Meet Our Networkers in North West England

Regional networker

Stephen Kelly

My interest in oral history began as a student at Ruskin College when I conducted a number of interviews for Raphael Samuel. After further studies at the London School of Economics I became a journalist and later a television producer with Granada TV; occupations that always involved interviewing people. After ten years at Granada I became a freelance writer and broadcaster and subsequently published three oral histories about football. These were followed by oral histories of Coronation Street, life in the 1950s and memories of British soldiers in the Korean War. I also founded the Centre for Oral History Research at the University of Huddersfield and was awarded a £120,000 grant for an oral history of rugby league. I also received an HLF grant for a study of Asian immigrants in Huddersfield during the 1960s and worked on an oral history of the Two Minute’s Silence. In more recent years I have been compiling an oral history of Granada Television (www.granadaland.org). Over the past 20 years I have trained volunteers on numerous oral history projects in the north west where I am the OHS network representative. I am currently Visiting Professor in Oral History at Manchester Metropolitan University and Visiting Professor in Journalism at the University of Chester.

Regional networker

Andrew Schofield

Regional networker

Rosalyn Livshin

Regional Networker

Simon Bradley

I am currently working freelance in North West Cumbria, after having moved here fairly recently. I have several community-based projects in the pipeline, but they are currently on hold due to the pandemic. Venturing into online possibilities, I am currently working with Signal Media via Zoom workshops towards a future exhibition combining oral history with the fabulous imagery of the Sankey Photographic Archive. Recent work includes interviewing on behalf of the Imperial War Museum (Contemporary Conflict), and interviewing and editing for the King’s Cross Story Palace. In 2016, I completed my doctoral thesis entitled ‘Archaeology of the Voice’. The project was based on over 60 interviews I carried out in the Holbeck area of Leeds, focused on producing multi-vocal oral histories as GPS-located sound, accessed by walking in the locality. I have worked as a freelance community artist on many digital media projects involving place, memory and voice. Major public history projects include: Memories of Leeds City Varieties (2010-11); Lasting Moment (2009), Leeds City Museum; Sonic City (2006-9), Leeds City Council. My specialities include interviewing, audio walks, sound recording, editing, and site-specific work. I also provide introductory training sessions for oral history practice.