Postponed: Floating Memories: A seminar by Paul Farrington on the oral history and local history of Brighton Swimming Club

Wed 17 October 12.30-1.50pm
Fulton 205, University of Sussex

Please note that this event has been postponed until the spring term; a new date will be announced in due course.

Brighton Swimming Club Water Polo Team (image reproduced with kind permission from Brighton Swimming Club and East Sussex Records Office)

Brighton Swimming Club was founded in 1860 at the Jolly Fisherman’s Inn and has promoted sea swimming and sport ever since. In this event, project director Paul Farrington will discuss Floating Memories, which is archiving over 150 years of the Club’s unique history. The talk will take us behind the scenes of how the project was conceived, its successful funding application to the Heritage Lottery Fund and the use of digital multimedia and oral history to showcase the colourful memories and stories of sea bathers and sportspeople, including the Christmas Day Swim and the Pier-to-Pier race. So far the project has digitised and catalogued the Club’s archives at East Sussex Record Office, recorded 30 oral histories, put on walking tours and talks, exhibited widely, including a permanent display at the Brighton Fishing Museum, and worked with Screen Archive South East to digitise 23 reels of archive film from 1946. 

Paul Farrington is a graduate from the Royal College of Art, now working as a digital artist, graphic designer and sound artist for musicians such as Moby and Depeche Mode. He is also a member of Brighton Swimming Club, swimming in the sea everyday - whatever the weather. 

• For more information, please see the Floating Memories website

This Open Seminar is free to all. It is co-sponsored by:

• Centre for Life History and Life Writing Research (CLHLWR) and 
• Centre for Material Digital Culture (CMDC)

For information about the seminar, contact Margaretta Jolly: M.Jolly@sussex.ac.uk

Visual Research Methodologies and Methods Workshop (co-sponsored with the Centre for Higher Education and Equity Research, CHEER and CIE)

Thursday 28 June 2012, 10.00am-5.00pm
Fulton Building, University of Sussex

Morning workshops
Exploring Visual Research Methods: Dr Caroline Bassett, Research Theme Leader, Digital & Social Media
Action in Reaction: Seeing and being seen in theatre workshops: Dr Raminder Kaur & Dr Ben Rogaly, Sussex Centre for Migration Research

Afternoon workshop options*

1. The use of video in the oral history of deaf sign language users: Sue MacLaine & John Walker, CLHLWR
2. Mixing images with words: Stimulated recall: Dr John Pryor & Takeshi Miyazaki, Centre for International Education
3. Reflections on using art-based methods for research with children: Dr Benjamin Zeitlyn, Centre for International Education

Please email Bettina Zenz by Monday 25th June to book a place at this event, including which afternoon workshop* you wish to attend: 
E bz37@sussex.ac.uk

• Further information

Lucy and Barney Heywood: Theatre Jukebox presents Mass Observation

Tuesday 19 June 2012, 1.00pm-3.00pm
Workshop/Seminar, Special Collections Reading Room

Theatre Jukebox is an arcade-style cabinet that plays stories instead of records and allows you to choose the chapters you want. It’s like snippets of memory or flicking through photo albums, each card sparking images, associations, snatches of conversations and ideas.
The latest project uses content and inspiration from the Mass Observation Archive, based at the University of Sussex. This material has documented everyday life in Britain from 1937 to the early 1950s, and continuously since 1981. Lucy and Barney Heywood, from Stand + Stare, will discuss how Theatre Jukebox was made and the process of working with the Mass Observation Archive. The session will include opportunities to have a go with the Jukebox and to ask any questions you may have.

• Watch a short film about Theatre Jukebox
• To book a place contact Sam Carroll: S.J.Carroll@sussex.ac.uk