Colchester Recalled is an oral history group who for the past 17 years have been tape recording memories of Colchester & District during the 20th century. They now have a collection of over 2,000 tapes (each of about one hour), housed in their own room in Colchester Museum. The group meets once a month to listen to new tapes and hear talks about local history. They also produce an illustrated magazine called Colchester Recalled made up entirely of local people's memories. Anyone can join and there are a host of jobs to do. Here are some that volunteers might help with:

1. Making new tapes. Almost anyone who has memories of living in the district is worth recording, but the group do try to record a good cross-section of the community, from mayors of Colchester to local criminals! Anyone who would like to help can have a short training session. All tape recorders and equipment are provided by Colchester Recalled.

2. Listening to some of the 2,000 tapes to make summaries of their contents. So far this has only been done to about half the tapes. Without summaries the tapes are not much use as no one will know what is on them.

3. Help with the on-going computer-based index of the tapes. Working from the written summaries, topics discussed on tape are being fed onto the computer. When complete the index will be made available via the internet. Until then we need a few computer enthusiasts to help us!

4. Help produce and market our magazine. Everyone says how good it is, but we need a marketing manager!

If you are interested, please write to:

Colchester Recalled, Museum Resources Centre, Ryegate Road, Colchester CO1 1UG.

 see also

www.camulos.com/fordham/recalled.htm

last updated 11th June 2005