Spoken Histories
If you listen to Radio 4 regularly you can’t have failed to have heard the trailers for The Listening Project. The Listening Project is a partnership between BBC Radio 4, BBC local and national radio stations, and the British Library in which people are asked to share a conversation with a close friend or relative, to help to build a unique picture of our lives today. Some of these conversations will be broadcast across BBC radio and archived by the British Library, preserving them for future generations.
If you have been lucky enough to catch one of the actual programmes (many of which are still available on iPlayer) you will have hear just how powerful oral testimony can be and how it can provide extraordinary insights into the everyday lives of individuals.
Oral history has a unique ability to capture vital details and impressions that would otherwise be lost. This is why the Trust is collaborating with The Centre for Rural Economy (CRE) at Newcastle University and the British Library on Capturing Life in Practice. The project will conduct in-depth interviews to record and preserve accounts of veterinary practice within living memory, in the words of vets themselves. As with The Listening Project the recordings will be made permanently accessible at the British Library.
We also plan to use material from the recordings to invite young vets to reflect on issues that affect their work today, and to promote public understanding of the veterinary profession and its role in society.
If you are interested in finding out more, if there is someone whose story you want to bring to life, or if you can offer funding to support a specific interview, do get in touch we are waiting to hear from you!