Recycling Memories will work with different cultural groups in Leamington and Warwick to explore traditions of food growing and grocery shopping, buying and making clothes, transport and energy usage, and levels of recycling in our family homes. With our new awareness of climate change and the need to reform our 21st Century lifestyles, the project will explore some of the day-to-day practices from our past that may have been more sustainable, and will include contributors from different cultural backgrounds to learn about traditions from other countries.

Ideas for the project stemmed from Fiona's work on the Community Archive, with the discovery of 19th Century adverts for Ranelagh Gardens where peach trees and exotic fruits were grown; recollections from the 1940s and 1950s of second-hand clothes that came from the US and Canada; and the Sikh and African Caribbean allotment holders who cultivated vegetables from their homelands long before these became available as specialist produce on our supermarket shelves. People talked about their childhood go-karts assembled from pram wheels and wooden boxes, and these were kits available from “The Destructor's”, now the Recycle Warehouse.

Recycling Memories will explore many of the Action21 themes to find historical examples of more sustainable lifestyles. As well as collecting memories, the project will use images from family albums (and objects from under the stairs or the back of the shed) that might help to build a visual picture of homes and gardens in years gone by.  Contributors to this history project will be able to enjoy the end product;  an exhibition, early in 2009, featuring themselves on DVD!

If you have memories to contribute to the project, or if you know of any people who've settled in Leamington or Warwick and might be able to talk about life "back home", contact Fiona on 338421 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit the web site.