My current interest with local history is most definitely a product of a childhood often spent escaping the rain to visit the nearest local history museums. From Andover’s Iron Age Museum (which must have been visited on a weekly basis at one stage), to the Cambridge Folk Museum and Gressenhall Workhouse (from which a strong understanding of the clothing of a workhouse child was built – aka I always ran straight to the dressing up box). These visits gradually enabled me to develop a fascination and appreciation for the history around me and an understanding of how life and times have changed over the years and how our local histories have influenced the present day.
I went on to read History at Bristol University and subsequently worked towards a masters in Museum and Gallery studies at the University of St Andrews. These experiences honed my general interests towards the field of public engagement and exploring not just the histories of our local area, but the way in which we can encourage and help communities to engage with them. For a while I worked with English Heritage on their Youth Engagement project, using digital channels to engage younger audiences with the heritage around them. One particular campaign focussed on Local Community and History Month where we featured participants telling readers all about their favourite pieces of local history. We covered topics from rotten boroughs to villages lost to purposeful flooding, to German POW’s becoming lifetime friends with Cheshire farmers.
Since university I have tried to find as many ways as possible to further involve myself in local history. During Lockdown I explored my family’s history and started tracing them around the local area, visiting houses they used to live in, farms they used to work on, and churchyards they are now buried in. I love how this can bring your ancestors’ lives to life in such a visual way.
Last year I was lucky enough to be brought on to English Heritage’s Blue Plaque panel. Being able to read about so many fascinating people throughout history, and be part of the process for making their histories accessible to the communities in which they once lived is an experience I am relishing.
I currently work at The National Archives in their Grants and Funding department and am excited and honoured to have been asked to be a Trustee for the British Association for Local History. I hope to bring my interest and experience in public and youth engagement to the role to further inspire and engage communities in their local history.
