West End London street scene Artist Grace Golden, 1939-1946. Catalogue ref: INF 3/1738
Stories from the Streets was a partnership project with tenants of three sheltered housing schemes, sharing international images and memories to inspire poetry and community building.
The project took place between October 2016 and March 2017 between The National Archives’ Outreach team and the tenants and managers of three sheltered housing schemes within the Catalyst Housing group. The schemes were O’Grady Court in Ealing; Asantewa House in Reading and Oak Tree House in Tilehurst.
The images that we shared were taken from The National Archives’ large collection of photographs featuring towns and villages not only in the UK but throughout Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. We talked to the tenants about these images and the memories and thoughts they inspired. Through our discussions, we travelled to different lands and learned about each other’s experiences. We noticed how often holding onto a sense of ‘home’ is both vital and uplifting to maintaining a sense of self.