The Beginnings
The Memory Bank Story – How It All Began
The Scottish Borders' Memory Bank was established by Scottish Borders Council as a Millennium project and was officially launched on October 19th 1998. The Council wanted to mark and celebrate the coming change of the Millennium, not in bricks and mortar, but by creating a community project that would collect and preserve memories of life in the Scottish Borders which might otherwise disappear.
The vision of the Memory Bank was to collect and record memories of life in the Scottish Borders in the twentieth and twenty first centuries and then use modern technology to make these memories available as widely and as readily as possible and as a cultural and educational resource. Along side the aim of providing access in the present was the aim of ensuring the recordings and contributions would be kept for future generations.
It was from this imaginative idea of preserving past and present memories of life in the Scottish Borders for the benefit, education and enjoyment of present and future generations that the Memory Bank came into existence.
The Memory Bank was funded by Scottish Borders Council from 1988 to 2001, and attracted significant grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund, Leader II and the Scottish Cultural Resources Access Network (SCRAN).
A spin off project, Digitising Borders Local History (DIGBY), attracted further lottery grants (from the New Opportunities Fund) to continue the work of the Memory Bank in 2002-2003.
At the Heart of the Memory Bank was community involvement and the opportunity to give individuals, from all backgrounds, all ages, and all communities in the Scottish Borders the chance to be actively involved in collecting memories important to them. The Memory Bank was also seen as a way of supporting Millennium projects already underway in many communities to record life in the Borders.
There was an enormous diversity of individuals and groups willing to share their memories of life in the Borders, from gamekeepers, weavers and children to salmon poachers, models and centenarians. All areas of the Borders from Eyemouth to Linton and from Heriot to Newcastleton have yielded memories of Borders life.
Some memories are of recent events and circumstances, others are more distant in time; some are amusing, others are poignant. Many of the memories are of public events, but others are intensely personal. What all have in common is an association with the Borders, whether past or present.
The Memory Bank projects were generated from 1 of 5 starting points
1. Individual contributions – where an individual came forward with a memory or story to share. (eg George Wood, village postman in Stow for 40 years).
2. Community contributions – where a group came forward with a definite recording outcome in mind and usually required some kind of assistance in terms of equipment, contacts or facilities (History of the Holdings – agricultural workers; evacuees; land girls; villagers; childhood memories)
3. Educational contributions – developed in partnership with schools (eg Langlee Primary School)
4. Topical contributions – a contribution generated by an interested individual with a particular research interest (eg the electronic industry in the Borders)
5. Past projects – contributions involved retrospective processing of material gathered in the past (eg Robert Clapperton Photographic Archives)
Criteria for Project Selection – before a project was sponsored by the Memory Bank it had to meet the following criteria
- was the potential contributor willing to contribute a story they have experienced at first hand?
- did the person or organisation have a link, of some sort, to the Scottish Borders?
- was there a story to tell that would be of value / interest to future generations?
- was there someone connected with the contributor who could make the recording?
Unified Solutions.