Padmini Broomfield
Oral Historian
Hampshire
Telno: 07891 077856
Email: padmini@ohs.org.uk

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Manda Gifford
Outreach Officer, Coastal Museums
c/o Whitstable Museum and Gallery, Oxford Street, Whitstable CT5 8DB
Telno: 01227 772379
Email: Manda.gifford@canterbury.gov.uk

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Jocelyn Goddard
41 Linden Avenue, Whitstable, Kent, CT5 1RX
Telno: 07872 622102
Email: jehgoddard@yahoo.co.uk

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Roger Kitchen

3 Stacey Avenue, Wolverton, Milton Keynes, MK12 5DN
Telno: 01908 313514
Email: roger@kitchens-ink.fsnet.co.uk

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David Lee
Film & Sound Archivist
Wessex Film and Sound Archive, Hampshire Record Office, Sussex Street, Winchester. SO23 8TH
Telno: 01962 847742
Email: david.lee@hants.gov.uk

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Janet Nixon
Learning Officer (Archives)
Surrey Heritage, Surrey History Centre, 130 Goldsworth Road, Woking, Surrey, GU21 6ND
Telno: 01483 518746
Email: janet.nixon@surreycc.gov.uk

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Hampshire

The past year has seen many changes here in Southampton. Following a major restructure of the Arts and Heritage section at the council, Southampton Oral History Unit (SOHU) was closed down. The collection of interviews and photographs has now been transferred to the City Archives section where it will continue to be available for public access.
SOHU manager, Sheila Jemima, retired in March 2009 after 25 years of enthusiastic and dedicated service. Sheila had worked for the unit since its beginnings in the early 1980s and had been instrumental in its continuing success over the years. Sheila’s retirement party also doubled up as a celebration of SOHU’s 25th anniversary and was attended by almost all of the original team (of 1983) of oral historians, as well as many later colleagues and volunteers who had contributed to the unit’s success.
The past year has also seen several oral history projects being set up in the South East region. Museums, local history groups, and other organisations have sought advice and support to set up their projects. This has involved providing advice on funding applications, training and advice on equipment and using recordings. Training workshops were provided for the Museum Development Service in Winchester, Enham Alamein project in Andover, and other projects listed below.
The Friends of St James’ Park (FoSJP) in Shirley, Southampton have set up a project, ‘The People’s Park’, to document the history and memories of their local park and to share these with the local community and schools. Project Co-ordinator, Michaela Lawler-Levene writes: ‘A park reminiscence day event had resulted in the donation of a local history archive and during the Park’s centenary celebrations in 2007, FoSJP produced a history display, which brought members of the public forward with stories to tell. These included the last full-time park warden and members of the ARP unit based in a building on the site during the Second World War.
‘Wanting to share the history of the park with the wider community, the group included a history project in a lottery bid that was being prepared to improve the general park facilities. Thanks to the Heritage Lottery Fund the group has just put 14 people through an Oral History Training Course, provided by Padmini Broomfield of Southampton City Council. Over the next year the group will be recording more people’s stories and publishing extracts on the Friends’ website www.fosjp.org.uk. FoSJP have organised an Autumn 2009/Spring 2010 public talk series, bringing local historians and academics to their local community. In 2011 the group will also be publishing a book on the history of the park and its people’.
The University of Southampton, in collaboration with Hampshire Archives and Local Studies, has received funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to record and preserve the memories of the ‘children’ (Los Niños) who arrived in Southampton in May 1937 fleeing the Spanish Civil War. The ‘Los Niños – Child exiles of the Spanish Civil War’ project is in the process of recording the life stories of those niños who were evacuated to Britain and eventually settled here. In March 2009, volunteers received training in oral history techniques. Since then they have carried out twelve interviews across the country.
In recent years, many of the niños have been interviewed by journalists, film makers and writers for their memories of the evacuation and early years in the ‘colonies’ across Britain. By focusing on a life story approach, this project is succeeding in going beyond that story – to memories of life in Spain before and during the civil war. Interviews are also revealing how their evacuation experiences affected their later lives and those of their children. The recordings will be archived in the University Library’s Special Collections, to be joined next year by the extensive archive collected by the Basque Children’s Association of ’37 UK. The project will also result in a publication, a website and educational resources.
In January 2009, I gave a presentation on community-based projects in Southampton at the Life (Hi)stories seminar to an audience of academics, researchers and students. The Life (Hi)Stories research cluster (www.soton.ac.uk/ml/research/staff.html) gathers a group of academics and community-based researchers working in different study areas and disciplines who are interested in life stories. The group draws on a wide range of primary sources from oral data collection techniques, such as oral history, language biographies, and ethnography, to written narratives in the form of diaries, memoirs and auto-biographies and other modes of life writing. Regular seminars at the University’s Avenue campus profile the work of one of the group’s members or invited researchers.

Padmini Broomfield

Surrey

As I have just joined the Network, this is the first annual report from Surrey. Surrey Oral History Network's first meeting was held at Surrey History Centre in July. Rib Davis gave an inspiring talk on using oral histories for community drama. The turnout was smaller than promised, but still had representatives from across the county. The purpose of this meeting was to test the interest in such a group in Surrey. The conclusion was affirmative! There will be further meetings to network, share ideas and concerns and to propose ideas for training beyond the basic practical techniques. The current feeling is to hold a meeting about every six months. The date for the next meeting has not yet been fixed, but is likely to be in the early part of next year. Anyone interested in taking part should get in touch with me (janet.nixon@surreycc.gov.uk).
There have been a number of oral history based projects in Surrey over the past years. Among the most recent are ‘Buried Battles, Veteran Voices’, an HLF-funded project based on the archive of the Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment. As part of this project Surrey Heritage and the Regimental Museum at Clandon House videoed a number of past members of the regiment. Clips from these videos can be viewed on http://www.queensroyalsurreys.org.uk/video/index.html.
‘Keeping Memories Alive’, a project steered by Godalming Museum and funded by the HLF, is recording and exploring the development of a hidden area of the town. This project has developed the skills of an active and enthusiastic group of volunteers who are now turning their attention to discovering and recording people who worked in now lost industries of Godalming. The AONB Surrey Hills 50th Anniversary celebrations also included collecting recordings from countryside and farm workers recalling working life in Surrey over the last 50 years.
'The Vision' is an HLF-funded project using archive material and oral histories recorded by Rib Davis, who is also writing a community play based on the work of the Ockenden Project. Partners for this are Surrey Heritage, The Lightbox, Ockenden Project and The Winston Churchill School. This project was launched at the end of September 2009. Plans for 2009/10 include (funding permitting) a project to record the work of a charity foundation, and an intergenerational project involving current Girl Guides and their predecessors.
Although staff do not have time within their ‘day-job’ to do much collecting of recorded oral histories, Surrey Heritage is actively encouraging others who do, to deposit their recordings as archive or as safe storage copies at Surrey History Centre in Woking. I have given advice to a number of interested individuals and community groups in the past few months, and after a lull in the holiday season I expect more enquiries in the Autumn.

Janet Nixon

Wessex Film & Sound Archive

An interesting but slightly less eventful year to report this time. The annual Oral History Seminar was attended by 35 people, some from as far away as South Wales and London, who were given presentations on project management, technique and equipment by Georgina Babey, a New Forest oral historian (amongst other things) and David Lee. The other sessions concentrated on the use of video recording for the ‘Hampshire Coppice Craftsmen’ and ‘No Diving’ projects respectively, in lively presentations by Phil Allen and Jez Stevens. Lots of questions were asked and answered, with much of value learned by those attending. Jez reprised his presentation for the Society of Archivists’ Conference in Bristol this year, which went down very well.
An introduction to oral history has also been provided for groups of ‘Living Links’ Archives Ambassadors at the Record Office and on the Isle of Wight. ‘Living Links’ is a three year project to set up sustainable partnerships between Hampshire Record Office and the Isle of Wight Record Office and the communities they serve. The Archive Ambassadors are volunteers from these communities who disseminate information and co-ordinate projects, after training by staff at the Record Offices in the various skills associated with basic archive work such as preservation and digitisation, including oral history recording.
Advice and information has also been given to groups involved in planning oral history projects, including Hampshire Scouting, for their Hampshire Scout (and Guides) Heritage Project, and colleagues from Surrey History Centre who wish to establish a county oral history network. A local history group from Brook, Isle of Wight, have also sought advice and support for their Heritage Lottery Fund application, which was successful, and have visited Wessex Film and Sound Archive (WFSA) for some training in oral history techniques.
I was interviewed on Radio Haslar about the work of WFSA, and on BBC Radio Solent regarding the ‘100 Lives’ recording project, which will be deposited with WFSA soon. The latter in particular has provided constant publicity for WFSA throughout 2008, and involves a selection of the listening public who put themselves forward to talk about their lives ‘on air’. It provides an interesting snapshot of modern life in the South of England in 2008 through the voices of a wide section of the community, young and old.
I have also assisted the Hampshire Archives & Local Studies Education Officer with a number of projects, including the ‘Basque Refugees 1937’ project in collaboration with Southampton University, which aims to record interviews with surviving refugees and produce an exhibition that includes archive footage, amongst other outcomes. Existing video interviews by documentary TV producer Steve Bowles have been added to the collection, held by WFSA, telling the compelling story of children evacuated to Britain from Spain during the Civil War, arriving on the ship Habana at Southampton and staying at a local transit camp before finding temporary homes elsewhere in the country.
WFSA has also been pleased to receive a number of oral history recordings during the last year from local history societies like Basingstoke Talking History, which publishes books based upon reminiscences, such as one about the National Health Service in the town. The ‘Living Links’ Community Archive Development Officer (CADO) has helped local groups with various projects, including ‘Favourite Places’. This project is working with the Ethnic Minority Learning Disability (EMLD) programme and is progressing well.
The CADO has worked closely with the Proud2b group (part of the EMLD umbrella) in South East Hampshire, drawn from diverse minority communities, to devise a project outline, consisting of a series of short oral recordings. The group received training and were supported during the interview process. A textile artist subsequently worked with Proud2b members to form three panels inspired by the oral recordings which were displayed in the Ashcroft Arts Centre in Fareham. A presentation event will also occur at Hampshire Record Office (HRO) with the interviews being deposited with Wessex Film and Sound Archive (WFSA). User friendly invitation letters and instruction sheets had been devised. The interviews were conducted from mid-June to the end of July. The work with the artist will take place during September and the exhibition will run in October.
Another supported project was ‘Madat Shamuha’. Work is continuing with this Nepalese group in Farnborough. A series of oral history interviews took place in June 2009. Training, loan of equipment and support has been given. Volunteers from the group and from Living Links undertook the work. Living Links (with help from WFSA) will download the recordings onto CD and copies will be provided for the group to form the basis of a community archive and also deposited with WFSA. The group are keen to develop this area of work and, dependent on the success of this pilot, further involvement with Madat Shamuha might develop.
Lastly, an online display on Home Dressmaking is now available on the WFSA website at http://www3.hants.gov.uk/wfsa/sound/dress-making.htm. It will be complemented by an illustrated presentation at HRO later this month, given by Barbara Burman and Sarah Unitt, formerly of Winchester School of Art. Barbara recorded all of the interviews for this project a few years ago and deposited them with WFSA, so this display is a celebration of that really.

David Lee

Exhibition - 'Inside My Dance'

Venue: Brighton
Day of event: 14th March 2010

Exhibition opening in Brighton at Jubilee Library on March 14th.

Inside My Dance tells through oral history, photography and film the story of dancer and choreographer Angela Lane and how her daughter's profound disability affected her life. 

For further details see: http://insidemydancejubilee.eventbrite.com/

More information can be found at this link here.

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