The mission of this project is to build a community led history of the past 100 years of the London neighbourhood of King’s Cross through individual conversations and dialogues. This will ensure that:

• A wider range of materials on the history of King’s Cross are captured and preserved
• The histories of diverse groups of people are represented
• People living and working in King’s Cross are more connected to the place and to each other
• The testing and iteration of the storytelling methodology will equip organisations with tools and resources for future development

Scale

This project is being carried out over a two year period from December 2016 – November 2018. It is being delivered by Historypin and The Building Exploratory along with a network of 40+ local partners. The core funding is provided by The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) with further support from local businesses such as Lyndales Solicitors and Google.

Social Change

Our main funder, the HLF, recognises that the storytelling methodology being used in this project has the potential to enact social change. For individuals this project gives them a chance to make their voices heard and represented. For communities, storytelling can be used as a tool for creating connections, building community and a sense of place. For organisations, we can provide an adaptable programme to support them reaching targets for key priority areas around digital inclusion, social cohesion and skills development. We can also support Institutional collections to be more open and accessible, used and valued by local people and enriched with information.

The project in numbers

Our target outcomes are:

• 40 partners engaged across the neighbourhoods of King’s Cross (10 community; 10 culture, participation, faith; 5 research and volunteer; 15 other)
• 450 individuals involved (200 over 60) in storytelling activity
• 200 stories gathered with 2-5 personal or archival images for each story and then showcased on-line
• 100 stories showcased publicly through exhibitions or events
• 60 core volunteers
• An older people’s heritage and storytelling group with 25 active people
• 15 legacy ambassadors to care on activity after the project ends

To showcase and highlight the work we’ve done, inspire others and share the heritage of the area we’ve devised a series of outputs:

• Digital archiving and sharing stories online
• Series of modular pop-up exhibitions
• Public walks hosted and run in part by local residents
• An illustrated printed walking maps and/or a publication
• A short video
• Displays in commuter locations
• A large scale public exhibition and event