Concentrate on.... Leodis

The Burley Champions project is being assisted by a number of project partners, including Leodis, which is Leeds City Council's official photographic archive. Leodis has almost 2000 photographs with a connection to Burley which would can browse for free on their web site. (www.leodis.net)

As you can see from this photo of hardworking Burley Champions, the children have been researching some of the most interesting archive photographs from the Leodis archives and will be uploading them to the project's Historypin collection. Some of the images may also be used in the film that the children are helping to make.

We are very grateful to Leodis for making their images available to us for this project.

Big thanks to the volunteers!

12 people have signed up to the project as volunteers so far. Two of the volunteers, Erin and Jessie are recent graduates. Jessie has a marketing background and helped us to set up this blog! Erin is a real history enthusiast and she has become an essential member of the project team, doing huge amounts of research for the project and coming up with great activities for the Burley Champions. As you can see from the photo, Erin has a wonderful way of exciting children about local history - we can honestly say the project would not be the same without her support and help!

Older and younger generations work together

Most of the workshops have been taking place at Rosebank Primary School, itself an attractive, Victorian building constructed with the typical red brick of Burley.  Not surprisingly, many of our oral history interviews remember the school from when they were children.

The Burley Champions have been trained in how to conduct oral history interviews and in how to use film and video cameras to record them. Here a wonderful group of older residents share their experiences, enthralling the young interviewees with stories of their own childhoods in Burley.

A big thank you to all the people coming forward to make the project a success!

Questions! Questions! Questions!

The Burley Champions are all young volunteers from Burley Primary School and they are putting in lots of hard work at lunchtimes, after school and at weekends to learn more about Burley's history. It's an intergenerational project which brings together children with older local residents to share their memories about Burley. The children have an endless curiosity about the area and there are always lots of questions! Our first oral history interviewee, Mr. Mubashar Khwarazmi, has become an active volunteer on the project, helping out at many of the workshops and study trips.

Documenting Burley

Burley still has a rich heritage of buildings in many styles. Children from Rosebank Primary School are are keen to record and preserve evidence of Burley's history. For example, Burley Branch library was built in 1926 and is still in use today!

If you have favourite places and memories of Burley, and would like to share your stories and old photos with the children, do let us know. http://www.rosebank.leeds.sch.uk/

We are making a film!

Although the project only started a couple of weeks ago, what a great experience the Burley Champions are already having! With help from workshop leader, Meena Jeewa, and filmmaker, Simon Collins, the children have already learned a lot about oral history interview techniques and about how to record them using state of the art video cameras and sound recording equipment. Our first interviewee was local resident, Mr. Mubashar Khwarazmi, who inspired the children with stories about his own life and memories of Burley.

If you or members of your family have memories of Burley, do get in touch with the school (0113 243 3497)  - you may end up in our film!

 

Thoughts from our funder!!

In a recent press release, Fiona Spiers, who is Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund in Yorkshire and the Humber, kindly said this about our project:

“The Burley Champions project will enable young people to explore their local heritage and discover the fascinating stories behind the buildings and communities in the Burley area. This project will give them a host of new skills, boost their confidence and create a sense of place in their community and with their peers.”

We are glad she is excited about the project - we are too!!   In fact no matter where we look, we keep realising how special Burley's heritage is - just look at the lovely detailing on this building next to the school!