Heathland story book

November 8, 2018

A dedicated team of ten heathland heritage volunteers have begun to create stories for a heathland heritage book aimed at 7-11 year olds. The stories have unfolded through oral history and archive research tasks carried out by the volunteers.

At the beginning of 2018 Heathland Reunited heritage volunteers signed up to go out into the community to interview local residents about their local heath. The recorded interviews, known as ‘oral history’ have revealed new stories. Some volunteers also took part in archival research – delving deep in to museum archives trying to uncover forgotten secrets from the past.

The volunteers have now completed writing up the stories and are working with an illustrator and editor to create a story book sharing their favourite stories for children aged 7-11. This fits with the project’s ethos of connecting local communities with these sites.

The stories focus around seven heathland sites and include exploits of a highwayman, a fisherman’s unhappy tale and the life of a World War 2 evacuee.