Living Links

My Hampshire and Isle of Wight

History never stands still. The stories of ‘local’ areas in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight are changing all the time. Living Links is a new Heritage Lottery project helping communities celebrate their diverse and evolving stories.

Supported by Hampshire Archives and Local Studies and the Isle of Wight Record Office, Living Links will help you

• Discover how to collect and record local history
• Care for and manage local records
• Design exhibitions and develop heritage events
• Access mainstream archives
• Gain funding advice and training support

Community Groups

Community groups are vital to the success of the Living Links project. They are any group of people based in the Isle of Wight or Hampshire who are interested in the memory building, history or heritage of their community, family, organisation or activity. They may be long established or just starting as a new group. Living Links can provide many forms of support to such groups and would encourage anyone interested to make contact.

What are community archives?

Community archives are collections of material that tell the story of a community’s history. They may consist of photographs, documents, sound recordings, printed material, digital media, film and, or objects. A community’s very own ‘memory box’. Community archives are created and owned by the community. They are a great way of bringing people together. Anyone can get involved.

The Steering Group

The group meets approximately every three months. It consists of representatives of the project partners and community heritage groups. Members have many decades of experience of both archival work and running community projects such as Living Links. They ensure that the project aims are met in a timely and cost efficient manner as well as supporting Bryony in her role by offering advice and guidance.

Living Links is an innovative community archive project supported by five project partners: Heritage Lottery Fund; Hampshire Archives Trust; Museums, Libraries and Archives Council; Hampshire County Council; and the Isle of Wight Council.

“Who controls the past controls the future”
George Orwell (British novelist)

“The destruction of the past is perhaps the greatest of all crimes”
Simone Weil (French philosopher)

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”
George Santayana (Spanish poet)

“We do not remember days. We remember moments”
Anonymous