ People: earlier work by our team | Discover More"
description: "The people who worked, shopped and modelled at Packs’ department stores in Ryde, recorded as the building became an arts centre."
url: https://discover-more.co.uk/projects/packs-people/
---

Before Discover More · 2024–2025

# Packs’ People

The people who worked, shopped and modelled at Packs’ department stores in Ryde, recorded as the building became an arts centre.

Before Discover More was formed, Simon Perry recorded the interviews for Department, with Sally Perry as producer, and they made the clips and designed and built the website.

![Two colour portraits side by side, each framed by an orange window frame. A woman and a man sit on stools against a black background, with mannequin arms reaching out behind them.](https://discover-more.co.uk/_astro/pp-portraits-pair.mFL0F4zp_1koCs7.webp)

Christine Fisher-Lathwell and James Pellow. Portraits by Julian Winslow

## At a glance

Commissioned by

Department, Ryde

Recorded

8 people who worked at, shopped at or modelled for Packs

Clips

More than 150, across 8 topics, plus the full interviews

Outputs

Website, portraits and a photograph collection, much of it never shown before

Project site

[packspeople.uk ↗](https://packspeople.uk/)

## The story

Elizabeth Pack, Pack and Culliford, and Woods & Wilkins were at the heart of Isle of Wight shopping in the golden age of department stores. Their old building in Ryde has become Department, an arts and cultural space that opened in March 2025.

[Department](https://department-ryde.org/) wanted the building’s past remembered as it began its new life. Eight people who worked at, shopped at or modelled for Packs were interviewed, from models in The Coffee Bean to the Christmas grotto.

The recordings were cut into more than 150 short clips across eight topics and published with the full-length interviews. Julian Winslow’s portraits show each interviewee framed by a shop window, surrounded by mannequin arms.

## Some of the voices

[Hear them on packspeople.uk ↗](https://packspeople.uk/)

-   ![Colour portrait of Sheila Burnett](https://discover-more.co.uk/_astro/pp-sheila-burnett.L6Zvo0qm_Z2asH9g.webp)
    
    ### Sheila Burnett
    
-   ![Colour portrait of Lisa Carter](https://discover-more.co.uk/_astro/pp-lisa-carter.FuH4iRaY_ZNiowI.webp)
    
    ### Lisa Carter
    
-   ![Colour portrait of Jane Caldow (née Moody)](https://discover-more.co.uk/_astro/pp-jane-caldow.DQLTAyKw_1I4cDe.webp)
    
    ### Jane Caldow (née Moody)
    
-   ![Colour portrait of James Pellow](https://discover-more.co.uk/_astro/pp-james-pellow.vIMRQTS5_btIh8.webp)
    
    ### James Pellow
    

Portraits by Julian Winslow

## A few of the clips

-   **Jane Caldow**: Coupons for women’s clothes
-   **Sue Fowler**: Visitors from Coronation Street
-   **James Pellow**: The Christmas Grotto
-   **Lisa Carter**: The pace of the cat walk changed

[Listen on packspeople.uk ↗](https://packspeople.uk/)

### Made for

[Department, Ryde](https://department-ryde.org/)

### Funded by

The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

### Partners

-   Department
-   Shademakers UK CIC
-   Isle of Wight Council

## Credits

Simon Perry

Oral history interviews, audio clips, website design and build

Sally Perry

Project Producer, handling and preparing all assets for the website, including audio clips

Julian Winslow

Portraits

Lindsay Robertson, Words & Stuff

Additional graphics

Meeja’s Oral History Engine

Manages and displays the interviews, clips and photographs

This project was made before Discover More CIC was formed. Recordings and photographs belong to the project and the people who lent them, and are shown here with credit.

## Have a story like this?

We’d like to hear about the places, jobs and communities the Island and the Solent shouldn’t forget.

[Get in touch](https://discover-more.co.uk/contact/)

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