Memory Bank Highlights
Some Memory Bank Highlights
The yellow van on tour
In December 1999, in an imaginative venture, the Memory Bank Van, dressed in a vivid yellow livery, took to the road and toured the region stopping at a number of towns and villages. As a result of this tour the Memory Bank team gathered suggestions for about 30 projects.
Millennium Memory questionnaire
In a further initiative, in summer 2000 the Memory Bank team issued a Millennium Memory Questionnaire. According to the responses from adults, technology, television, war and medical advances had made the greatest impact on life in the 20th century. When asked to look to the future, respondents said that transport changes, information and communication technology and changes in business practice and industry were likely to have a major impact on life in the Borders.
Although the questionnaire was intended as a light-hearted venture, it had the added bonus of prompting many of the respondents to submit a story as well as answers to the questionnaire. All of the responses and stories have been recorded in the Memory Bank.
Snapshots from the past
The Borders has a rich photographic heritage. The Robert D Clapperton Photographic Archive is a particularly valuable source of Borders memories and in 1999 the Memory Bank was awarded a grant from SCRAN (Scottish Cultural Resources Access Network) to help the Clapperton Archive digitise a selection of 250 of its images.
Millennium Memories, A Celebration of Life in the Scottish Borders – As a precursor to the memory bank web site a CD Rom, containing over ** memories was produced in 2000. Copies of the CD ROM are available by contacting Scottish Borders Council Archive and Local History Service
The main focus of the work of the Memory Bank was the creation of the web site www.memorybank.org.uk which was launched in April 2001. The original site was established to bring the work of the Memory Bank to as wide an audience as possible and featured 268 individual stories, 200 hours of sound and over 700 images representing the work and skills of over 350 volunteers. The website was very successful attracting many visitors, about 30% of whom were international.
Technical problems in July 2005 resulted in the site being temporarily closed while a new operating solution was found. The site came back on line in November 2006 and is currently being managed through the Council’s Archive and Local History Service which will operate from the Heritage Hub, the new Archive and Local History Centre in Hawick which is will open in spring 2007.
Unified Solutions.