Put your oar in about Southend seaside history

October 7, 2015 by Southend Borough Council

Put your oar in about Southend seaside history

Thursday 8th October 2015

Have you got some sparkling seaside stories from way back when in Southend-on-Sea?

Now is the chance to add your voice to a nationwide heritage project.

Southend locals keen on seaside history are invited to join a focus group for an innovative scheme initiated by Scarborough Museums Trust with the help of Southend Museums Service.

The session at Southend’s Beecroft Art Gallery in the old Southend Central Library building, Victoria Avenue, Southend, on Wednesday 28th October between 1.30pm and 3.30pm, will be led by Tracy Craggs, a member of the Oral History Society.

It is part of a special Seaside Heritage Project to link coastal museums around the country to help develop their collections around this theme and establish a network of museums, organisations and individuals with seaside heritage collections and expertise.

Funded via the Museums Association by the Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund which aims to broaden access to and use of museum collections - the project is headed in Scarborough by Seaside Heritage Project Officer Esther Graham.

She said: “We need people who are interested in participating in a focus group. This will be a session led by an oral historian and the aim is to get eight to ten people to discuss some key topics relating to seaside heritage.

“We’d like to talk to people who have lived in seaside towns for a number of years, and not necessarily those who may have an interest in history. There will be a number of sessions taking place at different sites. They will provide key information in the development of our research into seaside heritage and what it means to people in the towns.

“This will in turn inform how museum collections are developed around this theme, helping us identify what people think we should be collecting in museums, and where the gaps are.”

Anyone interested in taking part is asked to contact Esther Graham on 01723 384515 or esther.graham@smtrust.uk.com