Oral History

Lancaster Canal Trail

A digital memories tour along Lancaster Canal on behalf of the Canal and River Trust.
inHeritage delivered oral history training and recording, research and the production of 22 QR code/NFC panels along the Lancaster Canal for the HLF-funded Lune Aqueduct project. The theme of people’s memories of the canal combines industrial archaeology and social history.
The panels are installed on hardwood wamnarkers between Lancaster city centre and Lune Aqueduct.
We supervised trained volunteers and conducted our own interviews of local people. We researched the background of significant historical locations along the canalside.
We managed the delivery of the project. Each panel has 50 words about the location, an image and a series of web links – written, QR code and attached NFC tag – to a mobile-friendly webpage with an mp3 audio clip from an oral history interview. The links use Google Analytics and bit-ly shortening to track hits.
We managed panel production and delivery.
We established a ‘Stories from the Lancaster Canal’ Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/#!/StoriesOfLancasterCanal where people shared their stories and photographs.
We developed a costed project plan with key milestones for activities and deliverables.
Started: June 2012. Completed: June 2013.
Client: Canal and River Trust.
Project Manager: David Hennessey.
http://canalrivertrust.org.uk/lune-aqueduct-trail