24
May,
2024
History students from Bournemouth University have been working with local volunteers, Talbot Village Trust, and Dorset History Centre to explore Talbot Village’s hidden past.
Final year History students from Bournemouth University have been working with grant-giving charity Talbot Village Trust and a group of local volunteers to create a new exhibition celebrating Talbot Village’s unique past.
After receiving training from the Dorset History Centre in Dorchester, the group have collected photos and maps and interviewed several local people about their connections to Talbot Village in Wallisdown.
The four undergraduate students, who are in their final year of study on the BA (Hons) History course Bournemouth University, have turned these recordings and images into a public exhibition.
Through a series of interviews, local people recalled memories of the Wallisdown area spanning back to the 1930s and beyond, including Bournemouth’s wartime past, role in early aviation, and extensive growth and development in the 1970s.
Among those volunteering for the project and recounting the area’s history was Phil Holloway, a retired Aviation Engineer, whose family has been living in the area for six generations.
He said: “When the Talbot sisters decided to build the village, we have the record in a local history book that two Holloway sons were farming land. Local history books state that they sold the land to the Talbot sisters, where the church is now built.”
Phil’s family also experienced tragedy during the war years, as his great uncle Richard, who lived at Talbot Village, was killed in action in August 1918 and buried in Merville, France.
BA (Hons) History student Alex Carey said: “The opportunity to learn about the local area of our university campus during our final assignment has been fascinating. We were able to gain insights from both local people and more obscure sources that all painted an intriguing picture of the rich Talbot Village history.”
Sir Christopher Lees, Trustee at Talbot Village Trust, said: “At the centre of the Trust’s work is community, and it’s been wonderful to see students and volunteers, organisations and individuals come together to form this richly collaborative exhibition.
“It’s so been enlightening to read about the lives of people at the heart of this area through brilliant research, anecdotes and testimonies recounting the evolving history of Wallisdown and the wider conurbation. Congratulations to all involved!”
The project and exhibition, funded and developed by Talbot Village Trust with support from the Dorset History Centre, will be exhibited at Bournemouth University’s Lees Gallery on Talbot Campus for a week from Thursday 30 May.
