We are coming to the end of our Free Time, Our stories of leisure then and now, oral history project. This has seen a number of volunteers investigate the changing nature of our leisure time. This research has led up to a new archive of over 70 oral history interviews, that will be housed at Dorset History Centre, and an exhibition at Dorset County Museum, which we are now installing. 

Volunteers working in Dorchester, Weymouth and Bridport have been busy capturing local people’s memories of how they spent their leisure time. Collecting together oral history about what we used to get up to in our free time in the 1950s, 60s, 70s, right up to the present day by interviewing young people about their leisure time pursuits today.

Exhibition is on at Dorset County Museum, High West Street, Dorchester, Dorset, DT1 1XA · Tel: 01305 262735

From February 15 – May 17, 2014.

Young people at Thomas Hardye School have built a modern version of a go-kart. This will be on display at our Free Time exhibition at Dorset County Museum.

This is a digital:works initiated project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. It aims to capture and preserve memories, to ensure that an important part of our everyday heritage is not lost. The new archive will be housed at Dorset History Centre, so that future generations can discover the views and feelings of ordinary people through the descriptive accounts of their experience.