In 2012, our archive was thrilled to be awarded the “Most Inspirational” archive award by the Community Archive and Heritage Group and that began an association with the group that led to me becoming a member of the committee and, currently, the chair.
With a keen interest in the LGBTQ+ community and minority represented communities, preserving the memories and archives of the past and present is vitality important.
I clearly remember the first time I became interested in history – we were set a project at school to research the history of a street, which involved interviews with longstanding residents as well as primary research in the local library.
I feel my digital skills and dedication to inclusion and equality embedded with CAHG's objectives offer an exciting future for our members.
I have had the privilege of working more closely with many of the varied community archive groups which are part of CAHG. I witnessed the passion and commitment to the collection and care of community archives and the power these archives have to bring people together.
It’s struck me how important an organisation like CAHG is – it’s a place that can also illustrate the valuable work that these community archives do in both preserving the past, and giving it meaning.
I quickly realised that I wanted to join the steering committee and be part of this new and exciting organisation.
I have been a member of the CAHG Steering group since 2018 through my role at The National Archives (TNA).
A community archive and heritage group could be interested in religion, politics, sporting history or LGBTQ+ and we want to encourage groups in Scotland to do more through learning from one another.
