Edinburgh Voluntary Organisations’ Council (EVOC) has launched its ‘Memory Box’ project at the Living Memory Association as part of celebrations to mark 150 years of civic action in Edinburgh.
From the 4th July 2018 people will be able to write down and submit their memories of campaigning, volunteering and protesting and post them into a physical box.
The Memory Box and collaboration with the Living Memory Association is part the EVOC 150 programme, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Lucy Ridley, Programme Manager for EVOC 150: “The EVOC 150 project is a celebration of civic action in Edinburgh through the delivery of all sorts of different interactive activities.
“As part of this, we are working in partnership with the Living Memory Association and they have already begun looking at archive material from our heritage and making these accessible.
“The next phase of their work is to investigate who the people in the photos are and what the story is. From there, they will help us create a rich oral history of EVOC for future generations.
“We would welcome people to submit a memory, a short story or poem about their memories of voluntary and civic action in Edinburgh. Our job will then be to interpret them and communicate them with the wider community.”
The Living Memory Association, located at Ocean Terminal, provides a range of services aimed at giving people the opportunity to reflect and reminisce on the past.
Miles Tubb, Project Worker at the Living Memory Association, said: “We are a reminiscence oral history project, we’ve been going for 32 years and we work largely with older people using reminiscence to get people more socially active.
“I think the EVOC 150 Memory Box is a great idea because people in here like to share memories. They are not just picking things up but they are also giving information.
“The fact that we can put a box out there specifically about protest and campaigning is great, people like to contribute and that’s what we are about. I think to reminisce is a basic human instinct and it’s nothing to do with age, young children reminisce and it’s surprising how it brings people together.”
The EVOC Memory Box will be available during Living Memory Association opening hours, people can also submit their memories online at www.evoc150.org.uk/memory-box/.
