Recording memories of Hexham for future generations
20 Dec 2021 ARCHIVED (over 3 months old) - view latest news
A unique project aims to capture local residents' memories of Hexham on video which will be made available for others to view and held too for future generations.
A shout out is being made to local people to come forward with their own personal memories of the town and the people who once lived in it.
As we are approaching the Queen's 70th Jubilee it would be great to find out people’s memories of Hexham at the time of her Silver Jubilee in 1977.
1977 was also the year Star Wars was released and Elvis Presley died. The Queen's Hall was home to Bailey's Bingo Club and you could buy a car from Fewster's Garage on Priestpopple.
Would you be willing to share your memories of Hexham from the 50s, 60s, 70s or 80s? What was it like to go to school in Hexham in the days before mobile phones and computers? Did you shop or work on the high street? Where did you go for a night out?
The Hexham High Street Heritage Action Zone has commissioned a professional Video Production company to create a series of short videos of local residents sharing their memories of the town which will be made available via the County and Town Council websites and held for posterity by the Northumberland Archives.
The videos will be shot in Hexham Abbey in late January/early February next year.
County Councillor Trevor Cessford has already volunteered to be an interviewee and encourages others with stories to tell, to join him.
Councillor Cessford said:
“I was born and bred in Hexham and have great memories of growing up and working in the town, from my days as a paper boy at Denton's newsagents on Battle Hill and a butcher’s boy at Hedley's on Market Street, to working for the TSB at the Cattle Market. However, everyone's memories will be different, and it will be invaluable to create a record of this variety of memories to be held in the archives and to be available to future generations."
“This is going to be a great project for the town and will really help preserve the stories that local people have about it. While reading is great, it is always nice to listen to a person’s voice too which will help bring the stories to life.”
The Hexham HSHAZ is a £2.4 million scheme with four components to it: A Building Grants Scheme, improvements to the Public Realm, Community Engagement and a Cultural Programme.
The Hexham HSHAZ scheme runs until March 2024 and is funded by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and run by Historic England.