Ireland in Brum - an introduction

An introduction by Richard Gallon describing the background to the Irish Experience oral history project.

In the autumn of 2000, Library Services at Home (LSAH) began work on this project as part of our ongoing oral history work. We decided to interview some of the service's Irish readers about their experiences of growing up in Ireland and coming over to England, and particularly to Birmingham.

After consulting our records we found that there were a number of Irish people who would be willing to take part. Eleven people were selected and they were interviewed by staff from LSAH.

Everyone was asked a standard set of questions about childhood, school, family life, and coming over to England and life in Birmingham. However, this only formed a basis of the recordings as everyone had far more to say about their varied memories and experiences.

This display represents extracts taken from these recordings to illustrate the wide range of fascinating and informative topics covered.

We would like to thank all those people who were kind enough to generously share their time and memories with us, and hope that this project will provide a valuable resource for future generations.