Community involvement

It wouldn’t be a community history project without the people of the community and so it’s vital that as many people as possible are involved – even if it’s in a small or occasional way.

Young people can be more difficult to encourage to participate but there are opportunities to link up with local schools to share knowledge and experience and encourage children to explore new ways of learning. Porthcurno Museum, through its education officer, last year ran a D-Day project involving local people who had wartime experiences to share.

One woman, who had previously been recorded as part of the oral history project, talked to a group of school children about moving to Cornwall from Yorkshire as a Land Girl and her war service working on the farms. Another spoke about being a child during the war while another woman, who’d been a WAAF, told the children about her life during the war. After that children were encouraged, as part of a literacy project, to write diaries and poetry, imagining that they too, were children during the Second World War. The project highlighted the benefits of inter-generational work and just how good it is for youngsters to understand the past from those who have experienced it. It also gives the older members of the community a rewarding experience.

More mature people are often enthusiastic about involvement. At St Levan we found that a good number of the early retired were keen to join in, bringing with them valuable computer, research and writing skills. The older members of the parish were also anxious to be a part of things, sharing photographs and memories and also, for some, taking an active part in research and writing.

The benefits of bringing people together through a community goal are manifold. It builds or reinforces strong bonds of friendship and co-operation, it stimulates thought and activity and it can even build links between those who perhaps haven’t been that close in the past, establishing mutual respect.

There are additional opportunities for outreach such as giving talks at lunch clubs or clubs for the over 50s, taking ‘handling boxes’ of thought-provoking old items or photographs, and encouraging audience participation and reminiscence.


Image: Researching the past

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