Oral History

"Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans . . ."

One month ago, I needed help finding a venue in London and popped into a nearby shop asking for guidance & directions. Enter Ruth.

She'd now finished in the hairdresser's and offered to walk with me part of the way toward said venue. 30 years earlier, I'd lived nearby as a student but so much had changed since then, I now found I was flummoxed by the altered landscape. We talked about how hampering it is when a familiar place changes beyond recognition & known landmarks no longer exist.

Ruth reminisced about growing up in the area and how the whole street she had grown up in had been sold off to make way for a Government-led scheme, noting how disruptive it was for the whole community involved to be forced to move, leaving behind what they knew so well.

Within 15-20 minutes, we strongly agreed on how  memories are often the glue that bind communities in those enforced circumstances;  and how the nuanced ebb-and-flow of day-to day local life can easily be lost within a generation after those folks leave. Newcomers quickly come in with different priorities and before you know it, the old daily rhythm, conversation, local shopping and social spaces change beyond all recognition.

As an example, look at the vast changes since 2000-2016 in Docklands, East London or Salford Quays, Manchester!

Before leaving, Ruth, an MA student,  invited me onto a new Project for the  National  Archives where we go into a community from the same street she lived on and record their stories of living in their home on that street at that time. The idea is that a team of us will individually record residents' personal account of life in that area so it can be preserved for historical reference. The Project will later be filmed and hopefully  broadcast on the wider media.

I met the Project Co-ordinator, did the media skills and interview training and my blip shows the hi-tech, broadcast-quality recorder I will be using to conduct my oral history interviews.

Ironically, I did something virtually identical with both my parents before they died. Long before they declined, I took the opportunity to record a conversation about their lives, from childhood to maturity, their changing thoughts/ feelings as they matured, the migration from home to the UK. They talked about growing up with their  parents, raising us, what they've learned in life . . . it was a fantastic experience. And now I get to do the same thing, professionally!

It's amazing what a chance encounter/ conversation can lead to. Excited!!