Dan, Jade, Melissa and Olly, students from Bournemouth University are bringing us a series of blogs about their work with some of our Oral History interviews.
Part one: Meet our new bloggers
Part two: From Dairy Farmer to the Dorset Game Larder
Part three: Of Kings and Countryside
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Over the last two terms, we have been researching various elements of the Bankes archives, exploring the historical potency that the oral histories relating to the Kingston Lacy estates and the Bankes family have offer. We have become conscious of finding a way to present our research so it can appreciated by a diverse audience, and as we are fast approaching our “Journey through Sound” event, we thought we would outline what to expect if you plan on attending.
We hope that our narration of audio clips, carefully selected from a diverse library of interviews related to the Bankes family and estate, presented alongside a curated series of photographs, will provide the audience with a chance to reconnect with the past, to reminisce, and to rediscover in an interactive and engaging way. Hopefully these clips will do justice in portraying what the oral history recordings have to offer, and between us, we will discuss elements such as farming, housing, schooling or gardening.
To whet your appetite ahead of the event, we thought we would share some of our favourite quotes from the interviews. These include a quote from Shirley Kerley in Shapwick village commenting on her life…
The fact is that everybody that you knew were the same as you.
There was nobody airing and gracing it
There was none of this trying to keep up with the Jones’s as the old saying (goes)
They also include Mrs Marge Cherrett commenting on her experience rationing during the war.
We never had so much food. My mother used to put all our sugar in our own pots
Throughout the course of the year many life lessons have been learnt listening to the interviews and we look forward to presenting our portrayal of the legacy of the Unlocking the Bankes Archive project.
The Museum café will be open during the event which will begin at 12:00pm, although you are welcome to arrive early for a chance to talk to us about our work throughout the year!
Thank you for reading this final update and we hope to see you at the event on Saturday 11th May!
fantastic work guys!