Guess what – it’s that time of year!  We had a lovely session with Janet, Sue, Rebecca, Margaret, Donald, Peter & Susan at the Abbeyfield’s residential care home in Bognor Regis. Hot mini mince pies and christmas decorations got us in the festive spirit, spurring  interesting conversations that stemmed from the topic of daily chores and war rations – blackberry picking, rabbit skinning, lamp-chops wrapped in paper, taking apart domestic radios and the first electrical appliances like refridgerators!  Coming up to the season of consumerism and gift-giving, when the ‘vintage’ aesthetic is again on trend it was interesting to contemplate the simple pleasure people took in daily tasks as well as the very necessary importance of a ‘make-do-and-mend’ ethos that kept everyday lives going..

Christmas at Abbeyfields Residential Care Home, Bognor Regis

We realize that everyone will be rushing around getting ready for the coming festivities and so after several weeks of reminiscence and training sessions we will be resuming our activities in the New Year.  We will let you know as soon as we can what will be happening, but in the meantime rest assured we will not be idle. Also a little whisper whilst you are meeting with old family members and friends over the festival period see if you can recruit some more interviewees! Christmas is always a good way to get people talking about the good old days!

• Oral History Recording Diary – We are really pleased about the number of interviews that have taken place in such a short time.  In order to avoid double booking of the recording equipment, there is now a Recording Diary on Facebook (apologies to those who don’t use it).  Before you book an interview, please will you check that your date doesn’t clash with someone else’s?

• Good News – the recording packs are now fully operational and will be stored in the following locations:

Brighton – SASE Office, Brighton University, Grand Parade, Brighton.

Shoreham – Currently with Simon Thorpe, so please contact the Movies and Memories team for his address.

Worthing – Worthing Library.

Bognor Regis – With Gillian, whose contact details have already been distributed amongst the Bognor Group.

• Film Clips – As mentioned, we have started to put the excerpts of films online for you to look at and/or use when interviewing:

• Photos – please remember to take of photo of the person you are interviewing, if you can.

Millie Smith and Molly Bear are second year Film and Screen Studies at Brighton University and were two of the very first volunteers to take part in the project.  This is what they both said about the project:

Millie Smith & Molly Bear Movies & Memories volunteers

 Molly: I heard about Movies and Memories via a lecturer who thought Millie and I would be particularly interested.  She was right! I knew that I would want to get involved because one of the main things I love about film is the ability to capture moments that are beautiful or interesting.  I think the project is amazing as it offers not only the chance for us to record information so it can’t be lost, but it allows people to tell us their amazing stories.  And that is the best part for me, that they really want to tell us about their lives. I love meeting the people and feel privileged to have the opportunity to listen to their stories.

 Millie: I was really excited when I found out about this opportunity with Movies and Memories.  With a strong passion for film, working with Screen Archive footage is giving me the opportunity to do something new, as well as seeing things I would have never seen.  I have also always been interested in working with the elderly, especially in terms of memory, and so this project was perfect as it brings the two aspects together.  So far I’m loving the work we have been doing, it’s very rewarding as we get the opportunity to hear people’s memories and I believe that those taking part also really enjoy having the chance to tell us them.’

Both girls have already contributed a huge amount to the project.  Our thanks to you both!

Movies and Memories Project Officer, Gillian Edom attended the Worthing Heritage Trails event. This is her account of the day.

“Whilst on my way to a heritage event at Worthing Library I found myself thinking of the past. Once upon a time if you got onto the wrong train, you could get off again quite easily, even if the train had started to move away from the platform. These days, with automatic train doors, this is no longer possible, so when on that morning I got onto the train at Barnham, I found myself trapped and on the way to London Victoria instead of my intended destination. Ah well, this sort of things happens to me all the time and I did get to Worthing eventually.  I arrived at the Worthing Heritage Trails project event only a little late but had difficulty in finding an empty seat at this well attended session.

Running the session was Chris Hare, a well known local historian, who is leading this Heritage Lottery funded project, aiming to create guided heritage walks around the town. He very kindly allowed me to say a few words about the Movies and Memories Project to his large audience at the end of the meeting. As a result, I was able to hand out a few of our postcards and several people said they would be happy to be interviewed by one of our Oral History volunteers. It was also good to meet Jacqueline, one of our own newly signed-up volunteers, for the first time on this occasion.

Another friend and former colleague at the event was Barbara Shaw, who currently has a display on view in the library about the heritage of the Worthing shoreline. This is on behalf of Transition Town Worthing, a group that has a particular focus on the heritage of the natural environment but are also including the history of the area. Hopefully there may be a way we can work with Barbara to hold a mutually beneficial event later on in the project.”

Click here for more information about the Worthing Heritage Trails project.

Click here for more information about Barbara’s events with Transition Town Worthing.

In the picture:

Richard Childs, former WS County Archivist and now Chairman of Worthing Heritage Alliance (top left); Chris Hare (top right); Barbara Shaw (bottom right)