We partnered with Thrive to design, facilitate and evaluate a story gathering pilot involving training and supporting a small group of volunteers in collecting oral histories from fellow residents of Belfast.

The training of volunteers in oral history work tested potential of that process for Belfast Stories to:

• Engage Belfast people in the Belfast Stories project, as interviewers and interviewees.

• Build reciprocal relationships between individuals, communities and the Belfast Stories team.

• Fulfil Belfast Stories’ remit to gather, keep and share Belfast stories

• Ethically develop content for Belfast Stories exhibition/interpretive spaces.

• Secure a range of stories reflecting Belfast’s diversity and, in particular, the experiences of recently arrived people.

The process met its potential and proved an effective method of achieving the aims identified above, therefore creating a useful roadmap for the future roll-out of a full story gathering programme.

Both story gatherers and interviewees were recruited from a diversity of backgrounds and areas of Belfast. Volunteers were enthusiastic and committed, willing to adapt and perform their tasks diligently. They felt they gained the skills they needed to perform successful interviews and want to continue supporting the story gathering process. Interviewees were excited to be involved, while also expressing some concerns about how their stories might be used in the future. A wide range of themes emerged from the 20 interviews recorded, touching on feelings of joy, pride, love, fear, loneliness, and pain in people’s relationships to Belfast.