Worcester Life Stories Workshop – 20th November

Its our 3rd Worcester Life Stories Platform Workshop!

The website will enable people to create & share their own life story. This could be movie or a book.

Accessible information on themes of interest will also be created e.g. sporting memories, nature. This will include images, written memories, audio memories and potentially videos.

We will be starting to show what the platform could look like and what should be included within the book. Currently people like a scrap book style.

Life stories are known to be beneficial across the lifespan. For it to be the best it can be, we need your feedback! Come and join us!

Please share widely. Anyone can join us and give feedback.

Know Your Place Worcester workshop – Friday 6th November

The second of our Know Your Place Worcester workshops will take place on Friday 6th November, 2.30-4pm.

We’ll be having a look at what historic information and resources you’d like to see made available via the platform, as well as the materials and guidance that will make it easier for you to access it. The workshop will be run via Webex, so please do get in touch to book your place and receive joining instructions.

Come along and help make this a fantastic resource for Worcester!

Worcester Life Stories Platform workshop – Friday 21st August, 2.30 – 3.30pm

Come and help shape our website. The platform will allow you to create your own life story. This can include memories, photos and facts of your life. It could be a book and/or a movie. We need your help to make it as accessible and intuitive as possible. We look forward to seeing you there! See joining instructions below.

New Stories page!

A brand new page has been added to the website this week called Stories, and here we will be adding some of the amazing stories that local people have been sharing with us, The first is a particularly poignant one from the time of major slum clearances around the city. If you have any stories of Worcester that you’d like to share, we’d love to here from you.

Know Your Place – our first workshop, 31st July 2.30-4pm

We’d love to see you at our first project workshop – an opportunity to find out about the exciting Know Your Place Worcester platform, and help us shape its content! Please book your place at worcesterlifestories@gmail.com – joining instructions will be sent out in advance.

Worcester Life Stories is Live!

We are delighted to say that the project is now live! A huge thanks to everyone who joined us for our Live YouTube Streaming event on June 27th; more than 600 people to date have viewed the video, and joined in with the festivities! We were especially pleased to be joined by Perry Manor and Latimer Court Care Homes, who shared a cream tea, sang along with Cathy Wilson, Vintage Singer and Asa, 1950s and 60s singer, shared memories and took part in our historic photo quiz. The video is still available if you would like to find out more about the project and enjoy the entertainment from the day. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrUQg5mX55o Thankyou to everyone who made the day special and we’ll be in touch shortly with news of our upcoming workshops and ways to get involved.

Residents at Perry Manor taking part in the launch

Tea is served!

We are live!

Worcester Life Stories – Live on YouTube Saturday 27th June 11am – 3pm

Who’s tuning in this Saturday for the live launch? An online quiz, afternoon tea, and live 50s/60s music! Saturday sorted!

Link directly to the YouTube event here.

Programme:

11am – Welcome and talk on Worcester Life Stories – what is it and how can you get involved?  Hear all about the project and enjoy a slideshow of historic photos

11.45am – Music from Cathy Morris, Vintage singer – a selection of 1940s/ 50s classics

12.15pm – Grab a cup of tea and a slice of cake and share your memories via the YouTube chat

1pm – A second chance to hear all about the project and a few more photos to remind you of Worcester in years gone by

1.30pm – Music from Asa, classic songs from the 1950s & 60s

2pm – Live quiz – challenge your friends and family and see how well you know Worcester from years gone by!

3pm – Close

 

 

 

Live Launch Event – 27th June 2020

The Shambles in 1951

Join us online on Saturday 27th June, 11-4pm to celebrate the launch of the Worcester Life Stories project!  We are delighted to announce that thanks to National Lottery players, the project has been awarded £79,400 by the National Lottery Heritage Fund for a number of initiatives, including development of Know Your Place Worcester an online historic map and photograph resource, giving people access to material from Worcester City Council’s Historic Environment Record never seen before, as well as being able to share their own stories and images of the city. The project will also see development of the Worcester Life Stories platform hosted by the Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust, where people will be able to produce a free Life Story booklet of memories from their own lives, for reminiscence, general interest and especially for those living with dementia, as a link to the past with therapeutic benefits.

 

Throughout this 2 year project, there will be many ways to get involved, learn about your heritage, share your stories and remember Worcester in times gone by. A museum exhibition, published book and virtual time trail will be developed in collaboration with local people and will showcase the fascinating photographs and memories that will be revealed along the way.

A full timetable of activities will be posted here shortly, with links to Live YouTube presentations, entertainment and a quiz, all marking our launch on June 27th!  We look forward to seeing you all there!

Worcester Life Stories – project scope

We’re pleased to say that we are in the final leg of writing up our application to the National Lottery Heritage Fund.  We had a really successful Stakeholders group meeting on Monday and have confirmation from our range of partners of their commitment to the project.  In order to illustrate how the project scope hangs together, we’ve put together this diagram, which we hope simplifies what is a multi-faceted project.

If you have any questions, or would like to get involved, please feel free to get in touch!

Worcester Life Stories event

Displayed below are a few photographs to give a flavour of our event on Saturday.  Thank you so much to all who were involved in making this such a successful day; well over 1000 people came along, ranging in age from just a few months to a 99-year-old lady!  The hall was absolutely buzzing with conversations and a real sense of community – it was so exciting to see people engaging over their shared histories.  It really came across just how strongly people feel about the importance of sharing these stories and making sure that they are available for future generations.  People clearly value the opportunity to share their knowledge and we have had a lot of interest in signing up for further information/ involvement on the project as we take it forward.

This project has already gained a considerable amount of interest from further afield  as we’ve had several people now living in other countries (including two from Australia!) who have asked to be added to the mailing list, and we chatted to a number of people who had travelled from further afield specially.

The feedback that we received from consultation with local people will be invaluable now in shaping and supporting our application to the Heritage Lottery Fund and we aim to submit this towards the end of September.  Once again, thank you everyone for your support!

Sheena Payne-Lunn & Dr Natasha Lord, Worcester Life Stories, Co-Leaders

Over 1000 people strolled down Worcester’s 1951 High Street display

Memories of the Beatles in Worcester

Sharing your stories