Morecambe Bay Lives Celebration Booklet

This booklet offers a collection of short snapshots of Morecambe Bay memories and life stories taken from a series of oral history recordings made between 2015-2018.  The interviews were made for the Morecambe Bay Lives project which sought to bring different generations together to celebrate the people and places of Morecambe Bay. In villages and towns all around the Bay, people met through reminiscence and oral history to share personal stories and unique insights.

Experiences of coastal industries, tourism, wartime, childhood, regional traditions, hidden places and wonderful anecdotes of everyday Bay lives have been collected and preserved in an archive for the future. The memories shared are at times, dramatic, poignant, informative, hilarious and most of all, full of Morecambe Bay spirit.

An important aspect to the project was engaging young people in discovering and celebrating Morecambe Bay and their local heritage. Primary school children around the Bay learnt oral history techniques and invited ‘older’ people from the community to their school to share afternoon tea and swap stories and memories before celebrating what they’d discovered in art and song. Over 120 people were recorded as part of the project creating a lasting resource for the community.

The Archive is available at the Cumbria Archives (Barrow) and also online under the ‘Voices’ section of this website. You can also hear 4 themed podcasts taken from the archive.  Some of the fantastic work created by schools plus resources for teachers can be found at morecambebaylives.org. The project was delivered by Morecambe Bay Partnership as part of its Headlands to Headspace Heritage Lottery Funded Landscape Partnership Scheme.