Telling Tales: Visions
Project Title:
Telling Tales: Visions
Project Location:
Oldbury
Date of Project:
August 2007 - January 2008
Project Participants:
- Langley Band
- Barnford and Farm Road Allotment Association
- Oldbury Town Team
- Oldbury residents
Photographer:
Megan Taylor
Project Funders:
Neighbourhood Renewal Fund
Sandwell Partnership
Sandwell MBC
Project Overview:
Civic Pride is very important to all of the towns in Sandwell so that residents have the opportunity to share what is special about the place that they live and give them an opportunity to celebrate this with other people.
Oldbury Town Team wanted to explore the idea of civic pride and identity with the residents through the production of ‘Visions of Oldbury’, a set of images which did not include the Council House (an image often used to represent the town).
Multistory asked local people to nominate places to visit; things to see; and people they knew - the things that they felt best represented the town. Over a hundred suggestions were put forward and each one was visited by local professional photographer, Megan Taylor, so that she could meet the people involved, hear stories about the nominated place or people and take photographs.
Many of the nominations were unique to Oldbury, and a visitor or stranger to the area might not be aware that they existed, but they are things, places or people that Oldbury residents are proud of that include Europe’s largest Hindu temple; the Black Country’s oldest building; pubs with histories going back to the 1800s; the only operatic theatre in Sandwell. These are places people could walk past every day and not realise how important they are.
To continue the sense of pride, and share the number of things that already exist in their town that make it special, Multistory set up a series of public events and an online voting system for people to see Megan’s photographs and choose a final selection of 25 images that will be used by Sandwell MBC to promote the diversity of people and places in Oldbury through materials aimed at both tourism and local communities.
With over 9000 hits during the four weeks of the online vote, the excellent response from people voting at our public events and the number of nominations we received, it is clear that when the people of Oldbury were given the opportunity to reflect on their town they shared what it has to offer and it is hoped that through the creation of the promotional materials others will be able to share this pride.
Below are a selection of photographs from the from the Telling Tales: Visions project.
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Thank you for the photos of my home town.
April 22, 2009 at 3:26 pm
There are some bostin’ photos here - good luck to them.
April 22, 2009 at 3:27 pm
It is always good to see the places where my ancestors lived.
April 22, 2009 at 3:29 pm
Lots of different pictures. Well done.
April 22, 2009 at 3:29 pm
An excellent project showing the area in a good light and giving an impression of the many activities available in Oldbury.
April 22, 2009 at 3:31 pm