HERITAGE chiefs have taken the wraps off two new online ways for Worcester residents to take a step back to the past.
Worcester City Council in partnership with Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust, has developed the new online platforms, thanks to support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
‘Life Stories – Herefordshire and Worcestershire’ and ‘Know Your Place’, provide an opportunity for reminiscing, and the revival of memories through digital archiving and online life story books.
Know Your Place Worcester at kypworcester.org.uk is a free website which gives access to hundreds of archive photos, historic maps and pieces of data about Worcester. This new easy-to-use tool will enable people to find out more about their local area, reconnect with their past and explore the city’s rich heritage.
Users will also be able to contribute their own knowledge, memories and images to the site, ensuring the content will grow and become relevant to an increasing number of people.
Alongside it, Worcester Life Stories will enable local people to capture their family history and what is important to them in an easily accessible and intuitive way, presented as a private and personal digital life story.
Authors will be able to upload photos, written and audio text, as well as videos, into their own private personal digital book. The books can be downloaded, shown as a slideshow or used interactively.
Worcester Life Stories is supported by Platform Housing, Historic England, University of Worcester Association of Dementia Studies, Worcestershire Association of Carers, Worcester Warriors, Tudor House Museum of Local Life and Bristol City Council.
Both will be launched on Saturday (April 24) from 2pm to 4.30pm.
Sheena Payne-Lunn, Worcester City Council’s Historic Environment Record Officer, has been using archive photography from the same collection as part of a series of online quizzes throughout the last year.
More than 100,000 quiz entries have been received with residents sharing memories on former shops and pubs, places of work and long-lost landmarks.
“As the lockdown quizzes have demonstrated, there’s a real appetite among current and former Worcester residents to reconnect with their past and to swap memories with others with similar experiences,” she said.
Worcester Life Stories is hosted by Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust and available to residents across both counties.
“Engaging in this type of activity has recognised benefits for our well-being. It also has the potential to enhance relationships with professionals, carers and family members as well as support care,” said Dr Natasha Lord, Lead Clinical Psychologist for Older People’s Mental Health.
Visit lifestoriesherefordshireandworcestershire.eventbrite.co.uk or e-mail [email protected] for more.
