North Walsham Intergenerational Project
October 23, 2009
The North Walsham Intergenerational Project is a small part of a larger HLF-funded project of the Griffon Partnership.
This intergenerational project was undertaken in September 2009 at a junior school in North Walsham with the participation of teachers and auxiliary staff, 13 Year 6 children, six older people from a residential home, a participant from the local community, a local historian, as well as the five volunteers from WISEArchive
Five one-hour sessions were held over two and a half weeks. The sessions took place mostly in the IT room, and computers were used throughout the project. The children talked to the older people both as a class and in smaller groups. Working in pairs, each of the children chose to concentrate on the story or theme inspired by one of the older people and prepared a Powerpoint presentation. These presentations will be shared with the older people and with the other Year 6 children at the school.
Many memories were sparked by the older people talking together and with the residential home staff while preparing for the project. They enjoyed talking to the children about their lives and the children were extremely engaged and interested. The children asked many questions and the interaction with the older people was stimulating and exciting for everyone. The older people’s memories inspired the children to do some background research into aspects of their stories and their presentations will record this. The older people felt valued and useful when passing on their stories to the younger generation. The children learned about how life was in their area in the first half of the 20th century.”
Frances O’Conor one of our Contributors http://www.wisearchive.co.uk/projects/untitled/65/
‘Reproduced courtesy of the Eastern Daily Press’ www.edp24.co.uk
“I am little worried that he has lost a few pounds and he looks tired,” said Francis O’Connor, who lives in Thetford.
She was naturally beaming at the success of her grandson – the former EastEnders star who won the public vote on Friday ahead of tennis legend Martina Navratilova.
Mrs O’Connor said: “I have loved every minute of Joe on the show. We have watched it every night and I am so very proud of him because what you see is what you get – and that is Joe all over. I think that is why he has been popular and not been voted out as he is not playing a game, he is just being himself.”
And Mrs O’Connor admitted even she had been surprised by some of her grandson’s antics on the show.
“Until the other night, I never knew he could cope with heights,” said Mrs O’Connor, referring to one of the jungle trials that saw her grandson suspended more than 100 feet in the air.
She said seeing Joe in the jungle had been wonderful: “It has been absolutely amazing watching him and I have been on the edge of my seat. He has surprised even me with how well he has done in some of the tasks.
“He knew what he was letting himself in for when he went on the show. But he didn’t have any ulterior motives, he just wanted to do it for the experience.”
Mrs O’Connor added: “His mother is immensely proud of him and just wants to see him when he comes home and cook him a roast dinner, like she promised. We are a very close family and we do miss him.”
Wanted: Memories of life in Norfolk
December 16, 2008
The Shufflebottom Family and their Wild West Show
Norfolk Evening News Article 14.12.08
http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/search/story.aspx?brand=ENOnline&category=News&itemid=NOED13%20Dec%202008%2009:33:42:243&tBrand=ENOnline&tCategory=search
14 December 2008 08:00
Everybody has a story to tell and a team of volunteers are working hard to give people the chance to share theirs with other people.
An archive has been set up to record the memories and stories of people over 50 and help build up a picture of what life is like in the county and to recognise the contribution people have made to society.
The WISEArchive’s team of volunteers go out and record the stories of elderly people and place a transcription of their memories online.
People can then search the electronic archives to find stories of the working lives of older people, in a growing catalogue of occupations.
The recordings are kept at based at Norfolk Sounds Archive in County Hall’s record centre, which is open to the public.
Running for the past two years, the team’s 20 volunteers have already built up a collection of nearly 50 stories on their website, some with archive pictures.
However, they would like help to collect even more.
Chairwoman Pauline Weinstein said: “People think the world has changed and forget the past but people have made a lifetime contribution that needs to be remembered for both personal and historical reasons.
“We can learn a lot a lot by looking back at the working life and contributions of the elderly.”
Going from strength to strength, the archive was recently awarded £500 from the Norfolk Community Foundation Grassroots Fund to buy new sound recorders.
The team is also looking to recruit new volunteers to interview people. People interested in the opportunity to volunteer or share their story should email wise.p@fsmail.net.
To read people’s stories, visit the WISEArchive website at www.wisearchive.co.uk.
Have you got a story to tell? Call Evening News reporter Rob Garratt on 01603 772439 or email rob.garratt@archant.co.uk
Two tales of Norfolk life
On of the newest additions to archive is the story of Margaret Wilby.
The 71-year-old grew up in New Costessey in the 1950s before travelling the country with her family working on the circus, counting money and tickets when she was just nine years old.
Her first paid job was filling the small blue packets found in crisp packets by hand, before working in the City Treasurer’s office. Later she worked at Jarrolds printing works, Mann Egerton, and Jarrolds department store.
She said: “My working history starts as a young teenager in New Costessey near Norwich in the 1950s. But as my mother was a member of a circus family, we were travelling around the country with a Wild West Show at the end of the War – my father helped booking sites and also had side stalls on the fair grounds, so packing up and cashing up procedures every night meant that as children we were involved in helping almost from the cradle.
“My first job was when I was still at school at Papmax crisp factory at the top of Gurney Road where I lived in Costessey. Night times and weekends we used to have a big tin of Cerebos salt and some blue waxed paper and a tiny spoon. We used to have to spoon the salt onto the paper, twist it and do the whole tin for ten shillings. It took ages – but ten shillings was a lot of money, people only earned two pounds a week.”
Helen Hutson was born in Norwich and joined Jarrolds department stores in the 50s because her father worked there.
She said: “I worked on and off for years. I got a job as a Saturday girl earning 12 and 6. Then during the holidays as a student I worked in various departments as holiday jobs. As a Saturday girl, I worked in the art department. Jarrolds still has an art department, but it was much bigger then. It was very busy.
“In the art department, everything was behind in a display case. There was nothing out for anybody to pick up, so everybody had to come to an assistant to ask for what they wanted or what they thought they wanted or for your advice. So you had to know a lot about the stock so that you could advise people on what you had or what they needed.
“I used to work in the restaurant quite a lot, clearing tables and waiting on people. I think that’s where I got my taste for catering, when I got involved in the restaurant. It would be like a show – you would get to 10 o’clock and the hoards would descend for their first coffee of the day because everybody ate at Jarrolds. So you were really non stop till about 4.30pm.
“Jarrolds made their contribution to the city, I think it’s because its family run. The Jarrolds are well known and they contribute a great deal to Norfolk and Norwich, to the arts and all sorts of organisations – if you look at the list of sponsorship, you’ll always see the Jarrolds name. I think it has been a pivotal store in Norwich. It has been in the forefront of change. I reckon that if you need something a little bit out of the ordinary, I still believe that you could find it somewhere in Jarrolds.”
Community Archives Conference
October 16, 2007
Community Archives Conference 07 WISEArchive recently attended the Community Archives Conference. They undertook a study of the “impact of community archives in the UK” and their findings are published in the above link. WISEArchive contributed as one of their case studies.
Article
September 24, 2007
ARC (Archive, Records Management & Conservation (Aug 07) As part of the Special Repositories Group publication for August 07, various archives were featured, WISEArchive amongst them.
