T he team here at Remembering the Past is proud and delighted to have been awarded the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service. The award itself is amazing but the fact that we were nominated and supported by local organisations that we hold in very high regard makes it even more special.
It’s quite strange to realise we have a history of our own now. In 2021 we’re all familiar with sharing stories, particularly through social media but let’s consider 1997 for a moment, the year we began to collect and share our collection of memories.
Boy-bands and shoulder pads were big and Kevin Keegan was the local hero – and the internet, well, what was that all about? For the team at Remembering the Past, it was the time when we began listening to and sharing the real life experiences locked in the heads of local people. We wanted all those stories that don’t get told in history books. We were beginning to turn today’s memories into tomorrow’s history.
Consider what the internet was like way back then
It was new, exciting, scary and mysterious. Few of us had a computer at home and Ipads, smartphones and social media hadn’t been invented. A group of visionary people decided to put their new memory collection ‘on-line’, out on the World Wide Web. It proved to be the perfect place to enjoy visual, oral and written recollections of life as was. An archive accessible to visitors from across the world, including many ex-pats with amazing stories to tell. Cutting edge back then!
Looking to the Future
Still hidden away in the minds of people all over North Tyneside and beyond are fascinating memories of life throughout the twentieth century. We are committed to ensuring that this priceless material is saved for future generations and that the special people who share their stories understand what an important role they can play in creating a unique resource.
We are passionate about encouraging people to realise how important their life experience is and how it can add a vibrant context to what could otherwise be just bare facts. We feel strongly that this is the way to give local communities a voice and a presence in the telling of the area’s history.
So thanks for the memories, we couldn’t have done it without you.
