In October 2001 an exciting and innovative project started at Walsall Local History Centre - putting the recent history of Walsall people online.

The starting point for this yearlong initiative was gathering memories from people who really know about Walsall, the residents, and then underpinning these with research of sources at the Local History Centre.

Archive Education Officer, Janet Young, learns about Bodge Rug Making (picture)

To make this undertaking manageable the project has focused on three broad themes:

• Housing and living conditions in Caldmore and the Birchills
• The experiences of first generation elders who moved to Walsall from South Asia
• The changing lives of Walsall women during the 19th and 20th Centuries

The citizens of Walsall have contributed generously to this work through:

• taped interviews
• informal conversations
• the donation and loan of photographs
• a pilot project to encourage the writing of autobiographies

Trainees at Age Concern Training and a small group at the Whitehall Centre have worked to produce a word-processed account of their childhood experiences.

For Jean, David, Mike and Julie this was their first opportunity to use a computer and their IT skills have developed alongside their fascinating and honest life stories.

This autobiographical work will enhance general understanding of the real lives of Walsall people while the authors have created a family heirloom to be handed down to future generations.

The Walsall Local History Centre Internet Project is a celebration of individual working class experiences of living in Walsall and provides a window on the past for younger generations.

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