BBC ALBA is kicking off its Hogmanay 2024 celebrations with a nostalgic feel, as footage from a bygone era is uncovered in a new hour-long documentary, Faodail : Found Film.
With content spanning over 50 years, the footage recovered by the Faodail | Found Outer Hebrides Film Archive project shows daily life in the Outer Hebrides, from the 1930s through to the 1980s, paying homage to the heritage of the local communities.
The lost films give viewers a glimpse of everyday experiences living on the islands, including crofting, education and domestic life.
In the 1970s, filmmaker Annie MacDonald even managed to capture footage of a flamingo that had landed on Loch Ordais in Bragar.
With films made by Annie, along with more than a dozen other filmmakers, the archive has now managed to preserve a bank of footage to showcase to contemporary audiences, bringing the content to Gàidhealtachd and global screens for years to come.
Andy Mackinnon from the Faodail Film Archive, part of Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum & Arts Centre, commented: “Through crowdfunding efforts, we have been fortunate enough to be able to digitise these collections of indigenous 8mm film footage that will now be showcased to BBC ALBA viewers this Hogmanay.
“While most of this footage has never been seen by contemporary audiences before, the film collection donated to the project will no doubt bring back fond memories of the Outer Hebrides for many viewers.
“With some footage now over 90 years old, it is remarkable that these indigenous filmmakers at the time had the foresight to capture day-to-day living in the Outer Hebrides. This vital footage is now helping us in our understanding of the social history of the Outer Hebrides and the preservation of Hebridean culture.”
Faodail : Found Film, produced by UistFilm,is currently available on BBC iPlayer in four 15-minute short episodes. The episodes will premiere as an hour-long documentary on BBC ALBA on Tuesday 31 December at 8.30pm (in Gaelic with English subtitles).
General public and former whalers and their families sought to help co-design new online Whalers’ Memory Bank
In June 2023 the South Georgia Heritage Trust and the South Georgia Museum launched a project called The Whalers’ Memory Bank.
Supported by funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, the project is about creating a living, growing digital time capsule where veterans of the whaling industry, their families and communities can come together to contribute and share their stories with a wider audience.
Since then, the South Georgia Museum has been busy collecting hundreds of stories, photographs and memorabilia from the former whaling communities – the response has been amazing.
But we want to make sure we tell these stories in a way that captures everyone’s imagination. Presenting stories in a way the former whaling communities want to see, but also in a way that appeals to a wider audience so they can understand this important slice of Scottish social history.
That is why we are putting out a call for anyone who wants to join us either for a short workshop or just drop in and find out more and give us your thoughts.
Over the weekend of 22 and 23 June there are a number of opportunities to join in and help us through a range of workshops and drop-in sessions that are taking place.
Saturday 22 June – we will be at The Scottish Maritime Museum in Irvine. We will be running a workshop from 10.30am until 12.00 which we are encouraging people to book onto. We will also be running a drop-in session for general visitors to the museum from 2-4pm.
Sunday 23 June – we will be at The Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther. We will be running a workshop from 11.00am until 12.30 which we are encouraging people to book onto. We will also be running a drop-in session for general visitors to the museum from 1.30-3.30pm.
Each workshop will last about an hour and a half and we would welcome any former whalers and their families to come along, bring any memories or stories you want to share but, most importantly, be happy to help us shape our early thoughts and ideas on the Memory Bank.
But you don’t need to have had any association with whaling to join in. We are really looking forward to getting input and feedback from the general public so you can also either book onto one of the workshops or come and join us anytime during the drop-in sessions over the weekend should you be at either of the museums.
To book onto a workshop on either Saturday 22 or Sunday 23 May email memorybank@sght.org or just drop in if you want to join us for a more casual chat at the drop-in sessions.
Please note there is an entrance fee for both museums. Workshop attendance is free, but if you wish to visit the rest of the museum once it is ended there will be a reduced entrance fee of £4 for the Scottish Maritime Museum and £5 for the Scottish Fisheries Museum.
Helen Balfour, Community Engagement Officer for the Memory Bank said:“The story of modern whaling in the Southern Hemisphere is a controversial one with British companies playing a key role in the industry.
“These companies had a largely Scottish workforce, with many from Shetland. Now, only a dwindling number of men survive that have first-hand memories of this industry, an integral part of Scottish and Shetland’s social history.
“As someone from a family with many connections to whaling, I am conscious that this is story well known to some but not one that is more widely understood or discussed. We don’t only want to delve into the stories of whalers, we want to explore questions such as: why was whaling so important? how did it help power the world between the wars, and what was it like to live, and work from the remote island of South Georgia in the Southern Ocean?
“We have already done some workshops in Shetland in May where we really learnt a lot from whalers, their families and the community. We want to continue that work and hope to see as many people as possible over the weekend of 22 and 23 June to help us shape and tell this hidden piece of Scotland’s social history.”
Linda Fitzpatrick, Head Curator at the Scottish Fisheries Museumwho is also helping with the wider collections management of the project said: “This unique project has many features that resonate with the work we do at the Scottish Fisheries Museum to engage audiences with topics relating to the heritage and development of fishing technologies, including whaling.
“There is no doubt that reflecting on whaling is problematic: it was brutal and exploitative, and few would welcome its return. Nevertheless, the industry was an important feature of Scotland’s industrial development and generated a distinct and vibrant culture.
“This is an important moment, therefore, to reach out to ex-whalers and their communities to capture the living memories of those who took part in the industry and to preserve them for the future.
“We warmly invite anyone with an interest in the subject to come along over the weekend to either museum over the weekend of the 22 and 23 June.”
Creation of new digital platform to provide a space to share this important part of Scottish social history
Over the next two years, the South Georgia Heritage Trust and the South Georgia Museum, with funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, will be working alongside a number of former whaling communities in Scotland to create The Whalers’ Memory Bank.
The Memory Bank will create a living, growing digital time capsule where veterans of the whaling industry, their families and communities can come together to contribute and share their stories with a wider audience.
The story of modern whaling in the Southern Hemisphere is a controversial one with British companies playing a key role in the industry. These companies had a largely Scottish workforce and attracted many working-class men with the promise of adventure and competitive wages.
Now, only a dwindling number of men survive that have first-hand memories of this industry, an integral part of Scottish social history. They are the last generation to be able to share their stories, knowledge and personal collections before they are lost forever.
Kicking off in July 2023, the project will run for two years and throughout this time the project team will work alongside former whaling communities to capture memories that will help create The Whalers’ Memory Bank.
At the heart of this will be a series of community events to gather stories and help shape the Memory Bank that those communities want to see and will value. It will also make the connection between why whaling happened, where it happened (a great deal of it on South Georgia), and where most of the whalers came from in Scotland.
Jayne Pierce, Project Director and Curator at the South Georgia Museumsaid: “Our aim is to create a digital portal that captures memories with photographs, oral histories, film and sounds, alongside a Virtual Reality tour of the whaling station on South Georgia. This work will be done using the existing collections held by the South Georgia Museum and will also link into several Scottish museums that are partners in this project.
“It is really going to be a joint effort, bringing together the former whalers and their communities to hear their stories and let them help shape the Memory Bank they really want to see. We know from the contact we already have with the former whaling communities that families are eager to share their personal collections – artefacts and photographs stored in attics, cupboards and drawers – each with a story to tell.
“We really hope the project will connect communities across local, national and international boundaries and dispel some of the myths around whaling. It will create a richer experience than a simple online database – dynamic rather than static – uplifting and celebratory.”
Gibbie Fraser, Chair of the Shetland ex-Whalers Association(SeA) hasstruggled to access archive material which can be restricted by charges and copyright. On the launch of the Whalers’ Memory Bank, he said: “The idea that the South Georgia Museum has about a shared archive to preserve what we can together is exactly what we were trying to do and welcome it with open arms!”
Caroline Clark, Heritage Fund Director for Scotland, said: “Thanks to the support of National Lottery players , we are pleased to be able to give funding to former whaling communities to capture their stories and explore this important untold story.
“We look forward to seeing the project develop as communities come together to share their memories and personal collections with each other and the wider world.”
The project is also a great opportunity to work with a small network of partner museums including the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther, the Scottish Maritime Museum in Irvine, and Dundee Heritage Trust’s Verdant Works, all of which hold hidden whaling archives and collections that are enlightening, inspiring, and engaging.
As well as supporting with access to collections and stories, some of these organisations will also be involved in the community events the project will be developing for Spring 2024. The Shetland Maritime Heritage Society, Salvesen Ex-Whalers Club and the Shetland ex-Whalers Association will also be collaborating on the project.
Anyone interested in finding out more or getting involved with the project should email memorybank@sght.org
Museums & Galleries Edinburgh has launched a new Covid-19 collecting drive with an open call to Edinburgh people to contribute their own items and stories which reflect how life in the city and the city itself has been impacted by the global pandemic and lockdown.
The curatorial team leading on this project are gathering public contributions in order to record and preserve this significant moment in Edinburgh’s history, so it can be chronicled for future generations.
The Covid-19 pandemic and resulting lockdown has affected every aspect of the lives of Edinburgh’s residents, and Museums & Galleries Edinburgh are keen to create a contemporary collection which charts these significant changes to everyday life in the city.
The call is for donations of objects and stories which capture the everyday experiences of the people of Edinburgh and the many ways in which they adapted and responded as their lives were transformed by Covid-19.
Items such as a note of an offer of help received by a neighbour, pyjamas worn all day indoors or a rainbow artwork created in support of keyworkers are all welcome. These are of course only suggested items and the call is very much about recording those objects and stories which helped people cope and get through the many challenges and uncertainties presented by the pandemic.
Those who are keen to contribute are asked to email
with details and an image if possible on the item or items for potential donation.
Given the current lockdown restrictions, no physical donations will be accepted until venues reopen but the curatorial staff will contact those contributors to make arrangements at an appropriate time.
City of Edinburgh Council Leader Adam McVey said:“This is an extraordinary period in our history that in due course we will want to look back on. By collecting objects, photographs and first-hand experiences of citizens now, we’re making sure we can capture this moment for future generations.
Depute Leader Cammy Day added: “Often we look back and wish we could ask previous generations about the historic events they lived through and witnessed – this is our chance to document Edinburgh and Covid-19. The stories and images we capture for this collection will create a valuable insight into 2020 for generations to come.”
Anna MacQuarrie, Curator of History, Museums & Galleries Edinburgh said;“Our social history collections reflect daily life in Edinburgh over some hundreds of years.
“It’s never been more important for us to continue to show changes in the city than during this pandemic. Object donations from Edinburgh residents will help us to preserve experiences of this challenging time for future generations to understand how everyday life in the city changed so much and so suddenly.”
The BBC is making thousands of fascinating clips from its archive available to watch on a new website – bbc.co.uk/archive
More than 1,700 newly published videos are being made available for viewers to watch and enjoy, many of which hold a mirror up to our lives today and help paint a rich social history of Britain in the television era.
The new Archive site will help people navigate an ever-increasing portion of the more than 10 million hours of content that currently sit in the BBC’s archive. It will be curated by the same team that currently mines the vaults for the ever popular BBC Archive social media accounts, which have attracted a loyal and ever-increasing daily following over the past four years.
The website brings together collections of many viral hits, including:
A woman from the east end of London talking in 1977 about her memories of television programmes, which since July has received almost three million views on social media
