A reminiscence project for retired people …with a twist!
Whether you spent your working life making chronometers, inspecting stockings, in an office, bottling marmalade or looking after and making clothes for your children…If you enjoy sharing your stories and experiences, we would love you to take part.
Ballito stockings packet from the 1960s. Many people have memories of the Ballito factory in St Albans.
Over six two-hour sessions we’ll talk about things that were made in our district, and the hard graft that took place! We’ll have fun looking at objects and photographs. We may even meet up with a few old colleagues, and we are sure to make some new friends!
We are delighted that BUSKIN (Hilary Dawson & Sarah Mackay) will be working with us on this project. Buskin work with community groups of all ages, using active and dynamic techniques to bring memories and experiences to life.
Through the six weeks each person will make something relating to their own experiences, it could be made from a simple photograph, chunky metalwork or the daintiest of fabrics. These individual pieces will become part of a larger art work which will be displayed at the Museum of St Albans in celebration of all of your stories. There will be plenty of help and encouragement (if any is needed!). Materials and refreshments will be provided.
Our Shopping Reminiscence box, also available for loan
If you are free on Thursday mornings between February 3rd and March 17th 2011, and would like to be part of the group which will meet at the Museum on those dates, please let us know as soon as possible as spaces are limited. Please contact Elanor Cowland at the Museum of St Albans, tel: (01727)819580, or email: elanor.cowland@stalbans.gov.uk
Steam train at St. Albans City Station.
The Museum of St Albans is holding an exhibition to commemorate and celebrate the ‘Lost Rails’ of Hertfordshire, a number of which are now being used as cycleways, footpaths and bridleways. This project focuses on the heritage of six of these branch lines: the Ayot Greenway, Alban Way, Nicky Line, Ebury Way, Cole Green Way and Buntingford Line.
London Road Station in 1867. This station was part of the Hatfield to St Albans branch of the Great Northern Railway line.
We would be interested in hearing from anyone who has memories of these routes, either when they were still railways or since they were closed. We are particularly interested in talking to people who worked on the lines, used them to get to work, lived alongside them, or recall any interesting incidents that occurred on them.
Postcard showing Hill End Asylum with the railway tracks leading towards the hospital in the left foreground, postmarked 1904.
If you would like to share your memories, or lend any photographs or other objects associated with these lines to the museum for the exhibition, please contact Rosalyn Goulding at the Museum of St Albans on 01727 819581 or ros.goulding@stalbans.gov.uk, or write to:
The Museum of St Albans, 9a Hatfield Road, St Albans, Herts, AL1 3RR.
This exhibition, postponed from 2009, is now being held from September 2010 at the Museum of St Albans as part of a Heritage Lottery Funded Project and in partnership with Groundwork Hertfordshire.
- Visit Groundwork Hertfordshire's website (this link will open in a new window)
- Learn more about the work of the Heritage Lottery Fund (this link will open in a new window)
After a very snowy start to the year we're hoping that things are starting to get back to normal now (although the forecasts suggest we might not have seen the last of the snow for this year yet...). One of the things we're really excited about for the new year is the return of our Reminiscence Coffee Mornings. We did run a series of 6 of these coffee mornings at the start of last year and they were a great success so it is really great to have got this up and running again.
Our Shopping Reminiscence box, also available for loan
Reminiscence is often a lot of fun - for the museums staff as well as members of the public! - and even young children love to do it. It can also be a good opportunity for parents of all ages to share their memories with their children and tell them what it was like when they were their age.
Ballito stockings packet from the 1960s. Many people have memories of the Ballito factory in St Albans.
The coffee mornings are purposely relaxed and informal and give anyone who wants to the opportunity to come into the museum, relax with a cup of tea and a biscuit and handle objects and photographs from the 1930s, 40s, 50s, and 60s. If you would like to bring your own objects and pictures to show people and talk about, that would be wonderful.
Children at Abbey Primary School, St Albans , c.1955
You can click below if you would like to download the flyer with details of dates and themes for the first six coffee mornings we have planned. These details are also availble on our Diary page.
