Oor Stories Fae Dundee

The Young at Heart group are a group of senior ladies who come together and meet weekly at Kirkton Community Centre.  Shabnam Wasim, Community Engagement Officer (Research and Innovation Services), has been working alongside the group for some time, listening to their voices and supporting them in their aims.

Through conversation, the question was raised on how to capture stories for the younger generation in families. Ideas started flowing and, through discussion facilitated by the University, the ‘Oor Stories Fae Dundee’ project was collaboratively created.

What we wanted to achieve

The key aims within the Young at Heart group are to reduce social isolation, increase mobility, and encourage participation in community activities. This project was designed to: 

• Encourage a feeling of togetherness in the group, through shared experiences and memories.
• Strengthen community and family connections.
• Improve health and wellbeing.
• Improve basic research and writing skills.
• Produce a memoir of the past to share with future generations. 

The project in action

Over the course of the project, Jan Merchant, Senior Archivist (University Archive Services) and Shabnam Wasim facilitated discussions with the Young at Heart group, who were able to reminisce together about their lives and then write on the explored topics in their books – each week, adding another chapter into their books.

The group took part enthusiastically and used this opportunity to reconnect with loved ones, each week going away to talk to their families and returning with old photos to share. Some members contacted their family to tell them the stories, getting help to write them down. 

Week by week their books began to fill with plenty of writings, photos, and artefacts, all sprinkled with love and laughter. The ladies’ faces would light up as they remembered little snippets of memories, chatting away and smiling as they shared their past with other group members. 

The project ended with a celebratory event in which family and friends were invited to celebrate the work of the group.

Legacy

The collection of work was copied and has become part of the University’s Archives collection, ready for future research on the history of Dundee culture. Meanwhile the original work remains with the ladies so that their memories and experiences can be passed down to relatives.  There is space at end of the books for future generations to contribute their own memories, with the hope that in time it will be filled with inter-generational stories from their family line.