A project will collect the memories of Millwall fans to find out how football and the community has changed in the last 50 years.
Bede House has received £89,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund for its two-year project, ‘Millwall Changing Communities: the memories of football and community in south London’.
Working with volunteers from the community, the aim of the project is to record the memories of Millwall’s BAME (black, Asian, and minority ethnic) fans and the changing community over a 50-year period, from the 1960s to the present day.
In collaboration with ‘Millwall for all’, the project will use the memories of the fans to explore the relationship between Millwall’s BAME fans and the changing local neighbourhood.
The recorded oral histories will be kept by Southwark Local History Library, and made available to the public from January 2018.
They will also be used to inspire theatre projects by performance group ActREAL and residents, as well as a 45-minute documentary.
Nick Dunne, director of Bede House, said: “We’re delighted to be working with Millwall and the Heritage Lottery Fund.
“Since Bede was founded in 1938 we’ve seen lots of changes in the area, and there’s lots more to come. Millwall are a big part of our local community, and we hope that this project will bring people together to better understand the past and be inspired for the future.”
The oral history interviews will be carried out by volunteers who will be recruited locally and receive oral history training.
Bede is a charity set up to support the needs of those in local community. It runs four key services: learning disabilities, youth work, starfish domestic violence project, and community engagement.
Anyone interested in volunteering should get in touch with project co-ordinator Ole Jensen.
See the Bede House website for further details: www.bedehouse.org