Using seaside postcards to engage communities with their pasts

Let’s Do the Time Walk Again! is a National Heritage Lottery funded project in partnership with Sandwich Guildhall Museum, Deal Museum, Ramsgate Clock House Museum and the Dickens House Museum, Broadstairs. The purpose of the project is to work with museum volunteers to digitise archives from the early 19th century to the mid-20th century to create a series of themed walks through time and place exploring the rich seaside heritage of Kent’s coastal towns. In this interactive workshop we will be using seaside postcards from the Nic Costa Archive to explore a sense of place, asking the question what are the stories we tell ourselves about the Kentish coast and its environs? The project team will reflect on how they utilised postcards to engage volunteers in a training workshop, building trust, and creating an opportunity for shared learning which respects the diverse skill sets that community volunteers bring. Their post-workshop evaluation revealed that although skills development was important to participants, making connections across the seaside towns was valued more, revealing that sense of place and sense of community are important when co-creating a project.