Community gatherers

This project was funded by a National Archives innovation grant.  We commissioned 9 local 'community gatherers'  to document Gloucester's black and ethnic minority communities and produce new, diverse material for our collections.   

Several of the 'gatherers' wished to undertake oral history interviews. After receiving training on interview techniques, documentation and using the equipment, they recorded interviews with a total of 18 people, mainly from the black and Asian communities centred around Barton Street.  Topics discussed included weddings and marriage, education and schooling, life experiences and Barton Street as a community. 

Other community gatherers built on their experience of film production to create, in all, seven films for the project.  These looked at Gloucester's first black owned shop, mosque and inter-racial marriage; new opportunities for worship created by Gloucester's West Indian community; the contribution to the NHS of the Windrush generation in Gloucester; Colwell grammar school for girls- now closed; and a filmed interview with a 90 year old, originally from India, and her two daughters.