Oral History and Sport Presentation

2. A Lasting Difference for
Heritage and People: HLF
and Sporting Stories
Eithne Nightingale
& Jo Reilly

3. • HLF funded first oral
history project in 1998
• Awarded over £80 million
to more than 3100
projects with a strong oral
history focus
• 77% led by community
and voluntary groups
Oral History

4. Why ddoo wwee ffuunndd oorraall hhiissttoorryy??
•Fills gaps in historical evidence & secures history at risk
•Uncovers hidden histories of the marginalised
“Little is known about the history of deaf tennis and
the educational, cultural, community and sign
language influences that have all played a big role in deaf
people playing tennis since early this century.”
Mr Whalley, two-time National Deaf Tennis
Championships Men’s Single winner

5. Why ddoo wwee ffuunndd oorraall hhiissttoorryy??
• Documents changes in local industry, agriculture or
everyday practices such as sporting culture
• Encourages intergenerational & intercultural
understanding
• Enriches understanding and encourages empathy
• Challenges stereotypes
• Contributes to a sense of well being, place and identity
• Enlivens other heritage – galleries, websites
• Empowers local communities

6. Oral History projects – huge range
• Our Green Street in Newham, London
• Keeping the Hippodrome Story Alive in Falkirk
• Memories of Italian community in the UK
• 50 years of mental health heritage in Richmond
• Travellers in Scotland
• Immigration to Greater Pollock Area of Glasgow
• LGBT Jewish communities
• South Asians at Oxford University
• Steel workers in Rotherham

7. Our Heritage grant: History of British Deaf
Tennis
William Smith, GB Deaf
tennis player, 1935-1957
• Mainly deaf volunteers from
the British Deaf Association
• Researched archives and
memorabilia from 1915
• 100 recordings in Wimbledon
Lawn Tennis Museum
• DVD, education resource,
exhibition seen by 10,000

8. Young Roots grant: Tribal: Social, historical
impact of boxing
Explored relationship of boxing to crime, ethnic identity,
youth clubs and East End entertainment scene

9. Tribal: Social, historical impact of boxing
• Young people interviewed older
members of the Geezer Club &
London Ex-Boxers Association
after oral history training by The
Bishopsgate Institute
• Tours of boxing heritage sites and
film research
• Outputs include 10 short films,
scripted dramatisations, oral history
based documentaries and music
videos

10. Our Heritage grant: Ipswich Town Football Archive

11. Our Heritage grant: Ipswich Town Football
Archive
• Catalogued archive of programmes, trophies,
documents, images, audio recordings and memorabilia
• Trained volunteers carried out oral histories work with
Suffolk residents, including people in sheltered housing
• Existing and new oral histories digitised and made
available online
• Permanent exhibition created in IFTC stadium.

12. Young Roots grant: Sporting Sisters: Stories of
Muslim Women in Sport
• Young women (16 yrs +)
explored hidden history of
Muslim women’s participation
since 1948
• Training by London
Metropolitan University and
link with Women’s Library
• 40 oral history interviews

13. Our Heritage grant: No Game for Girls: A history
of women’s football in the First World War

14. No Game for Girls: A history of women’s
football in the FWW
• Social history of women who worked in munitions
factories and set up football teams in Coventry
• Anti-Women’s Football Company that led to an FA
ban for 50 years
• Draws on archives but also collects ‘stories from
families for a digital archive.’
• Outputs – touring exhibition, documentary film, online
social media, seminars and a football match

15. A lasting difference for
heritage and people
HLF will award £375m a
year in new grants through
to 2018
But there is a competitive funding
environment
Good practice guidance to help

16. Planning and mmaannaaggiinngg yyoouurr oorraall hhiissttoorryy
pprroojjeecctt –– rreellaattee ttoo HLF strategic objectives
Heritage outcomes
•Better managed
•In better condition
•Better interpreted and explained
•Identified/recorded e.g. intangible heritage at risk
Outcomes for people
•Learnt about heritage
•Developed skills
•Changed attitudes and behaviour
•Had an enjoyable experience
•Volunteered time

17. Planning aanndd mmaannaaggiinngg yyoouurr oorraall hhiissttoorryy
pprroojjeecctt –– rreellaattee ttoo HLF strategic objectives (2)
Outcomes for community/society
•Environmental impacts will be reduced
•More people and a wider range of people will have
engaged with heritage
•Organisations will be more resilient
•Local economies will be boosted
•Local areas/communities will be a better place to live,
work or visit

18. How does it relate to HLF strategic outcomes?
‘heritage better identified or recorded’ e.g. the history of Rugby
League
‘heritage better interpreted and explained’ e.g. new online exhibition of
disabled people’s involvement in sport shared appreciated
Trainees or volunteers may have ‘developed skills’ in oral history
Different communities working on the use of a sporting venue by
different clubs may change ‘attitudes or behaviour’ to one another
Recruiting a diverse range of volunteers may result in
‘new and a wider range of people’ exploring heritage for the first time.

19. Planning and mmaannaaggiinngg oorraall hhiissttoorryy pprroojjeeccttss
What is the theme – how
prescriptive?
Is there an interest or demand?
- research into other projects
and on BL sound archive
- does it fill a gap?
- show evidence of interest
beyond the project team

20. Recruiting interviewers
• Who will interview people – oral historians or
volunteers?
• What background and experience do they need?
• How relevant is the background - gender, class,
ethnicity?
• Will interpretation or translation be required?
• What training and mentoring is needed?

21. Recruiting participants
Need to specify
-How to recruit people to be interviewed?
-Interviews – number, length
-Number of summaries
-Number of transcriptions
-Will interviewees have special needs – people with
disabilities, language needs?
-Will you have all the interview consent agreements in
place?

22. Right equipment and software
• Audio or video? – advantages and disadvantages
• Get up to date advice e.g. from Oral History Society
• Need to record in non compressed.WAV files
• Use of stereo and external microphones
• Need to be backed up onto more than one hard drive
and copies made
• Copy to MP3 for transcribing

23. Interview material
•Where will it be deposited and will it be accessible?
•Who is best placed to keep it - community or local
archive, sports club, museum or library?
•If external do you have a deposit agreement?
•If kept internally do you have the necessary skills?
•Are archiving costs in the budget?

24. The importance of partnerships
• To engage with the client group
• To bring in specialist expertise – Oral History Society,
universities, NGOs, museums, libraries and archives
• To deposit material – museums, archives
• Need evidence of partnerships
- Letters of support
- Written letters of agreement on roles
• Other partners might include
– Artists and multi-media specialists
– Communities - letting people know when
testimonies are used

25. Public outputs - engagement with oral histories
•Exhibition – link with objects, photographs and archive
material
•Gallery installations
•Sports events
•Theatre performances
•Music performances
•Educational materials
•Walking tour
•App

26. Costs
• Don’t underestimate – oral history is time intensive
• Training and mentoring: 3 – 5 days?
• Oral historian and/or volunteer costs – need to show
public benefit
• Equipment and software
• Interpreting
• Translation
• Transcription
• Archiving possibly by a partner
• Public outputs

27. General grants
programmes
Heritage Grants
– grants £100k upwards
Our Heritage
– grants £10 - £100k
Sharing Heritage
– grants £3 – £10k

28. Heritage Lottery Fund
7 Holbein Place
London SW1W 8NR
Telephone: 020 7591 6000
Textphone: 020 7591 6255
www.hlf.org.uk
@heritagelottery