Place, Work and Folk: capturing unforgettable stories of Bridgend Farmhouse

Thanks to a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund we have an exciting Community Oral History Project project where local people are invited to talk about their memories of the farmhouse when it was a working farm, while learning and creative activity projects based on their stories will link past and present.
This eighteen-month project started in August 2017 when we employed our Project Officer, Carol Stobie.
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Carol says:
Our task is to record and share the stories and living memories of Bridgend Farm, up to the end of its time as a working farm. It’s led us into the most wonderful discoveries, enriching conversations, new friendships and rewarding connections.
Over our first six months, we recruited and trained a highly skilled team of volunteers (still growing). We’ve also created a Bridgend Farm oral history archive, which will be added to over the remainder of the project and archived in a range of places for the future. We developed all of this through skilled outreach work and oral history interviewing.
Find out more about Carol and read her updates and plans for the project here.

You can hear a taster compilation with snippets of our oral history recordings and Niddrie Mill Primary School children's response to visiting the Farmhouse that we put together for the farmhouse launch party here.
There are also many of our full recordings on Soundcloud
Note: many of these still need  further editing and processing...

Like to get involved as a volunteer, contributor of memories and/or memorabilia, researcher, writer, teacher? We’d love to hear from you...
email  carol.stobie@bridgendfarmhouse.org.uk, or tel. 07976 882038 (Mon-Thur)​

Project background and aims:
The farmhouse dates back to the very early 19th century, if not the 18th century. It was a working farm up until the 1970’s, but eventually fell derelict. For older people in the local community it is a lasting reminder of childhood and a past rural way of life in an area that is now part of the city of Edinburgh.
The heritage project is a chance to capture people’s memories before they are forgotten and lost, it enables local people to look at the past for the sake of the future and make use of what they’ve learnt in the present.
​Taking part in the heritage project will enable people to experience what Bridgend Inspiring Growth has to offer them in the future.

​​Lucy Casot, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund Scotland, said:
​“So much of our local history is woven into people’s reminiscences and experiences. Bridgend Farm: Place, Work and Folk will capture these elements of our shared history that is in danger of disappearing as it slips out of human memory. Thanks to National Lottery players, HLF is able to support such projects that conserve people’s contribution to their heritage.”
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