Migration Stories

Migration Stories is a new project which is recording stories of moving into the East Midlands from within the UK and further afield.

Having received funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, Renaissance East Midlands and Igniting Ambition, we are recording stories of people from a wide variety of groups and communities who have moved into the East Midlands since the end of the Second World War. These may be people who have moved to find jobs or education, or who are fleeing persecution or war, or who have decided to make the East Midlands a place for retirement. Working with the groups the project provides recording equipment and training in how to use it, and how to carry out interviews.

Have a look at some of the videos and information about the participating groups on the project website here - http://www.migrationstories.co.uk/

This web page will document the progress of the project over the next couple of years. In the summer of 2010 the project manager, Colin Hyde, visited festivals in Derby, Leicester & Nottingham in the 'Nanoplex' cinema to promote the project and show film of migrant communities from the collections of the Media Archive for Central England (MACE). Over 300 people attended these screenings.

Colin welcomes you to one of the smallest cinemas in the UK. He will be back again with the Nanoplex in July 2011 at the SO festival in Skegness!

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Groups who will be taking part include:

National Sikh Heritage Centre & Holocaust Museum, Derby - will record stories of Sikhs who have come to live in Derby

Nottingham Chinese Welfare Association - will record stories of people who have come from China to settle in Nottingham.

The Friends of Thringstone - will record stories of coal miners who came to the village from Scotland and the North East of England in the 1960s.

St Matthews Church, Skegness - many people in the town come from outside Skegness.

The Malawi Association, Northampton - a small but well organised community in Northampton.

Cosby Heritage Centre - not just Scots who have moved to Corby!

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Thringstone - November 2010 saw a 'bring a photo' session at the Thringstone Members Club. This photo of the Thringstone Rangers Supporters Club football team c.1975 kicked things off as people tried to identify all the players.

The recorded interviews tell the story of the early 1960s when coal miners from Scotland and the North East of England migrated to the Thringstone area to work in the local mines.

A housing estate was built for the newcomers featuring street names like Kelso Court and Melrose Road to help people feel at home!

Eventually the Rangers Supporters Club, now the Thringstone Members Club, was built as a place for people to meet.

The project finished at the Thringstone Heritage Fair on Saturday 4th June 2011.

	Above: the Migration Stories folder, full of fascinating information! Above left: Colin Hyde of EMOHA and Ann Petty of the Friends of Thringstone Left: The final video on the small screen Congratulations to all involved with the project!

The final video will be presented on the Empedia website very soon. Watch this space!

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Nottingham - at the beginning of February 2011 the Chinese Welfare Association have completed 18 interviews with members of the Association. Jocelin Zhou conducted many of the interviews as well as translating them from Cantonese, and we are now in the process of editing them. The Chinese New Year on 5th February provided memorable music and dragon dancing.

We celebrated the end of the project with a viewing and lunch at the NCWA.

These are some of the people who were interviewed, or created the videos, for the project. Congratulations to everyone who took part!

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The Nanoplex - again!

In July 2011 Colin headed to the SO festival, Skegness, to show some of the Migration Stories films in the newly painted Nanoplex. Over 100 people watched the videos, along with film of Skegness from the collections of MACE.

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National Sikh Heritage Centre & Holocaust Museum, Derby - in autumn 2011. Interviews have been recorded interviews and will be edited soon.

Signing the forms after an interview in the Holocaust Museum.

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Malawi Association in Northampton - autumn 2011. Have now started their interviews.

The various Malawi associations across the East Midlands often meet for football matches.

Clement and the lads make sure there are plenty of biscuits to help with the editing!

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St Matthew's Church, Skegness

A cold morning/afternoon at the beginning of March 2012 saw interviews taking place at St Matthew's Church in Skegness. Hot drinks and cake saw everyone survive the experience of being interviewed by local historian Jill Caine. The next stage is to get some shots of Skegness after Easter when holiday makers will be in the town.

Another shot of the Nanoplex at the So Festival, Skegness, 2011.

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Corby Heritage Centre

A picture of industrial Corby from the Heritage Centre display.	Group picture after the interviews.
Lynda asked all the questions	John was town crier and this was his bell.

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A selection of past projects with a migration theme in the East Midlands:

‘NOW WE’RE HERE’ BY GEOFF SADLER. Book published 2005. Memories and experiences of people who have come to make their home in Chesterfield from many parts of the world. Approximately 20 interviews.

‘The Voyage’. The Open Doors Forum is helping 30 young people capture for posterity the stories of their ancestors who travelled from the Caribbean and Africa to Derby in the 1950s.

Calabash Project. Based in Leicester the project will be collecting oral histories from African Caribbean people about the herbal remedies, foods and beauty products that were used and how they have developed over the years.

Highfields Remembered covers the history of the Highfields region of Leicester and contains memories of local people as well as a good photo archive. Have a look here: http://highfields.dmu.ac.uk/recollections.html

Legacy of Partition explores the legacy of Partition 1947-8 by gathering the memories of local people who lived through the upheaval of Partition, and the creation of East and West Pakistan, and who now live in Leicester, Leicestershire or Rutland.

Leicester Jewish Voices is a reminiscence writing project which also used oral history to record memories of the Jewish Community in Leicester during the 1940s and 50s. Have a look at the website here: http://www.leicesterjewishvoices.co.uk/index.html

Preserving Asian Heritage. An oral history project carried out by the East Midlands Economic Network Ltd in 2005/2006. The project tells the story of the Asian Diaspora from Uganda and the arrival of these people in the UK and in particular Leicester.

The Northamptonshire Black History Project aims to record and promote the histories and stories of Northamptonshire's Black communities and individuals over at least the past 500 years. For more information about the Project have a look at the website: http://www.northants-black-history.org.uk/.

The Nottinghamshire Living History Archive Millennium Awards Scheme operated from 1999 to 2002. Examples of themes covered by the projects include the Ukrainian community in Nottingham, childhood games, Clipstone and Manton collieries, evacuees in Nottinghamshire, and the Mansfield business community.

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