ORAL HISTORIES AND HERITAGE
As a researcher and heritage lead on a number of National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) projects, I've managed extensive collections of oral history interviews, conducted vast swathes of archival research, coordinated and written content for five published books, and delivered audio, written and ephemeral content for exhibitions.
My research on David Bowie and the local music scene informed a high profile exhibition at Kingston Museum, my oral histories on allotment gardening toured the V&A and Hampton Court Garden Festival, and I crafted the audio for an exhibition at London Zoo. The five books produced in partnership with The Community Brain and Kingston University Press are largely written by me based on interviews I have conducted regarding local heritage topics.
I've also used my British Library/Oral History Society-accredited training to pass on interviewing know-how and experience to heritage volunteers through my own training programmes.
THE COMMUNITY BRAIN: HERITAGE LEAD
Since 2018 I've worked closely with local not-for-profit The Community Brain on a number of oral history programmes for National Lottery Heritage funded projects, covering a wide range of topics including motorsports, the local industrial estate, cycling, and allotment gardening. Most recently my work on the 2024 Mini Moments project exlored the Mini Cooper being designed locally, as well as the Brabham Formula 1 team being based in the area.
Wheels of Time explored Kingston’s cycling heritage whilst ShedX looked at suburban allotment farming, with 22 interviews informing online resources and archival submissions to the local history centre, as well as high profile exhibitions – the ShedX touring 'Heritage Shed' visited Hampton Court Garden Festival and the V&A.
I also manage The Community Brain's partnership with Kingston University Press that has resulted in five books in successive years being published since 2019. All of these books are based on The Community Brain's local activity, informed by my heritage research and interviews, and are available on all major online retailers.
The most recent of these, Speed and Suburbia (2024), focused on the Kingston area's rich heritage of motorsports, with chapters based on oral interviews on the Mini Cooper being designed locally, Jack Brabham's Formula One team being based in Chessington, and land and water speeds being broken by Kingston local Donald Campbell.
Click on the covers to discover more.
The ShedX touring 'Heritage Shed', in situ at the V&A where visitors could listen to oral history content on allotment gardening.
MUSIC HERITAGE: KINGSTON RPM / AMP KINGSTON
Delivered by local arts charity Creative Youth, Kingston RPM (Records / People / Music) and AMP Kingston (Art / Music / Pop Fashion) are projects intended to explore and celebrate the rich musical and cultural heritage that can be found in the outer London borough of Kingston. These National Lottery Heritage Fund projects covered 1940s through to the present day, with strands devoted to the US Army's presence at Bushy Park during the Second World War, the Decca Records pressing plant and factory in New Malden, and the rich tapestry of live music venues across the town.
As part of leading on heritage for AMP Kingston, I co-ordinated and curated the full contents of the Bowie and Beyond exhibition at Kingston Museum which opened in March 2023 and tells the story of David Bowie launching Ziggy Stardust in a small pub in Tolworth on the south side of the borough. You can listen to me talking to BBC Radio Surrey's breakfast show about AMP Kingston here.
I also took the lead on AMP Kingston's podcast, AMPlify, in which I mentored a group of young volunteers on how to produce and deliver a podcast series.
In both projects I took responsibility for its programme of oral histories, totalling 40 interviews with residents, musicians, academics, album cover artists, writers, and journalists. As well as featuring in exhibitions, all interviews were released online and submitted to local archives.
Top: The launch event of the Bowie and Beyond exhibition
Bottom: Some of the artefacts on display