Together with local people, stories were gathered and recorded in workshops, events and through informal conversations – a child’s tale of a factory in Gdańsk; a nightshift in a coal mine in East Durham; dancing in a social club in Zagreb and more. We worked with organised groups in specific community centres and also recorded people’s stories through chance encounters. Using a map to pinpoint individual accounts we built up an archive of site-specific memories and experiences.

In Blyth we started our mapping workshops in the local public library by recording locals describing their lives in Blyth. We joined the ‘Knit and Natter’ group and used our map to pin-point areas of Blyth that held particular personal memories. Joyce recalled her father was proud of her when she got her first job in the drapers’ department of the local Co-op; Helen reminised about the loss of the outdoor market; Astrid told us how, as a young mother, she used to catch the coach from Blyth to the women’s protest at Greenham Common. Many of the women in the group were the wives of miners and they recounted the difficulties faced during the miners strikes (1972, 74 & 84). Others gave accounts of the Blyth of their childhood, when it was as a huge commercial shipping port and boats arrived from all over the world loading and offloading goods at the docks.  

Mapping workshops

News of the project spread by word-of-mouth and others came to seek us out at the library. John, a retired school teacher, invited us to his house where we listened to his own audio collection of local stories, poems and songs. Harry an ex-miner talked of how it felt to be underground – of the hard work but also of the camaraderie between the men.

John’s archive

Iva a new arrival from London visited us and shared her perspective as a newcomer; and Tania and her friends invited us to the ‘Slix Teen Bar’ where local teenagers described their experiences of Blyth in open-mic sessions.

In Blyth we worked with groups and individuals from the local public library, the 'Knit and Natter’ group and 'Slix Teen Bar’.