The Early Pestalozzi Children Project has become a member of the Oral History Society (OHS).
After we were invited to present a paper at the Society’s national conference in Manchester last year, the interest and enthusiastic response helped us appreciate how valuable membership of the OHS would be.
Presenting our paper at the 2014 OHS conference.
We now have access to a range of specialised resources, advice and training – and a national network of experienced oral historians. This will also help us spread the word much further about the activities of the Early Pestalozzi Children Project.
We are looking forward to making use of the Society’s opportunities to help us successfully develop our own project.
We are grateful to the Heritage Lottery Fund for their Sharing Heritage grant which has enabled us to finance this membership.
We have added an extra to our last post “Meeting with modern Pestalozzi once again!” It now contains an audio file of the recording played at the Pestalozzi International Village Trust last week about recollections of life in a DP camp in post WW2 Germany.
To visit the post click onthis linkor use the list of posts on the right.
For the second year running, the Early Pestalozzi Children Project visited the Pestalozzi International Village Trust (PIVT) in Sedlescombe,East Sussex in October to present current students with an introduction to the early history of their community.Following our successful inaugural presentation in 2014, we were even more pleased this time as Pestalozzi Trustees also attended, as well as residents of the Oaklands estate.
William discusses our project with Pestalozzi Trustee, Beryl Bartter
To cap it off, we were delighted to have four other early Pestalozzi children accompany us and meet with the modern Pestalozzi community.
This year’s presentation included a short recording about a young child’s life in a Displaced Persons’ camp in Germany following World War 2, before experiencing the dramatic change of living at the British Pestalozzi Children’s Village. To listen to this recording, click on the play button in the following audio file link:
Chairman of Trustees Prof. Derek Blackman (L) and Trustee Prof. Stuart Laing express their enthusiam to Len about the presentation.
The address was received with great interest and we were rewarded with an enthusiastic response afterwards. Following our address, we were treated to a delicious meal and discussed our story and research with Pestalozzi Chairman of Trustees, Professor Derek Blackman, along with Trustees Professor Stuart Laing and Beryl Bartter. It was reassuring that they showed a genuine desire to support our project and link the early Pestalozzi history with the present Pestalozzi community
Our early Pestalozzi companions, Anna, Irmina, Olga and Yogi, all commented enthusiastically about the presentation. The feeling was that we are heading in the right direction in the way we are bringing our history to the attention of the modern Pestalozzi community.
We remain indebted to PIVT Chief Executive Officer, Sue Walton and her staff for their encouragement, help and hospitality.
An Oaklands resident is keen to hear about the history of the Manor House
The inspirational students at Pestalozzi today continue to impress us with their commitment. We look forward to building a connection that unites the earliest history of the Pestalozzi community with every new intake that arrives.
We hope to see the past help to inspire the future.
Our special thanks go to Pestalozzi student Tenzin Yangkey for taking the photos used in this post.
To find out more about the early story of the Pestalozzi Children’s Village,starthere!
Do you have any recollections of the Pestalozzi Children’s Village between 1959 and 1966?
– Get in touch with us here!
The Early Pestalozzi Children Project has become a member of the Oral History Society (OHS).
