On Corporation Street Story Collecting: Big Mighty Manchester

We love stories. We think stories can change the world.

Stories and the folk that tell them are what make Mighty Heart right excited! So when we got asked by our lovely friends at HOME to collect 100 stories for an event at the Town Hall in May we grabbed the dictaphones and cakes and got cracking.

HOME and ANU Theatre Company are creating an arts project all about the Manchester IRA Bomb on 15 June 1996, and they will be using the voices of Manchester people to do it. The voices of the city will be spoken by actors from the ANU company at a FREE (Yes people, it’s art and it’s FREE!) event called, ‘100 Testimonies: Listening to the voice of Manchester’. You can find out more here.

Mighty HeartWe have traveled all around the North West collecting these tales about the bomb and have met some absolutely glorious folk! We visited Warrington, Preston, Hebden Bridge, Ramsbottom, Chorlton, Alderley Edge and beyond.

Age UK Manchester welcomed us in for a chat and we even ended up reading the quiz! We also visited the Foundation for Peace, in Warrington, which is a place bursting with support and creativity for people affected by conflict all over the world! Follow the link to check out the wonderful things they do there.

We walked the streets with our home made sign and chatted to people in the city, everyone was so generous with their voices and stories…

Mighty Heart 2So many images stuck out in peoples memories, some were beautiful and profound, some where funny and some where about a postbox. Manchester talked about music, so much music! from “Tumble weeds and New Order” to “Korn Hoodies and the Corn Exchange”.

On our last day we visited the Irish World Heritage Centre, we were welcomed in and told tales of times gone by, dancing, music, community and today. What really stuck us about this story collecting adventure is how much we all like to talk and share, and the real power we  all have within us to give folk time and an ear…and cake.

We met so many new Mighty Heart friends on this little journey, and we are already looking forward to connecting with them all on future Mighty arts projects. Here’s to Manchester and all who deal there!

Peace, Love and Stories.

Lisa and Sam

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HOME Digital in association with Virgin Media Business

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