It’s been great fun bringing children and care home residents together for the first time this month to explore Lowestoft’s folk heritage. The children have already found out so much from the adults, and so many snippets of family customs and traditions have been shared.
This month, the first pairing of the project saw school pupils from Oulton Broad primary school begin a series of visits to Broadland Care Home residents.
Before meeting, Oulton Broad primary school children made individual peg dolls as gifts for care home residents, and Broadland Care Home residents created a poem based on their experience of tea time as children, alongside artist, Caitlin Howells.
Together, residents and children enjoyed time with creative writer, Lynn Whitehead exploring old phrases and sayings, customs and traditions. This resulted in a wonderful afternoon and a bit of a sing song! They also enjoyed a visit from storyteller, Liam Carroll, who wrote and told an original story based around the collections in Lowestoft Museum.
When asked to explain why he wanted to take part, Jenson, a pupil at participating school, Oulton Primary, said: “Lowestoft is where I was born, my family and history belongs here. I would love to find out more about my home town.”
Roy, a resident at Broadlands Care Home in Lowestoft loved the first session with the children: “I thought that was lovely, mixing with the children. It brings it all back to you.”
Another resident, Hazel, took part in the session with her adult daughter, who was visiting. At the end of the session the daughter told us, “My mum’s just told me she’s had a lovely afternoon, she really enjoyed it.”
Lowestoft Folk is generously supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and Lowestoft Rising and is being delivered in partnership with Lowestoft Museum and the Maritime Museum.
The full two-year long project, will see our artists lead school pupils and care home residents in a creative exploration of artefacts and stories found in Lowestoft Museums. Groups of pupils from four Lowestoft schools, including Oulton Broad Primary, Pakefield Primary and Roman Hill Primary will each be paired with a nearby residential care home in the area.
From next summer, we will also be holding family storytelling events and workshops for the general public in Lowestoft, as well as running touring exhibitions of the work created by participants.
In addition to the four schools directly involved in the project, we will be delivering special storytelling events to other schools in the area.
It’s great to see the project get off to such an enjoyable start, we’re hoping that being creative together like this will inspire us all to connect with Lowestoft’s rich cultural heritage and help strengthen relationships in our communities.
For more information about the project, visit our project page.