Come and Chat

The Come and Chat workshops take place in the new Manchester Histories Hub where people can come together and chat and learn from one another about Greater Manchester’s history and heritage.

The workshops aim to provide:

• a positive impact on people’s mental health
• thought and reflection on local history and heritage
• activity and friendship to combat social isolation and loneliness

The workshops are focused on people reminiscing, sharing memories, and chatting with one another to bring their own knowledge or lived experiences about Greater Manchester’s history. The workshops always begin with exploring a different object, archive, collection, place, film or sound file and then the people taking part are encouraged to share their memories or thoughts evoked from the item/s being shown.

An example of our Come and Chat workshops is when Manchester Histories worked with the charity Back on Track in November 2022 to deliver a pilot project in Manchester Histories Hub.

Each workshop was interactive in its approach and was led by a heritage professional.

We worked with Archives+ and The North West Film Archive, MMU to deliver five workshops.

The purpose of the workshops was to:

• Present and explore different archives, artefacts, films and sound files to those taking part and then have an open discussion about its contextual history
• Encourage people to reminisce, tell their own stories, chat, and share their own knowledge or lived experience about the city’s history & heritage
• Gather feedback and ideas from those taking part to help shape future sessions and content
• Improve mental health & well-being

Following the successful delivery of this pilot project we plan to deliver more workshops.

We believe heritage should be instrumental in supporting people’s well-being. If you or your group would like to find out more please contact info@manchesterhistories.co.uk