Then and Now:

Teens through the

Time Warp

A Heritage Lottery Fund Young Roots Project

Elizabeth Neathey

Why the Teens project?

• Engage young people with North Somerset

Museum Service

• Create an opportunity for intergenerational work

• Build a partnership between North Somerset

Museum and North Somerset Council’s Children

and Young Peoples’ Services (CYPS)

• To create an oral history archive about youth

culture from the 1950s onwards

• To create a high quality exhibition sharing

memories and research on youth culture in North

Somerset

Where to begin?

• A meeting with North

Somerset Youth

Service Participation

Officers

• Finding out about each

other’s roles

• What could a

partnership achieve?

Talking to Young People

• What did they think of the Museum?

• What would they like to see achieved?

• How would they like to get involved?

Making the Case

• Agreeing ideas with a working party of young

people

• Looking into funding opportunities

• Team meeting with Sharon Adams to discuss a

possible Young Roots Grant

• Team Meeting with Directors of CYPS,

Development & Environment and Principal

Youth Officer

• 100% support for the project application to HLF

Success!

£22,100 Young Roots

Grant awarded May

2006

£5000 match funding

from North Somerset

Youth Service

Welcome to the Team

The Team in Action

• Getting ideas Visits to museums

Talking to people about the project

The Team in Action

Agreed project roles & responsibilities Project Management Oral history

Research Marketing

Skills and knowledge development

Oral history training

Marketing training

Hands-on experience; managing time,

resources and taking ownership

Agreeing the themes

• School

• Work

• Music

• Entertainment

• Relationships

• Politics

• Youth Culture

Getting to grips with Oral History

• The team liked this as a way of gathering information

• They received training from the Oral History Society

• The team organised a series of oral history days

which brought people together

• Recorded 54 interviews of teenagers from the 1950s

to the present day

• Each oral history was transcribed and a digital copy

saved

• The archive was deposited with Somerset Heritage

Services

Gathering Oral Histories

Oral histories revealed …

many similarities over the decades and some differences

Oral histories revealed …

amazing stories!

Putting on an exhibition

The young people learnt how to:

• Write exhibition text and labels

• Handle and display objects using conservation

standards

• Select and work with a designer

• Effectively communicate with a wide range of

people, from the media and council staff to

audiences including other young people

Then and Now – The Exhibition

The Exhibition

opened on

21 January

2007 and ran

until

15 September

2007

Through the Time Warp

Through the Time Warp

Through the Time Warp

Through the Time Warp

Through the Time Warp

National Lottery Awards 2007

National Lottery Awards 2007

Through the Time Warp

Celebrating Then and Now

Museums Journal

Group for Education

in Museums

Extratime for

Museums

Outcomes

- Positive engagement with young people

- Young people gained new skills and knowledge

beneficial for their future journey’s

- The creation of a top quality exhibition

- The creation of a unique archive

- Emphasis on the value of intergenerational

working

Benefits of a Young Roots Grant

- Enables quality outcomes for projects

- Key investment in supporting heritage

organisations to proactively engage young

people

- Gives young people a sense of ownership and

identity

- Provides unique informal learning opportunities

- Builds museum and heritage audiences for the

future

Teens Revisited

It was hard work, challenging,

fun and rewarding!

Further Information

Elizabeth Neathey, West of England

Museums Development Officer, (Bath and

North East Somerset and Swindon)

Email: elizabeth.neathey@bristol.gov.uk

Tel: 07887 451 759