A project which has been recording and celebrating the memories of workers in London’s Thames Gateway has been praised by participants, volunteers and children.
Working Lives of the Thames Gateway – run by Eastside Community Heritage – is working to create a permanent public archive of more than 200 oral histories of former workers, to provide information on the people who helped build the industrial foundations of this rapidly regenerating area of London.
Working in partnership across six London boroughs (Newham, Barking and Dagenham, Bexley, Havering, Greenwich and Tower Hamlets), and with the London Metropolitan Archive, Eastside have already conducted over 80 interviews and 12 reminiscence sessions.
A positive response from all involved
The project will run until 2010, but an evaluation of year one has been completed, recording a positive response from all involved. To guide its evaluation Eastside Community Heritage used ‘Inspiring Learning For All’ – an MLA-produced toolkit that enables museums and archives to review and improve their performance. Manager Judith Garfield noted that, “Without the framework we would not have been able to assess the impact the project has made to participants as effectively.”
28 participants from the reminiscence sessions took part in the evaluation, and all reported having enjoyed their interviews, with a number saying they would be able to contribute more memories if interviewed a second time. Many participants also said that being involved made them more interested in visiting other archives and libraries to find further information.
As one participant commented, “I feel honoured and pleased to be part of such a worthwhile contribution to society and posterity.”
Volunteers benefit from training
Volunteers for Working Lives have also enjoyed their role in the project. They have been able to receive bespoke training that ensures they conduct interviews to the highest possible standard, and rewards them for their contributions with a formal qualification from London Metropolitan University.
The project has also been providing a schools’ education programme: Eastside Community Heritage works with four schools a year to deliver 12 workshops, sharing the memories gained through interviews and reminiscence session between young and older people. Young people who have been involved say they have had had their perceptions changed, and been inspired by older peoples’ stories of the area they live in. “They will talk to older people on the street now,” described Judith Garfield.
Further outcomes
An education pack is also being be produced along with an exhibition, publication and documentary which volunteers will help make. Future developments will include a project with disabled young people in East London looking at the disabled industrial worker's experience.
Working Lives of the Thames Gateway is keen not only to ensure ongoing digital access, but also better public access to the archive material recorded, which is based at the University of East London.
For more detailed information on Working Lives of the Thames Gateway please visit the case study section on the MLA research website