Community
Heritage

Co-create with Community

Story of Yeovil is a project about telling the history and heritage of Yeovil from the town's community through creativities. We believe in the power of co-creation and the collective sense of pride that we share. To do so, we worked closely with the Regional History Centre of the University West of England to deliver a series of Heritage Forums across the town and created the Community Curatorial Group, together, we brought different voices together and worked collaboratively to explore Yeovil's social history and community heritage.

In March 2023, we invite members of the community to share their stories about Yeovil in different locations across the town, including Westfield, Birchfield and the town centre. We gathered stories about Yeovil from different parts of the community and from diverse perspectives; whether they are related to your family histories, your heritage or any of your connections to the town. More than 50 people attended across 6 forums, from people who have lived in town for generations to those who have just arrived. They shared their stories, brought in objects and photographed.

Some of the stories that we have gathered are woven into our public programme, and many have attended our public programme, reacquainted with old friends and made new connections with the wider community.

We will be organising a regular forum at Yeovil Art Space soon. Watch this space!

The group consist of members of the community working closely with South Somerset Heritage Collection (SSHC) to produce a series of heritage displays as part of the Story of Yeovil Public Programme responding to three themes: View of Yeovil, Sound of Yeovil and Taste of Yeovil. Facilitated by Dr Rose Wallis (Associate Director of the Regional History Centre University of the West of England and Emma McFarlane, Engagement Coordinator from Yeovil Art Space, the group worked collaboratively with us to identify collections and artefacts starting from SSHC that connect to the stories of Yeovil. Together, we identify gaps in the collections and discuss different ways to share heritage stories with the public in the future.