Welcome Stories
How it all began…
In 2003, a local man Paul Speight, commissioned a photograph to be taken of local residents on the steps of Lancaster Town Hall. Paul wanted the photograph to reflect some of the diversity that he knew existed within our local population.
Around 80 people, of all ages, with many different heritages and from varied backgrounds, gathered to appear in the photograph. The photograph, together with comments from the participants, was made into a poster and became known as ‘The Welcome Poster’
The Welcome Poster brought people together and they all had something to say about welcome and belonging. Thus The Welcome Stories Project began.
What happened next…..
NCBI continued to explore the ideas and themes raised by The Welcome Poster and a group of NCBI workers and trained volunteers went out onto the streets to ask people about how welcoming they thought our district was. The written responses reflected many different experiences and provided a lot of food for thought about how people develop a sense of belonging and attachment in an area. These responses were like brief but very personal stories and provided the inspiration for the current Welcome Stories Oral History Collection.
In 2007 NCBI were awarded a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to gather up to 80 personal stories in the form of oral recordings around the themes of welcome and belonging. These are the stories that will be published on the website – find out more about the oral history project.
The Website
Welcome Stories has it’s own dedicated website: http://www.welcomestories.org.uk. Be sure to check it out!