I.R.I.S provides individuals and groups with support and training to look at change, engage in action, develop community involvement, gather and develop ideas, analyse the ideas and make sense of them. We manage the project and have the skills to design the creative finish of exhibitions, print and web pages.
2004-2005: Capturing Memories; Building For The Future
Heritage Hero Award 2006
A partnership of organisations came together to support this project delivered by I.R.I.S, Bristol Community Housing Foundation (BCHF) who are building the new homes and managing the movement of households and Upper Horfield Community Trust (UHCT) and Bristol City Council who provided the exhibition space, Oct 2005 in a derelict house. (see below for further details)
Chocolate Memories 2006 – 2008
Chocolate manufacturing in the centre of Bristol goes back hundreds of years. This project captures the history of the last factory which closed in 2006 and had been an important part of the Greenbank community for over 100 years. The evolution of the factory and its relationship to people and commerce reflects the rise and fall of manufacturing in Britain. For full details see web pages http://www.chocolatememories.org
Glenside Hospital Museum 2011-2013
Further Information
2004-2005: Capturing Memories; Building For The Future: recorded a community in transition. Upper Horfield was one of the first municipal estates built in 1929: “Homes for Heroes”. All 600 houses have been demolished due to ‘concrete cancer’, and the community were moved into new homes. It is their history, the history of the resident’s of the Upper Horfield estate which was captured.
War Years
I.R.I.S engaged and trained local people as interviewers, researchers and photographers. People told us their memories and their hopes for the future. Over 100 adults and children participated in the project, having their life on the estate recorded. I.R.I.S then compiled the information into themes which told the story of the estate from it’s heyday in the 50’s and 60’s to the dereliction of the 1980’s, and the twenty years of waiting for their homes to be demolished. The collection of voices and documentation was then exhibited in one of the empty homes waiting for the bulldozer. Over 400 people visited the exhibition in the week the exhibition was open.
The main objectives were:
• to record what the estate was like when it was first built and in its heyday, to chart the decline and now the regeneration
• to ask residents of all ages what they like about Upper Horfield, what they are hopeful for, their concerns, and their solutions to those concerns
• to ask what they enjoy doing, which may lead to other cultural/leisure projects such as local history groups, gardening clubs etc.
• to promote links between people moving into the new houses which will help to build community cohesion and may lead to activities that will bring new life into the community.
A partnership of organisations came together to support this project delivered by I.R.I.S, Bristol Community Housing Foundation (BCHF) who are building the new homes and managing the movement of households and Upper Horfield Community Trust (UHCT) and Bristol City Council who provided the exhibition space.
