Phase 1 : Recreating the streets of Newton

Tony had put together a power point presentation to show to people and start conversations about what information they too might be able to share. His aim was to get people talking and bring people together while building a picture of information that can be preserved for future generations.

We started with a plan of going into existing community session where Tony knew a significant number of older residents would gather. We then looked at ways to share the information we had so that people could build on it in conversation but then give back extra details in a user-friendly way.

Tony had lots of maps and photographs but wanted to present the information in a way that meant people could feedback information as well as just view it. We built on the idea of laying out the different streets he was looking at on table tops.

My role was to turn the information Tony had already gathered into sheets which could be laid out as table tops. We needed the format to work at coffee mornings where people would mill about but also sit around tables.

I took aspects from Tony’s power point presentation and street maps and photographs and laid out the tables street by street.  The plan was to enable people to visualise where they are now and trigger memories of how it looked in the past.

Tony knows the community so well, he had several introductory sessions in mind to bring his presentation too and it soon fell into place with a week of coffee mornings / evenings in the diary and a bigger stand alone event planned at the chapel a week later.

Fliers and banners were produced to spread the word among the community and I set to work on getting the table tops printed. Tony worked on his power points, tweaking them for the different groups and printing and planning photo displays to get people talking.

Our first session was in the community centre coffee morning. It fell on a Monday in the Easter  School Holidays so was a busy session with local families of all ages coming by to meet each other and share in some crafts. The footfall at this existing event enabled a gentle introduction to the Recreate the Streets project which was laid out for people to browse and mingle through while they had their coffees.

We had no idea how many people would come to see this first event and were pleased when several people came specifically to share their stories and brought items and information to share. Tony was thrilled when one gentleman brought in a DVD of old video recordings of the area. Several people allowed us to record their oral histories  – a fancy title for the sharing of their personal memories. Some less comfortable with being recorded shared information which was noted down by myself or the supporting members of Tony’s community sub group. It was a nice feeling to be in the heart of a community.

After that first session we had an evening with the OAP group where they watched the presentation and were then encouraged to reminisce about their childhoods and times in Newton raising families.  This older group had many stories to share and its was really interesting to see them light up when remembering people and places.

Some attendees felt they didn’t have information to share on record as they weren’t born or grew up in the area but then went on to tell me stories of decades of friendships and community events since they moved to the area. One lady delighted me by telling me all about the embroidered  map in the community centre depicting the local streets and buildings. She took down an embroidered list of names from the wall and talked to me about the people and who embroidered which section of the artwork. It was interesting to me that someone so clearly a part of this community felt they didn’t have information worth sharing for our project. This is something Tony is working to change  – the perception in individuals that their stories don’t matter. And do you know what – its working because at the next coffee morning several more people brought in things to share, and by the main event on Saturday the 26th April there were floods of people bringing in their photos, their memories and their willingness to share their stories with us.

At the main event in the Methodist church we had our table top displays supported with a 3D model of the streets so people could see how they joined together – some streets and houses no longer existing; it was helpful to piece them together in a physical way to help locate yourself in the space.

Around the sides Tony had a wealth of gathered knowledge displayed on boards – some of which he had only gathered in the previous days and had worked hard to arrange in a sharable informative format. In the side room we had the presentation set up for those wanting to sit quietly and enjoy the old photos and names on the big screen.

And to enable people to stay a while, relax and share stories; we had free refreshments at tables surrounded by joyful bunting. We were delighted by the hurry of people arriving at the opening time and by the people bringing arms full of their own saved items to share with us.

I myself was kept busy scanning in these precious memories and noting the information that accompanied them. It was also my pleasure to support our recording team of Andy and Ian who recorded the voices of the community. I witnessed some people who were reluctant at the start of the day to share their stories but by the end of the day were actively seeking me out to tell me something else they had remembered and wanted me to write down on the sheets for them.

It was such a joyful gathering, with some older residents making a special effort to attend specifically for this event. People used the opportunity to meet up with family and friends in a local venue. Other people had been prompted by this event to dig out their old photos and take them to older relatives to have those precious conversations about times and places and capture the memories while still possible. It was lovely to see connections being made and people reaching out across the community in really positive ways.

Now this first stage has been done the sorting and processing of the gathered information begins. Tony has gathered so much information and that takes time to document and organise. Tony and his subgroup have exciting plans for an October celebration event where the incoming stories can be shared back out to the community. While these first events were aimed in us hearing more from the older generation, this next event will be a celebration of those generations which aims to bring in all generations and keep the history of the local community alive through the stories to come.

The planning of this event is just beginning. What an exciting project for me to be part of.

Find out what happened next in Phase Two.