Plans Laid For Collecting Memories
Following receipt of the substantial funds last month the Trustees moved quickly to purchase top-line equipment, such as that used by leading museums, to enable them to record residents recollections of their early life in Welwyn Garden City. First priority is to teach volunteers how to use the equipment and to organise protocols for interviewing residents with stories to tell.
Training will involve familiarisation with the recording equipment, it is basically a clever tape recorder, and learning how to run an interview so as to maximise the information content while keeping the subject relaxed. Where interviews are being done with very elderly or vulnerable residents great care is needed and this will form part of the training.
The interviews will be stored on flash cards so that they can be edited and transcribed if required, but they can also be downloaded onto computer to form an oral archive of the early days of Welwyn Garden City. If you have memories you would like to record for posterity we would like to hear from, although to start with we are most interested in pre-World War II memories. Alternatively, if you have a relative or a friend who you think has special recollections of the architecture and life of the town please ask them to to get in touch. We would prefer first hand memories but second hand ones can be equally interesting and informative.
Christopher Cory is in charge of the programme so if you want to help, or contribute your recollections of the early days of our town, email him at