Sharing the untold stories of Andover’s ‘overspill’ community
Once a month, Andover residents come together at St Paul’s Church Centre to chat, share stories and play a quiz or two. On Friday 26 April, Wessex Film and Sound Archive (WFSA) were invited to that month’s meeting to share the news of our exciting community engagement project, Andover: An Overspill Story, with residents.
Established by a long-term Andover resident, this group first formed to bring together isolated members of the community. Each month residents enjoy some tea and cake, catch up on all the goings on in the town and engage in an activity together (this week it was bingo!). Since its formation, the group has nearly doubled in size and become a vital part of the community.
At this month’s meet up, WFSA were delighted to be joined by a group of 30 residents. We shared the news of our project and heard stories from members of the ‘overspill’ community. Many explained how their lives have drastically changed, mostly for the better, by moving to Andover all those years ago.
Upon sharing the news of this community engagement project with them, residents were pleased to hear that the archive is working hard to make sure that their stories and histories are being captured and preserved for future generations.
This is because, like us at WFSA, members of the ‘overspill’ community recognise that their history is not currently represented in screen heritage collections. But we are beginning to address this gap.
Supported by the local community we are starting to acquire some lovely film footage, photographs, and memories that capture the lived experience of this part of Andover’s history. As we continue with this project over the course of the year, we only hope that this positivity and enthusiasm to capture and preserve their history will continue!
If you would like to deposit your film or photographs with us, please get in touch.
This event was part of a series of events that will be happening over the course of this year to support our project, Andover: An Overspill Story. This is a 12-month community project created with the support of the British Film Institute, awarding funds from the National Lottery to help develop our collections. At these events, we strive to engage communities with WFSA content, start a dialogue with individuals about their heritage and break down the barriers to accession for communities currently under-represented in archives and heritage. For information about future events, please use this link.
If you would like to support the project, please use our contact form or email: archives.enquiries@hants.gov.uk
*Header image: Cricketers Way, Andover: children outside a building complex, image © London Metropolitan Archives (City of London).
Andover: An Overspill Story 