As one of the University of Derby Interns that have been helping Blue Box Belper over the summer, I have been regularly attending the Cuppa Cake Chat sessions that are held every first and third Wednesdays of the month at the Early Years Centre on Alder Road.
Whilst I have been getting to know the group, I have also been thinking of ideas that could be tried out during these sessions, as well as other things at Blue Box.
A while ago I gave a brief talk on my own research into Napoleonic Prisoners of War held in Chesterfield, which was well received. Building on this interest, I decided to try something else out, called ‘Treasure Trove’, which was held on the 5th October.
The idea of Treasure Trove was that members of the group were invited to bring an item that was special to them and share the story behind that item with the group, like they do on Antique Roadshow or Repair Shop for example.
The session was well attended and a wide range of items were brought along. The items included family photographs and heirlooms, special books, childhood toys and pieces of local history.
All of these items, whilst very different, all had wonderful stories behind them and certainly got everyone talking! A highlight was when an old newspaper clipping about the old Bullfinch Hotel, that was once the Parks Estate, was shown to the group and one member became rather emotional as her grandma featured in the photographs. It was moments like this that let the group learn more about each other, as well as share about their own backgrounds.
All in all, it was definitely a very special time for all of those involved. In fact, everyone enjoyed it so much, it’s been decided to do these Treasure Trove sessions regularly, perhaps once a year.
The group certainly raised questions about how we could record people’s memories for the future, which is something that Blue Box hope to develop further at some point. If you think that you would like to be involved in future Treasure Trove sessions, or helping record memories, then please let Blue Box know.
Last but certainly no means least, I would like to give a very special thanks to all those involved in the Treasure Trove session. I was uncertain as to how it would go, but it went better than I could have imagined. The Cuppa Cake Chat group have all been so friendly and welcoming to me and I would definitely recommend the group to anyone.
Article written by Danielle Burton.
