More about me

I’ve always loved history and in 1997 was employed as a research assistant looking into the local hosiery and knitwear industry.
Part of my job was to encourage people to talk about their working lives. I had never had much of an interest in oral history before embarking on this particular project but once I began collecting an archive of memories, I became hooked!
These snippets of people’s lives are fascinating. Respondents talked about all sorts of things including their working lives and gradually over the years a picture has been built up of life in the local area during the twentieth century.
Personal photos and photos from the Earl Shilton and Barwell Photographic Archive have also been used. The website not only includes the recorded memories but all my research which culminated in an M.Phil but also other projects I’ve been involved in over the years.
Producing the website would not have been possible without the help of Brannon Cope and the memories would never have seen the light of day without the assistance of Wayne Morris – thank you both. Rhianydd Murray