Exploring Manchester’s links to the West African textiles industry
Michelle Ayavoro, Creative Development Manager, Creative Hands Foundation

Attending funding workshops
We initially took part in a series of workshops devised and delivered by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the Manchester BME (Black and Ethnic Minority) Network after coming across a couple of local heritage projects in and around our neighbourhood.
The workshops, which aimed to give a deeper insight into HLF and the application process, were absolutely amazing. There were six sessions delivered at different heritage locations such as the People’s History Museum, Manchester Art Gallery and Quarry Mill.
The sessions gave us the opportunity to build relationships with HLF's development and grants officers, and share project ideas with other participants and organisations.
Supportive approach
The HLF's team in Manchester are open, understanding and encouraging. They are willing to try out new ideas to connect with Manchester’s communities and portray a real genuine flair and passion for groups they work with.
Their supportive approach definitely had an effect on us and the successful outcome of our application.
Motivation and confidence
It was here that we found not only the inspiration, motivation and confidence to develop a heritage project and apply to HLF for a grant, but also where we discovered the seeds of our project idea: Manchester’s Link to West African Textiles through ABC Wax Prints.
“The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
We had taken one of our groups for a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry, and there was one person in the group who was particularly interested in the wax printed textiles as he came from West Africa.
As we looked around we unearthed more interesting facts. For example - did you know that since 1900 there have been 45 different textile companies based in Manchester designing and manufacturing wax printed textiles for the West African market?
To our surprise there was just one – ABC Wax - still remaining in Hyde, Manchester.
As we shared our findings, especially with those from West Africa, no one had heard about this local company nor knew its history.
As we began to meet and speak with people including potential partners and supporters, we had a great response, and everyone we spoke to was extremely excited, keen and interested in getting involved.
In no time at all we had six letters of support for our application for a project to identify and record, interpret and explain the history of West African textiles designed and produced by ABC Wax in Manchester from the 1900s to the present day.
Application process
The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.
roducing a project plan enabled us to dissect our project, piece by piece, and allowed us to be Specific, Measurable, Agreed upon, Realistic and Time-based (SMART) in our approach. It gave us a timeline to follow and a structure to work with as we delivered our project.
Running the project
We recruited four staff members, a project manager, a coordinator/administrator, a film maker and oral history trainer.
Working in a small team allowed communication to be simple and effective, gave us a good understanding of each other’s roles, challenges and responsibilities, as well as giving me a better sense of the importance and value of my role within the team. We were also able to work fast and get things done.
Working with volunteers
We were delighted that so many volunteers came to join us in our project - however there are key lessons to be learned when you are a small organisation recruiting a volunteer workforce!
It was a challenge for me managing over 20 volunteers throughout the project, especially as the initial contingent of 16 that took part in our extensive training package at the start of the project (which covered oral history training, photography and filming) started to leave due to other commitments.
We then had to train up new recruits individually, which was extremely time consuming. On a positive note, all the volunteers interviewed and recorded each other about their experience on the project and we received excellent feedback from all of them, which was a massive confidence boost.
“This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
Showcasing artefacts
A key highlight of this project for me was the partnership with the Whitworth Art Gallery, where we held our celebration event. It was a huge success and we were honoured to welcome the Lord Mayor of Manchester Carl Austin-Behan and Sara Hilton, former Head of HLF North West.
The gallery also showcased a collection of wax printed textiles to visitors and took part in our film.
What would I do differently?
Next time I would create a mini induction package, recruit a volunteer coordinator and work with smaller groups of three or four volunteers at a time throughout a 12-18-month project.
This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. I’ve developed a lot of new skills in bid writing, planning, recruiting and managing volunteers and staff, time management, working in a small team as well as capturing and recording oral history, photography and film making.
It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.
Top three tips for other applicants
- Don’t rush your application, it takes time. Share your idea with potential partners and build relationships.
- Double-check the project roles and responsibilities. You don’t want to over-stretch your team.
- Be realistic with your costings. Don’t guess, work them out.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
You might also be interested in...
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Exploring Manchester’s links to the West African textiles industry

Michelle Ayavoro, Creative Development Manager, Creative Hands Foundation
Attending funding workshops
We initially took part in a series of workshops devised and delivered by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the Manchester BME (Black and Ethnic Minority) Network after coming across a couple of local heritage projects in and around our neighbourhood.
The workshops, which aimed to give a deeper insight into HLF and the application process, were absolutely amazing. There were six sessions delivered at different heritage locations such as the People’s History Museum, Manchester Art Gallery and Quarry Mill.
The sessions gave us the opportunity to build relationships with HLF's development and grants officers, and share project ideas with other participants and organisations.
Supportive approach
The HLF's team in Manchester are open, understanding and encouraging. They are willing to try out new ideas to connect with Manchester’s communities and portray a real genuine flair and passion for groups they work with.
Their supportive approach definitely had an effect on us and the successful outcome of our application.
Motivation and confidence
It was here that we found not only the inspiration, motivation and confidence to develop a heritage project and apply to HLF for a grant, but also where we discovered the seeds of our project idea: Manchester’s Link to West African Textiles through ABC Wax Prints.
“The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
We had taken one of our groups for a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry, and there was one person in the group who was particularly interested in the wax printed textiles as he came from West Africa.
As we looked around we unearthed more interesting facts. For example - did you know that since 1900 there have been 45 different textile companies based in Manchester designing and manufacturing wax printed textiles for the West African market?
To our surprise there was just one – ABC Wax - still remaining in Hyde, Manchester.
As we shared our findings, especially with those from West Africa, no one had heard about this local company nor knew its history.
As we began to meet and speak with people including potential partners and supporters, we had a great response, and everyone we spoke to was extremely excited, keen and interested in getting involved.
In no time at all we had six letters of support for our application for a project to identify and record, interpret and explain the history of West African textiles designed and produced by ABC Wax in Manchester from the 1900s to the present day.
Application process
The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.
roducing a project plan enabled us to dissect our project, piece by piece, and allowed us to be Specific, Measurable, Agreed upon, Realistic and Time-based (SMART) in our approach. It gave us a timeline to follow and a structure to work with as we delivered our project.
Running the project
We recruited four staff members, a project manager, a coordinator/administrator, a film maker and oral history trainer.
Working in a small team allowed communication to be simple and effective, gave us a good understanding of each other’s roles, challenges and responsibilities, as well as giving me a better sense of the importance and value of my role within the team. We were also able to work fast and get things done.
Working with volunteers
We were delighted that so many volunteers came to join us in our project - however there are key lessons to be learned when you are a small organisation recruiting a volunteer workforce!
It was a challenge for me managing over 20 volunteers throughout the project, especially as the initial contingent of 16 that took part in our extensive training package at the start of the project (which covered oral history training, photography and filming) started to leave due to other commitments.
We then had to train up new recruits individually, which was extremely time consuming. On a positive note, all the volunteers interviewed and recorded each other about their experience on the project and we received excellent feedback from all of them, which was a massive confidence boost.
“This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
Showcasing artefacts
A key highlight of this project for me was the partnership with the Whitworth Art Gallery, where we held our celebration event. It was a huge success and we were honoured to welcome the Lord Mayor of Manchester Carl Austin-Behan and Sara Hilton, former Head of HLF North West.
The gallery also showcased a collection of wax printed textiles to visitors and took part in our film.
What would I do differently?
Next time I would create a mini induction package, recruit a volunteer coordinator and work with smaller groups of three or four volunteers at a time throughout a 12-18-month project.
This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. I’ve developed a lot of new skills in bid writing, planning, recruiting and managing volunteers and staff, time management, working in a small team as well as capturing and recording oral history, photography and film making.
It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.
Top three tips for other applicants
- Don’t rush your application, it takes time. Share your idea with potential partners and build relationships.
- Double-check the project roles and responsibilities. You don’t want to over-stretch your team.
- Be realistic with your costings. Don’t guess, work them out.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
You might also be interested in...
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Exploring Manchester’s links to the West African textiles industry

Michelle Ayavoro, Creative Development Manager, Creative Hands Foundation
Attending funding workshops
We initially took part in a series of workshops devised and delivered by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the Manchester BME (Black and Ethnic Minority) Network after coming across a couple of local heritage projects in and around our neighbourhood.
The workshops, which aimed to give a deeper insight into HLF and the application process, were absolutely amazing. There were six sessions delivered at different heritage locations such as the People’s History Museum, Manchester Art Gallery and Quarry Mill.
The sessions gave us the opportunity to build relationships with HLF's development and grants officers, and share project ideas with other participants and organisations.
Supportive approach
The HLF's team in Manchester are open, understanding and encouraging. They are willing to try out new ideas to connect with Manchester’s communities and portray a real genuine flair and passion for groups they work with.
Their supportive approach definitely had an effect on us and the successful outcome of our application.
Motivation and confidence
It was here that we found not only the inspiration, motivation and confidence to develop a heritage project and apply to HLF for a grant, but also where we discovered the seeds of our project idea: Manchester’s Link to West African Textiles through ABC Wax Prints.
“The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
We had taken one of our groups for a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry, and there was one person in the group who was particularly interested in the wax printed textiles as he came from West Africa.
As we looked around we unearthed more interesting facts. For example - did you know that since 1900 there have been 45 different textile companies based in Manchester designing and manufacturing wax printed textiles for the West African market?
To our surprise there was just one – ABC Wax - still remaining in Hyde, Manchester.
As we shared our findings, especially with those from West Africa, no one had heard about this local company nor knew its history.
As we began to meet and speak with people including potential partners and supporters, we had a great response, and everyone we spoke to was extremely excited, keen and interested in getting involved.
In no time at all we had six letters of support for our application for a project to identify and record, interpret and explain the history of West African textiles designed and produced by ABC Wax in Manchester from the 1900s to the present day.
Application process
The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.
roducing a project plan enabled us to dissect our project, piece by piece, and allowed us to be Specific, Measurable, Agreed upon, Realistic and Time-based (SMART) in our approach. It gave us a timeline to follow and a structure to work with as we delivered our project.
Running the project
We recruited four staff members, a project manager, a coordinator/administrator, a film maker and oral history trainer.
Working in a small team allowed communication to be simple and effective, gave us a good understanding of each other’s roles, challenges and responsibilities, as well as giving me a better sense of the importance and value of my role within the team. We were also able to work fast and get things done.
Working with volunteers
We were delighted that so many volunteers came to join us in our project - however there are key lessons to be learned when you are a small organisation recruiting a volunteer workforce!
It was a challenge for me managing over 20 volunteers throughout the project, especially as the initial contingent of 16 that took part in our extensive training package at the start of the project (which covered oral history training, photography and filming) started to leave due to other commitments.
We then had to train up new recruits individually, which was extremely time consuming. On a positive note, all the volunteers interviewed and recorded each other about their experience on the project and we received excellent feedback from all of them, which was a massive confidence boost.
“This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
Showcasing artefacts
A key highlight of this project for me was the partnership with the Whitworth Art Gallery, where we held our celebration event. It was a huge success and we were honoured to welcome the Lord Mayor of Manchester Carl Austin-Behan and Sara Hilton, former Head of HLF North West.
The gallery also showcased a collection of wax printed textiles to visitors and took part in our film.
What would I do differently?
Next time I would create a mini induction package, recruit a volunteer coordinator and work with smaller groups of three or four volunteers at a time throughout a 12-18-month project.
This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. I’ve developed a lot of new skills in bid writing, planning, recruiting and managing volunteers and staff, time management, working in a small team as well as capturing and recording oral history, photography and film making.
It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.
Top three tips for other applicants
- Don’t rush your application, it takes time. Share your idea with potential partners and build relationships.
- Double-check the project roles and responsibilities. You don’t want to over-stretch your team.
- Be realistic with your costings. Don’t guess, work them out.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
You might also be interested in...
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Exploring Manchester’s links to the West African textiles industry

Michelle Ayavoro, Creative Development Manager, Creative Hands Foundation
Attending funding workshops
We initially took part in a series of workshops devised and delivered by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the Manchester BME (Black and Ethnic Minority) Network after coming across a couple of local heritage projects in and around our neighbourhood.
The workshops, which aimed to give a deeper insight into HLF and the application process, were absolutely amazing. There were six sessions delivered at different heritage locations such as the People’s History Museum, Manchester Art Gallery and Quarry Mill.
The sessions gave us the opportunity to build relationships with HLF's development and grants officers, and share project ideas with other participants and organisations.
Supportive approach
The HLF's team in Manchester are open, understanding and encouraging. They are willing to try out new ideas to connect with Manchester’s communities and portray a real genuine flair and passion for groups they work with.
Their supportive approach definitely had an effect on us and the successful outcome of our application.
Motivation and confidence
It was here that we found not only the inspiration, motivation and confidence to develop a heritage project and apply to HLF for a grant, but also where we discovered the seeds of our project idea: Manchester’s Link to West African Textiles through ABC Wax Prints.
“The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
We had taken one of our groups for a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry, and there was one person in the group who was particularly interested in the wax printed textiles as he came from West Africa.
As we looked around we unearthed more interesting facts. For example - did you know that since 1900 there have been 45 different textile companies based in Manchester designing and manufacturing wax printed textiles for the West African market?
To our surprise there was just one – ABC Wax - still remaining in Hyde, Manchester.
As we shared our findings, especially with those from West Africa, no one had heard about this local company nor knew its history.
As we began to meet and speak with people including potential partners and supporters, we had a great response, and everyone we spoke to was extremely excited, keen and interested in getting involved.
In no time at all we had six letters of support for our application for a project to identify and record, interpret and explain the history of West African textiles designed and produced by ABC Wax in Manchester from the 1900s to the present day.
Application process
The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.
roducing a project plan enabled us to dissect our project, piece by piece, and allowed us to be Specific, Measurable, Agreed upon, Realistic and Time-based (SMART) in our approach. It gave us a timeline to follow and a structure to work with as we delivered our project.
Running the project
We recruited four staff members, a project manager, a coordinator/administrator, a film maker and oral history trainer.
Working in a small team allowed communication to be simple and effective, gave us a good understanding of each other’s roles, challenges and responsibilities, as well as giving me a better sense of the importance and value of my role within the team. We were also able to work fast and get things done.
Working with volunteers
We were delighted that so many volunteers came to join us in our project - however there are key lessons to be learned when you are a small organisation recruiting a volunteer workforce!
It was a challenge for me managing over 20 volunteers throughout the project, especially as the initial contingent of 16 that took part in our extensive training package at the start of the project (which covered oral history training, photography and filming) started to leave due to other commitments.
We then had to train up new recruits individually, which was extremely time consuming. On a positive note, all the volunteers interviewed and recorded each other about their experience on the project and we received excellent feedback from all of them, which was a massive confidence boost.
“This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
Showcasing artefacts
A key highlight of this project for me was the partnership with the Whitworth Art Gallery, where we held our celebration event. It was a huge success and we were honoured to welcome the Lord Mayor of Manchester Carl Austin-Behan and Sara Hilton, former Head of HLF North West.
The gallery also showcased a collection of wax printed textiles to visitors and took part in our film.
What would I do differently?
Next time I would create a mini induction package, recruit a volunteer coordinator and work with smaller groups of three or four volunteers at a time throughout a 12-18-month project.
This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. I’ve developed a lot of new skills in bid writing, planning, recruiting and managing volunteers and staff, time management, working in a small team as well as capturing and recording oral history, photography and film making.
It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.
Top three tips for other applicants
- Don’t rush your application, it takes time. Share your idea with potential partners and build relationships.
- Double-check the project roles and responsibilities. You don’t want to over-stretch your team.
- Be realistic with your costings. Don’t guess, work them out.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
You might also be interested in...
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Exploring Manchester’s links to the West African textiles industry

Michelle Ayavoro, Creative Development Manager, Creative Hands Foundation
Attending funding workshops
We initially took part in a series of workshops devised and delivered by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the Manchester BME (Black and Ethnic Minority) Network after coming across a couple of local heritage projects in and around our neighbourhood.
The workshops, which aimed to give a deeper insight into HLF and the application process, were absolutely amazing. There were six sessions delivered at different heritage locations such as the People’s History Museum, Manchester Art Gallery and Quarry Mill.
The sessions gave us the opportunity to build relationships with HLF's development and grants officers, and share project ideas with other participants and organisations.
Supportive approach
The HLF's team in Manchester are open, understanding and encouraging. They are willing to try out new ideas to connect with Manchester’s communities and portray a real genuine flair and passion for groups they work with.
Their supportive approach definitely had an effect on us and the successful outcome of our application.
Motivation and confidence
It was here that we found not only the inspiration, motivation and confidence to develop a heritage project and apply to HLF for a grant, but also where we discovered the seeds of our project idea: Manchester’s Link to West African Textiles through ABC Wax Prints.
“The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
We had taken one of our groups for a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry, and there was one person in the group who was particularly interested in the wax printed textiles as he came from West Africa.
As we looked around we unearthed more interesting facts. For example - did you know that since 1900 there have been 45 different textile companies based in Manchester designing and manufacturing wax printed textiles for the West African market?
To our surprise there was just one – ABC Wax - still remaining in Hyde, Manchester.
As we shared our findings, especially with those from West Africa, no one had heard about this local company nor knew its history.
As we began to meet and speak with people including potential partners and supporters, we had a great response, and everyone we spoke to was extremely excited, keen and interested in getting involved.
In no time at all we had six letters of support for our application for a project to identify and record, interpret and explain the history of West African textiles designed and produced by ABC Wax in Manchester from the 1900s to the present day.
Application process
The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.
roducing a project plan enabled us to dissect our project, piece by piece, and allowed us to be Specific, Measurable, Agreed upon, Realistic and Time-based (SMART) in our approach. It gave us a timeline to follow and a structure to work with as we delivered our project.
Running the project
We recruited four staff members, a project manager, a coordinator/administrator, a film maker and oral history trainer.
Working in a small team allowed communication to be simple and effective, gave us a good understanding of each other’s roles, challenges and responsibilities, as well as giving me a better sense of the importance and value of my role within the team. We were also able to work fast and get things done.
Working with volunteers
We were delighted that so many volunteers came to join us in our project - however there are key lessons to be learned when you are a small organisation recruiting a volunteer workforce!
It was a challenge for me managing over 20 volunteers throughout the project, especially as the initial contingent of 16 that took part in our extensive training package at the start of the project (which covered oral history training, photography and filming) started to leave due to other commitments.
We then had to train up new recruits individually, which was extremely time consuming. On a positive note, all the volunteers interviewed and recorded each other about their experience on the project and we received excellent feedback from all of them, which was a massive confidence boost.
“This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
Showcasing artefacts
A key highlight of this project for me was the partnership with the Whitworth Art Gallery, where we held our celebration event. It was a huge success and we were honoured to welcome the Lord Mayor of Manchester Carl Austin-Behan and Sara Hilton, former Head of HLF North West.
The gallery also showcased a collection of wax printed textiles to visitors and took part in our film.
What would I do differently?
Next time I would create a mini induction package, recruit a volunteer coordinator and work with smaller groups of three or four volunteers at a time throughout a 12-18-month project.
This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. I’ve developed a lot of new skills in bid writing, planning, recruiting and managing volunteers and staff, time management, working in a small team as well as capturing and recording oral history, photography and film making.
It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.
Top three tips for other applicants
- Don’t rush your application, it takes time. Share your idea with potential partners and build relationships.
- Double-check the project roles and responsibilities. You don’t want to over-stretch your team.
- Be realistic with your costings. Don’t guess, work them out.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
You might also be interested in...
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Exploring Manchester’s links to the West African textiles industry

Michelle Ayavoro, Creative Development Manager, Creative Hands Foundation
Attending funding workshops
We initially took part in a series of workshops devised and delivered by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the Manchester BME (Black and Ethnic Minority) Network after coming across a couple of local heritage projects in and around our neighbourhood.
The workshops, which aimed to give a deeper insight into HLF and the application process, were absolutely amazing. There were six sessions delivered at different heritage locations such as the People’s History Museum, Manchester Art Gallery and Quarry Mill.
The sessions gave us the opportunity to build relationships with HLF's development and grants officers, and share project ideas with other participants and organisations.
Supportive approach
The HLF's team in Manchester are open, understanding and encouraging. They are willing to try out new ideas to connect with Manchester’s communities and portray a real genuine flair and passion for groups they work with.
Their supportive approach definitely had an effect on us and the successful outcome of our application.
Motivation and confidence
It was here that we found not only the inspiration, motivation and confidence to develop a heritage project and apply to HLF for a grant, but also where we discovered the seeds of our project idea: Manchester’s Link to West African Textiles through ABC Wax Prints.
“The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
We had taken one of our groups for a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry, and there was one person in the group who was particularly interested in the wax printed textiles as he came from West Africa.
As we looked around we unearthed more interesting facts. For example - did you know that since 1900 there have been 45 different textile companies based in Manchester designing and manufacturing wax printed textiles for the West African market?
To our surprise there was just one – ABC Wax - still remaining in Hyde, Manchester.
As we shared our findings, especially with those from West Africa, no one had heard about this local company nor knew its history.
As we began to meet and speak with people including potential partners and supporters, we had a great response, and everyone we spoke to was extremely excited, keen and interested in getting involved.
In no time at all we had six letters of support for our application for a project to identify and record, interpret and explain the history of West African textiles designed and produced by ABC Wax in Manchester from the 1900s to the present day.
Application process
The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.
roducing a project plan enabled us to dissect our project, piece by piece, and allowed us to be Specific, Measurable, Agreed upon, Realistic and Time-based (SMART) in our approach. It gave us a timeline to follow and a structure to work with as we delivered our project.
Running the project
We recruited four staff members, a project manager, a coordinator/administrator, a film maker and oral history trainer.
Working in a small team allowed communication to be simple and effective, gave us a good understanding of each other’s roles, challenges and responsibilities, as well as giving me a better sense of the importance and value of my role within the team. We were also able to work fast and get things done.
Working with volunteers
We were delighted that so many volunteers came to join us in our project - however there are key lessons to be learned when you are a small organisation recruiting a volunteer workforce!
It was a challenge for me managing over 20 volunteers throughout the project, especially as the initial contingent of 16 that took part in our extensive training package at the start of the project (which covered oral history training, photography and filming) started to leave due to other commitments.
We then had to train up new recruits individually, which was extremely time consuming. On a positive note, all the volunteers interviewed and recorded each other about their experience on the project and we received excellent feedback from all of them, which was a massive confidence boost.
“This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
Showcasing artefacts
A key highlight of this project for me was the partnership with the Whitworth Art Gallery, where we held our celebration event. It was a huge success and we were honoured to welcome the Lord Mayor of Manchester Carl Austin-Behan and Sara Hilton, former Head of HLF North West.
The gallery also showcased a collection of wax printed textiles to visitors and took part in our film.
What would I do differently?
Next time I would create a mini induction package, recruit a volunteer coordinator and work with smaller groups of three or four volunteers at a time throughout a 12-18-month project.
This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. I’ve developed a lot of new skills in bid writing, planning, recruiting and managing volunteers and staff, time management, working in a small team as well as capturing and recording oral history, photography and film making.
It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.
Top three tips for other applicants
- Don’t rush your application, it takes time. Share your idea with potential partners and build relationships.
- Double-check the project roles and responsibilities. You don’t want to over-stretch your team.
- Be realistic with your costings. Don’t guess, work them out.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
You might also be interested in...
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Exploring Manchester’s links to the West African textiles industry

Michelle Ayavoro, Creative Development Manager, Creative Hands Foundation
Attending funding workshops
We initially took part in a series of workshops devised and delivered by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the Manchester BME (Black and Ethnic Minority) Network after coming across a couple of local heritage projects in and around our neighbourhood.
The workshops, which aimed to give a deeper insight into HLF and the application process, were absolutely amazing. There were six sessions delivered at different heritage locations such as the People’s History Museum, Manchester Art Gallery and Quarry Mill.
The sessions gave us the opportunity to build relationships with HLF's development and grants officers, and share project ideas with other participants and organisations.
Supportive approach
The HLF's team in Manchester are open, understanding and encouraging. They are willing to try out new ideas to connect with Manchester’s communities and portray a real genuine flair and passion for groups they work with.
Their supportive approach definitely had an effect on us and the successful outcome of our application.
Motivation and confidence
It was here that we found not only the inspiration, motivation and confidence to develop a heritage project and apply to HLF for a grant, but also where we discovered the seeds of our project idea: Manchester’s Link to West African Textiles through ABC Wax Prints.
“The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
We had taken one of our groups for a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry, and there was one person in the group who was particularly interested in the wax printed textiles as he came from West Africa.
As we looked around we unearthed more interesting facts. For example - did you know that since 1900 there have been 45 different textile companies based in Manchester designing and manufacturing wax printed textiles for the West African market?
To our surprise there was just one – ABC Wax - still remaining in Hyde, Manchester.
As we shared our findings, especially with those from West Africa, no one had heard about this local company nor knew its history.
As we began to meet and speak with people including potential partners and supporters, we had a great response, and everyone we spoke to was extremely excited, keen and interested in getting involved.
In no time at all we had six letters of support for our application for a project to identify and record, interpret and explain the history of West African textiles designed and produced by ABC Wax in Manchester from the 1900s to the present day.
Application process
The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.
roducing a project plan enabled us to dissect our project, piece by piece, and allowed us to be Specific, Measurable, Agreed upon, Realistic and Time-based (SMART) in our approach. It gave us a timeline to follow and a structure to work with as we delivered our project.
Running the project
We recruited four staff members, a project manager, a coordinator/administrator, a film maker and oral history trainer.
Working in a small team allowed communication to be simple and effective, gave us a good understanding of each other’s roles, challenges and responsibilities, as well as giving me a better sense of the importance and value of my role within the team. We were also able to work fast and get things done.
Working with volunteers
We were delighted that so many volunteers came to join us in our project - however there are key lessons to be learned when you are a small organisation recruiting a volunteer workforce!
It was a challenge for me managing over 20 volunteers throughout the project, especially as the initial contingent of 16 that took part in our extensive training package at the start of the project (which covered oral history training, photography and filming) started to leave due to other commitments.
We then had to train up new recruits individually, which was extremely time consuming. On a positive note, all the volunteers interviewed and recorded each other about their experience on the project and we received excellent feedback from all of them, which was a massive confidence boost.
“This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
Showcasing artefacts
A key highlight of this project for me was the partnership with the Whitworth Art Gallery, where we held our celebration event. It was a huge success and we were honoured to welcome the Lord Mayor of Manchester Carl Austin-Behan and Sara Hilton, former Head of HLF North West.
The gallery also showcased a collection of wax printed textiles to visitors and took part in our film.
What would I do differently?
Next time I would create a mini induction package, recruit a volunteer coordinator and work with smaller groups of three or four volunteers at a time throughout a 12-18-month project.
This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. I’ve developed a lot of new skills in bid writing, planning, recruiting and managing volunteers and staff, time management, working in a small team as well as capturing and recording oral history, photography and film making.
It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.
Top three tips for other applicants
- Don’t rush your application, it takes time. Share your idea with potential partners and build relationships.
- Double-check the project roles and responsibilities. You don’t want to over-stretch your team.
- Be realistic with your costings. Don’t guess, work them out.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
You might also be interested in...
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Exploring Manchester’s links to the West African textiles industry

Michelle Ayavoro, Creative Development Manager, Creative Hands Foundation
Attending funding workshops
We initially took part in a series of workshops devised and delivered by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the Manchester BME (Black and Ethnic Minority) Network after coming across a couple of local heritage projects in and around our neighbourhood.
The workshops, which aimed to give a deeper insight into HLF and the application process, were absolutely amazing. There were six sessions delivered at different heritage locations such as the People’s History Museum, Manchester Art Gallery and Quarry Mill.
The sessions gave us the opportunity to build relationships with HLF's development and grants officers, and share project ideas with other participants and organisations.
Supportive approach
The HLF's team in Manchester are open, understanding and encouraging. They are willing to try out new ideas to connect with Manchester’s communities and portray a real genuine flair and passion for groups they work with.
Their supportive approach definitely had an effect on us and the successful outcome of our application.
Motivation and confidence
It was here that we found not only the inspiration, motivation and confidence to develop a heritage project and apply to HLF for a grant, but also where we discovered the seeds of our project idea: Manchester’s Link to West African Textiles through ABC Wax Prints.
“The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
We had taken one of our groups for a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry, and there was one person in the group who was particularly interested in the wax printed textiles as he came from West Africa.
As we looked around we unearthed more interesting facts. For example - did you know that since 1900 there have been 45 different textile companies based in Manchester designing and manufacturing wax printed textiles for the West African market?
To our surprise there was just one – ABC Wax - still remaining in Hyde, Manchester.
As we shared our findings, especially with those from West Africa, no one had heard about this local company nor knew its history.
As we began to meet and speak with people including potential partners and supporters, we had a great response, and everyone we spoke to was extremely excited, keen and interested in getting involved.
In no time at all we had six letters of support for our application for a project to identify and record, interpret and explain the history of West African textiles designed and produced by ABC Wax in Manchester from the 1900s to the present day.
Application process
The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.
roducing a project plan enabled us to dissect our project, piece by piece, and allowed us to be Specific, Measurable, Agreed upon, Realistic and Time-based (SMART) in our approach. It gave us a timeline to follow and a structure to work with as we delivered our project.
Running the project
We recruited four staff members, a project manager, a coordinator/administrator, a film maker and oral history trainer.
Working in a small team allowed communication to be simple and effective, gave us a good understanding of each other’s roles, challenges and responsibilities, as well as giving me a better sense of the importance and value of my role within the team. We were also able to work fast and get things done.
Working with volunteers
We were delighted that so many volunteers came to join us in our project - however there are key lessons to be learned when you are a small organisation recruiting a volunteer workforce!
It was a challenge for me managing over 20 volunteers throughout the project, especially as the initial contingent of 16 that took part in our extensive training package at the start of the project (which covered oral history training, photography and filming) started to leave due to other commitments.
We then had to train up new recruits individually, which was extremely time consuming. On a positive note, all the volunteers interviewed and recorded each other about their experience on the project and we received excellent feedback from all of them, which was a massive confidence boost.
“This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
Showcasing artefacts
A key highlight of this project for me was the partnership with the Whitworth Art Gallery, where we held our celebration event. It was a huge success and we were honoured to welcome the Lord Mayor of Manchester Carl Austin-Behan and Sara Hilton, former Head of HLF North West.
The gallery also showcased a collection of wax printed textiles to visitors and took part in our film.
What would I do differently?
Next time I would create a mini induction package, recruit a volunteer coordinator and work with smaller groups of three or four volunteers at a time throughout a 12-18-month project.
This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. I’ve developed a lot of new skills in bid writing, planning, recruiting and managing volunteers and staff, time management, working in a small team as well as capturing and recording oral history, photography and film making.
It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.
Top three tips for other applicants
- Don’t rush your application, it takes time. Share your idea with potential partners and build relationships.
- Double-check the project roles and responsibilities. You don’t want to over-stretch your team.
- Be realistic with your costings. Don’t guess, work them out.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
You might also be interested in...
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Exploring Manchester’s links to the West African textiles industry

Michelle Ayavoro, Creative Development Manager, Creative Hands Foundation
Attending funding workshops
We initially took part in a series of workshops devised and delivered by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the Manchester BME (Black and Ethnic Minority) Network after coming across a couple of local heritage projects in and around our neighbourhood.
The workshops, which aimed to give a deeper insight into HLF and the application process, were absolutely amazing. There were six sessions delivered at different heritage locations such as the People’s History Museum, Manchester Art Gallery and Quarry Mill.
The sessions gave us the opportunity to build relationships with HLF's development and grants officers, and share project ideas with other participants and organisations.
Supportive approach
The HLF's team in Manchester are open, understanding and encouraging. They are willing to try out new ideas to connect with Manchester’s communities and portray a real genuine flair and passion for groups they work with.
Their supportive approach definitely had an effect on us and the successful outcome of our application.
Motivation and confidence
It was here that we found not only the inspiration, motivation and confidence to develop a heritage project and apply to HLF for a grant, but also where we discovered the seeds of our project idea: Manchester’s Link to West African Textiles through ABC Wax Prints.
“The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
We had taken one of our groups for a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry, and there was one person in the group who was particularly interested in the wax printed textiles as he came from West Africa.
As we looked around we unearthed more interesting facts. For example - did you know that since 1900 there have been 45 different textile companies based in Manchester designing and manufacturing wax printed textiles for the West African market?
To our surprise there was just one – ABC Wax - still remaining in Hyde, Manchester.
As we shared our findings, especially with those from West Africa, no one had heard about this local company nor knew its history.
As we began to meet and speak with people including potential partners and supporters, we had a great response, and everyone we spoke to was extremely excited, keen and interested in getting involved.
In no time at all we had six letters of support for our application for a project to identify and record, interpret and explain the history of West African textiles designed and produced by ABC Wax in Manchester from the 1900s to the present day.
Application process
The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.
roducing a project plan enabled us to dissect our project, piece by piece, and allowed us to be Specific, Measurable, Agreed upon, Realistic and Time-based (SMART) in our approach. It gave us a timeline to follow and a structure to work with as we delivered our project.
Running the project
We recruited four staff members, a project manager, a coordinator/administrator, a film maker and oral history trainer.
Working in a small team allowed communication to be simple and effective, gave us a good understanding of each other’s roles, challenges and responsibilities, as well as giving me a better sense of the importance and value of my role within the team. We were also able to work fast and get things done.
Working with volunteers
We were delighted that so many volunteers came to join us in our project - however there are key lessons to be learned when you are a small organisation recruiting a volunteer workforce!
It was a challenge for me managing over 20 volunteers throughout the project, especially as the initial contingent of 16 that took part in our extensive training package at the start of the project (which covered oral history training, photography and filming) started to leave due to other commitments.
We then had to train up new recruits individually, which was extremely time consuming. On a positive note, all the volunteers interviewed and recorded each other about their experience on the project and we received excellent feedback from all of them, which was a massive confidence boost.
“This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
Showcasing artefacts
A key highlight of this project for me was the partnership with the Whitworth Art Gallery, where we held our celebration event. It was a huge success and we were honoured to welcome the Lord Mayor of Manchester Carl Austin-Behan and Sara Hilton, former Head of HLF North West.
The gallery also showcased a collection of wax printed textiles to visitors and took part in our film.
What would I do differently?
Next time I would create a mini induction package, recruit a volunteer coordinator and work with smaller groups of three or four volunteers at a time throughout a 12-18-month project.
This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. I’ve developed a lot of new skills in bid writing, planning, recruiting and managing volunteers and staff, time management, working in a small team as well as capturing and recording oral history, photography and film making.
It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.
Top three tips for other applicants
- Don’t rush your application, it takes time. Share your idea with potential partners and build relationships.
- Double-check the project roles and responsibilities. You don’t want to over-stretch your team.
- Be realistic with your costings. Don’t guess, work them out.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
You might also be interested in...
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Exploring Manchester’s links to the West African textiles industry

Michelle Ayavoro, Creative Development Manager, Creative Hands Foundation
Attending funding workshops
We initially took part in a series of workshops devised and delivered by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the Manchester BME (Black and Ethnic Minority) Network after coming across a couple of local heritage projects in and around our neighbourhood.
The workshops, which aimed to give a deeper insight into HLF and the application process, were absolutely amazing. There were six sessions delivered at different heritage locations such as the People’s History Museum, Manchester Art Gallery and Quarry Mill.
The sessions gave us the opportunity to build relationships with HLF's development and grants officers, and share project ideas with other participants and organisations.
Supportive approach
The HLF's team in Manchester are open, understanding and encouraging. They are willing to try out new ideas to connect with Manchester’s communities and portray a real genuine flair and passion for groups they work with.
Their supportive approach definitely had an effect on us and the successful outcome of our application.
Motivation and confidence
It was here that we found not only the inspiration, motivation and confidence to develop a heritage project and apply to HLF for a grant, but also where we discovered the seeds of our project idea: Manchester’s Link to West African Textiles through ABC Wax Prints.
“The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
We had taken one of our groups for a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry, and there was one person in the group who was particularly interested in the wax printed textiles as he came from West Africa.
As we looked around we unearthed more interesting facts. For example - did you know that since 1900 there have been 45 different textile companies based in Manchester designing and manufacturing wax printed textiles for the West African market?
To our surprise there was just one – ABC Wax - still remaining in Hyde, Manchester.
As we shared our findings, especially with those from West Africa, no one had heard about this local company nor knew its history.
As we began to meet and speak with people including potential partners and supporters, we had a great response, and everyone we spoke to was extremely excited, keen and interested in getting involved.
In no time at all we had six letters of support for our application for a project to identify and record, interpret and explain the history of West African textiles designed and produced by ABC Wax in Manchester from the 1900s to the present day.
Application process
The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.
roducing a project plan enabled us to dissect our project, piece by piece, and allowed us to be Specific, Measurable, Agreed upon, Realistic and Time-based (SMART) in our approach. It gave us a timeline to follow and a structure to work with as we delivered our project.
Running the project
We recruited four staff members, a project manager, a coordinator/administrator, a film maker and oral history trainer.
Working in a small team allowed communication to be simple and effective, gave us a good understanding of each other’s roles, challenges and responsibilities, as well as giving me a better sense of the importance and value of my role within the team. We were also able to work fast and get things done.
Working with volunteers
We were delighted that so many volunteers came to join us in our project - however there are key lessons to be learned when you are a small organisation recruiting a volunteer workforce!
It was a challenge for me managing over 20 volunteers throughout the project, especially as the initial contingent of 16 that took part in our extensive training package at the start of the project (which covered oral history training, photography and filming) started to leave due to other commitments.
We then had to train up new recruits individually, which was extremely time consuming. On a positive note, all the volunteers interviewed and recorded each other about their experience on the project and we received excellent feedback from all of them, which was a massive confidence boost.
“This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
Showcasing artefacts
A key highlight of this project for me was the partnership with the Whitworth Art Gallery, where we held our celebration event. It was a huge success and we were honoured to welcome the Lord Mayor of Manchester Carl Austin-Behan and Sara Hilton, former Head of HLF North West.
The gallery also showcased a collection of wax printed textiles to visitors and took part in our film.
What would I do differently?
Next time I would create a mini induction package, recruit a volunteer coordinator and work with smaller groups of three or four volunteers at a time throughout a 12-18-month project.
This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. I’ve developed a lot of new skills in bid writing, planning, recruiting and managing volunteers and staff, time management, working in a small team as well as capturing and recording oral history, photography and film making.
It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.
Top three tips for other applicants
- Don’t rush your application, it takes time. Share your idea with potential partners and build relationships.
- Double-check the project roles and responsibilities. You don’t want to over-stretch your team.
- Be realistic with your costings. Don’t guess, work them out.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
You might also be interested in...
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Exploring Manchester’s links to the West African textiles industry

Michelle Ayavoro, Creative Development Manager, Creative Hands Foundation
Attending funding workshops
We initially took part in a series of workshops devised and delivered by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the Manchester BME (Black and Ethnic Minority) Network after coming across a couple of local heritage projects in and around our neighbourhood.
The workshops, which aimed to give a deeper insight into HLF and the application process, were absolutely amazing. There were six sessions delivered at different heritage locations such as the People’s History Museum, Manchester Art Gallery and Quarry Mill.
The sessions gave us the opportunity to build relationships with HLF's development and grants officers, and share project ideas with other participants and organisations.
Supportive approach
The HLF's team in Manchester are open, understanding and encouraging. They are willing to try out new ideas to connect with Manchester’s communities and portray a real genuine flair and passion for groups they work with.
Their supportive approach definitely had an effect on us and the successful outcome of our application.
Motivation and confidence
It was here that we found not only the inspiration, motivation and confidence to develop a heritage project and apply to HLF for a grant, but also where we discovered the seeds of our project idea: Manchester’s Link to West African Textiles through ABC Wax Prints.
“The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
We had taken one of our groups for a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry, and there was one person in the group who was particularly interested in the wax printed textiles as he came from West Africa.
As we looked around we unearthed more interesting facts. For example - did you know that since 1900 there have been 45 different textile companies based in Manchester designing and manufacturing wax printed textiles for the West African market?
To our surprise there was just one – ABC Wax - still remaining in Hyde, Manchester.
As we shared our findings, especially with those from West Africa, no one had heard about this local company nor knew its history.
As we began to meet and speak with people including potential partners and supporters, we had a great response, and everyone we spoke to was extremely excited, keen and interested in getting involved.
In no time at all we had six letters of support for our application for a project to identify and record, interpret and explain the history of West African textiles designed and produced by ABC Wax in Manchester from the 1900s to the present day.
Application process
The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.
roducing a project plan enabled us to dissect our project, piece by piece, and allowed us to be Specific, Measurable, Agreed upon, Realistic and Time-based (SMART) in our approach. It gave us a timeline to follow and a structure to work with as we delivered our project.
Running the project
We recruited four staff members, a project manager, a coordinator/administrator, a film maker and oral history trainer.
Working in a small team allowed communication to be simple and effective, gave us a good understanding of each other’s roles, challenges and responsibilities, as well as giving me a better sense of the importance and value of my role within the team. We were also able to work fast and get things done.
Working with volunteers
We were delighted that so many volunteers came to join us in our project - however there are key lessons to be learned when you are a small organisation recruiting a volunteer workforce!
It was a challenge for me managing over 20 volunteers throughout the project, especially as the initial contingent of 16 that took part in our extensive training package at the start of the project (which covered oral history training, photography and filming) started to leave due to other commitments.
We then had to train up new recruits individually, which was extremely time consuming. On a positive note, all the volunteers interviewed and recorded each other about their experience on the project and we received excellent feedback from all of them, which was a massive confidence boost.
“This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
Showcasing artefacts
A key highlight of this project for me was the partnership with the Whitworth Art Gallery, where we held our celebration event. It was a huge success and we were honoured to welcome the Lord Mayor of Manchester Carl Austin-Behan and Sara Hilton, former Head of HLF North West.
The gallery also showcased a collection of wax printed textiles to visitors and took part in our film.
What would I do differently?
Next time I would create a mini induction package, recruit a volunteer coordinator and work with smaller groups of three or four volunteers at a time throughout a 12-18-month project.
This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. I’ve developed a lot of new skills in bid writing, planning, recruiting and managing volunteers and staff, time management, working in a small team as well as capturing and recording oral history, photography and film making.
It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.
Top three tips for other applicants
- Don’t rush your application, it takes time. Share your idea with potential partners and build relationships.
- Double-check the project roles and responsibilities. You don’t want to over-stretch your team.
- Be realistic with your costings. Don’t guess, work them out.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
You might also be interested in...
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Exploring Manchester’s links to the West African textiles industry

Michelle Ayavoro, Creative Development Manager, Creative Hands Foundation
Attending funding workshops
We initially took part in a series of workshops devised and delivered by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the Manchester BME (Black and Ethnic Minority) Network after coming across a couple of local heritage projects in and around our neighbourhood.
The workshops, which aimed to give a deeper insight into HLF and the application process, were absolutely amazing. There were six sessions delivered at different heritage locations such as the People’s History Museum, Manchester Art Gallery and Quarry Mill.
The sessions gave us the opportunity to build relationships with HLF's development and grants officers, and share project ideas with other participants and organisations.
Supportive approach
The HLF's team in Manchester are open, understanding and encouraging. They are willing to try out new ideas to connect with Manchester’s communities and portray a real genuine flair and passion for groups they work with.
Their supportive approach definitely had an effect on us and the successful outcome of our application.
Motivation and confidence
It was here that we found not only the inspiration, motivation and confidence to develop a heritage project and apply to HLF for a grant, but also where we discovered the seeds of our project idea: Manchester’s Link to West African Textiles through ABC Wax Prints.
“The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
We had taken one of our groups for a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry, and there was one person in the group who was particularly interested in the wax printed textiles as he came from West Africa.
As we looked around we unearthed more interesting facts. For example - did you know that since 1900 there have been 45 different textile companies based in Manchester designing and manufacturing wax printed textiles for the West African market?
To our surprise there was just one – ABC Wax - still remaining in Hyde, Manchester.
As we shared our findings, especially with those from West Africa, no one had heard about this local company nor knew its history.
As we began to meet and speak with people including potential partners and supporters, we had a great response, and everyone we spoke to was extremely excited, keen and interested in getting involved.
In no time at all we had six letters of support for our application for a project to identify and record, interpret and explain the history of West African textiles designed and produced by ABC Wax in Manchester from the 1900s to the present day.
Application process
The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.
roducing a project plan enabled us to dissect our project, piece by piece, and allowed us to be Specific, Measurable, Agreed upon, Realistic and Time-based (SMART) in our approach. It gave us a timeline to follow and a structure to work with as we delivered our project.
Running the project
We recruited four staff members, a project manager, a coordinator/administrator, a film maker and oral history trainer.
Working in a small team allowed communication to be simple and effective, gave us a good understanding of each other’s roles, challenges and responsibilities, as well as giving me a better sense of the importance and value of my role within the team. We were also able to work fast and get things done.
Working with volunteers
We were delighted that so many volunteers came to join us in our project - however there are key lessons to be learned when you are a small organisation recruiting a volunteer workforce!
It was a challenge for me managing over 20 volunteers throughout the project, especially as the initial contingent of 16 that took part in our extensive training package at the start of the project (which covered oral history training, photography and filming) started to leave due to other commitments.
We then had to train up new recruits individually, which was extremely time consuming. On a positive note, all the volunteers interviewed and recorded each other about their experience on the project and we received excellent feedback from all of them, which was a massive confidence boost.
“This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
Showcasing artefacts
A key highlight of this project for me was the partnership with the Whitworth Art Gallery, where we held our celebration event. It was a huge success and we were honoured to welcome the Lord Mayor of Manchester Carl Austin-Behan and Sara Hilton, former Head of HLF North West.
The gallery also showcased a collection of wax printed textiles to visitors and took part in our film.
What would I do differently?
Next time I would create a mini induction package, recruit a volunteer coordinator and work with smaller groups of three or four volunteers at a time throughout a 12-18-month project.
This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. I’ve developed a lot of new skills in bid writing, planning, recruiting and managing volunteers and staff, time management, working in a small team as well as capturing and recording oral history, photography and film making.
It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.
Top three tips for other applicants
- Don’t rush your application, it takes time. Share your idea with potential partners and build relationships.
- Double-check the project roles and responsibilities. You don’t want to over-stretch your team.
- Be realistic with your costings. Don’t guess, work them out.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
You might also be interested in...
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Exploring Manchester’s links to the West African textiles industry

Michelle Ayavoro, Creative Development Manager, Creative Hands Foundation
Attending funding workshops
We initially took part in a series of workshops devised and delivered by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the Manchester BME (Black and Ethnic Minority) Network after coming across a couple of local heritage projects in and around our neighbourhood.
The workshops, which aimed to give a deeper insight into HLF and the application process, were absolutely amazing. There were six sessions delivered at different heritage locations such as the People’s History Museum, Manchester Art Gallery and Quarry Mill.
The sessions gave us the opportunity to build relationships with HLF's development and grants officers, and share project ideas with other participants and organisations.
Supportive approach
The HLF's team in Manchester are open, understanding and encouraging. They are willing to try out new ideas to connect with Manchester’s communities and portray a real genuine flair and passion for groups they work with.
Their supportive approach definitely had an effect on us and the successful outcome of our application.
Motivation and confidence
It was here that we found not only the inspiration, motivation and confidence to develop a heritage project and apply to HLF for a grant, but also where we discovered the seeds of our project idea: Manchester’s Link to West African Textiles through ABC Wax Prints.
“The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
We had taken one of our groups for a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry, and there was one person in the group who was particularly interested in the wax printed textiles as he came from West Africa.
As we looked around we unearthed more interesting facts. For example - did you know that since 1900 there have been 45 different textile companies based in Manchester designing and manufacturing wax printed textiles for the West African market?
To our surprise there was just one – ABC Wax - still remaining in Hyde, Manchester.
As we shared our findings, especially with those from West Africa, no one had heard about this local company nor knew its history.
As we began to meet and speak with people including potential partners and supporters, we had a great response, and everyone we spoke to was extremely excited, keen and interested in getting involved.
In no time at all we had six letters of support for our application for a project to identify and record, interpret and explain the history of West African textiles designed and produced by ABC Wax in Manchester from the 1900s to the present day.
Application process
The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.
roducing a project plan enabled us to dissect our project, piece by piece, and allowed us to be Specific, Measurable, Agreed upon, Realistic and Time-based (SMART) in our approach. It gave us a timeline to follow and a structure to work with as we delivered our project.
Running the project
We recruited four staff members, a project manager, a coordinator/administrator, a film maker and oral history trainer.
Working in a small team allowed communication to be simple and effective, gave us a good understanding of each other’s roles, challenges and responsibilities, as well as giving me a better sense of the importance and value of my role within the team. We were also able to work fast and get things done.
Working with volunteers
We were delighted that so many volunteers came to join us in our project - however there are key lessons to be learned when you are a small organisation recruiting a volunteer workforce!
It was a challenge for me managing over 20 volunteers throughout the project, especially as the initial contingent of 16 that took part in our extensive training package at the start of the project (which covered oral history training, photography and filming) started to leave due to other commitments.
We then had to train up new recruits individually, which was extremely time consuming. On a positive note, all the volunteers interviewed and recorded each other about their experience on the project and we received excellent feedback from all of them, which was a massive confidence boost.
“This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
Showcasing artefacts
A key highlight of this project for me was the partnership with the Whitworth Art Gallery, where we held our celebration event. It was a huge success and we were honoured to welcome the Lord Mayor of Manchester Carl Austin-Behan and Sara Hilton, former Head of HLF North West.
The gallery also showcased a collection of wax printed textiles to visitors and took part in our film.
What would I do differently?
Next time I would create a mini induction package, recruit a volunteer coordinator and work with smaller groups of three or four volunteers at a time throughout a 12-18-month project.
This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. I’ve developed a lot of new skills in bid writing, planning, recruiting and managing volunteers and staff, time management, working in a small team as well as capturing and recording oral history, photography and film making.
It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.
Top three tips for other applicants
- Don’t rush your application, it takes time. Share your idea with potential partners and build relationships.
- Double-check the project roles and responsibilities. You don’t want to over-stretch your team.
- Be realistic with your costings. Don’t guess, work them out.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
You might also be interested in...
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Exploring Manchester’s links to the West African textiles industry

Michelle Ayavoro, Creative Development Manager, Creative Hands Foundation
Attending funding workshops
We initially took part in a series of workshops devised and delivered by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the Manchester BME (Black and Ethnic Minority) Network after coming across a couple of local heritage projects in and around our neighbourhood.
The workshops, which aimed to give a deeper insight into HLF and the application process, were absolutely amazing. There were six sessions delivered at different heritage locations such as the People’s History Museum, Manchester Art Gallery and Quarry Mill.
The sessions gave us the opportunity to build relationships with HLF's development and grants officers, and share project ideas with other participants and organisations.
Supportive approach
The HLF's team in Manchester are open, understanding and encouraging. They are willing to try out new ideas to connect with Manchester’s communities and portray a real genuine flair and passion for groups they work with.
Their supportive approach definitely had an effect on us and the successful outcome of our application.
Motivation and confidence
It was here that we found not only the inspiration, motivation and confidence to develop a heritage project and apply to HLF for a grant, but also where we discovered the seeds of our project idea: Manchester’s Link to West African Textiles through ABC Wax Prints.
“The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
We had taken one of our groups for a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry, and there was one person in the group who was particularly interested in the wax printed textiles as he came from West Africa.
As we looked around we unearthed more interesting facts. For example - did you know that since 1900 there have been 45 different textile companies based in Manchester designing and manufacturing wax printed textiles for the West African market?
To our surprise there was just one – ABC Wax - still remaining in Hyde, Manchester.
As we shared our findings, especially with those from West Africa, no one had heard about this local company nor knew its history.
As we began to meet and speak with people including potential partners and supporters, we had a great response, and everyone we spoke to was extremely excited, keen and interested in getting involved.
In no time at all we had six letters of support for our application for a project to identify and record, interpret and explain the history of West African textiles designed and produced by ABC Wax in Manchester from the 1900s to the present day.
Application process
The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.
roducing a project plan enabled us to dissect our project, piece by piece, and allowed us to be Specific, Measurable, Agreed upon, Realistic and Time-based (SMART) in our approach. It gave us a timeline to follow and a structure to work with as we delivered our project.
Running the project
We recruited four staff members, a project manager, a coordinator/administrator, a film maker and oral history trainer.
Working in a small team allowed communication to be simple and effective, gave us a good understanding of each other’s roles, challenges and responsibilities, as well as giving me a better sense of the importance and value of my role within the team. We were also able to work fast and get things done.
Working with volunteers
We were delighted that so many volunteers came to join us in our project - however there are key lessons to be learned when you are a small organisation recruiting a volunteer workforce!
It was a challenge for me managing over 20 volunteers throughout the project, especially as the initial contingent of 16 that took part in our extensive training package at the start of the project (which covered oral history training, photography and filming) started to leave due to other commitments.
We then had to train up new recruits individually, which was extremely time consuming. On a positive note, all the volunteers interviewed and recorded each other about their experience on the project and we received excellent feedback from all of them, which was a massive confidence boost.
“This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
Showcasing artefacts
A key highlight of this project for me was the partnership with the Whitworth Art Gallery, where we held our celebration event. It was a huge success and we were honoured to welcome the Lord Mayor of Manchester Carl Austin-Behan and Sara Hilton, former Head of HLF North West.
The gallery also showcased a collection of wax printed textiles to visitors and took part in our film.
What would I do differently?
Next time I would create a mini induction package, recruit a volunteer coordinator and work with smaller groups of three or four volunteers at a time throughout a 12-18-month project.
This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. I’ve developed a lot of new skills in bid writing, planning, recruiting and managing volunteers and staff, time management, working in a small team as well as capturing and recording oral history, photography and film making.
It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.
Top three tips for other applicants
- Don’t rush your application, it takes time. Share your idea with potential partners and build relationships.
- Double-check the project roles and responsibilities. You don’t want to over-stretch your team.
- Be realistic with your costings. Don’t guess, work them out.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
You might also be interested in...
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Exploring Manchester’s links to the West African textiles industry

Michelle Ayavoro, Creative Development Manager, Creative Hands Foundation
Attending funding workshops
We initially took part in a series of workshops devised and delivered by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the Manchester BME (Black and Ethnic Minority) Network after coming across a couple of local heritage projects in and around our neighbourhood.
The workshops, which aimed to give a deeper insight into HLF and the application process, were absolutely amazing. There were six sessions delivered at different heritage locations such as the People’s History Museum, Manchester Art Gallery and Quarry Mill.
The sessions gave us the opportunity to build relationships with HLF's development and grants officers, and share project ideas with other participants and organisations.
Supportive approach
The HLF's team in Manchester are open, understanding and encouraging. They are willing to try out new ideas to connect with Manchester’s communities and portray a real genuine flair and passion for groups they work with.
Their supportive approach definitely had an effect on us and the successful outcome of our application.
Motivation and confidence
It was here that we found not only the inspiration, motivation and confidence to develop a heritage project and apply to HLF for a grant, but also where we discovered the seeds of our project idea: Manchester’s Link to West African Textiles through ABC Wax Prints.
“The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
We had taken one of our groups for a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry, and there was one person in the group who was particularly interested in the wax printed textiles as he came from West Africa.
As we looked around we unearthed more interesting facts. For example - did you know that since 1900 there have been 45 different textile companies based in Manchester designing and manufacturing wax printed textiles for the West African market?
To our surprise there was just one – ABC Wax - still remaining in Hyde, Manchester.
As we shared our findings, especially with those from West Africa, no one had heard about this local company nor knew its history.
As we began to meet and speak with people including potential partners and supporters, we had a great response, and everyone we spoke to was extremely excited, keen and interested in getting involved.
In no time at all we had six letters of support for our application for a project to identify and record, interpret and explain the history of West African textiles designed and produced by ABC Wax in Manchester from the 1900s to the present day.
Application process
The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.
roducing a project plan enabled us to dissect our project, piece by piece, and allowed us to be Specific, Measurable, Agreed upon, Realistic and Time-based (SMART) in our approach. It gave us a timeline to follow and a structure to work with as we delivered our project.
Running the project
We recruited four staff members, a project manager, a coordinator/administrator, a film maker and oral history trainer.
Working in a small team allowed communication to be simple and effective, gave us a good understanding of each other’s roles, challenges and responsibilities, as well as giving me a better sense of the importance and value of my role within the team. We were also able to work fast and get things done.
Working with volunteers
We were delighted that so many volunteers came to join us in our project - however there are key lessons to be learned when you are a small organisation recruiting a volunteer workforce!
It was a challenge for me managing over 20 volunteers throughout the project, especially as the initial contingent of 16 that took part in our extensive training package at the start of the project (which covered oral history training, photography and filming) started to leave due to other commitments.
We then had to train up new recruits individually, which was extremely time consuming. On a positive note, all the volunteers interviewed and recorded each other about their experience on the project and we received excellent feedback from all of them, which was a massive confidence boost.
“This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
Showcasing artefacts
A key highlight of this project for me was the partnership with the Whitworth Art Gallery, where we held our celebration event. It was a huge success and we were honoured to welcome the Lord Mayor of Manchester Carl Austin-Behan and Sara Hilton, former Head of HLF North West.
The gallery also showcased a collection of wax printed textiles to visitors and took part in our film.
What would I do differently?
Next time I would create a mini induction package, recruit a volunteer coordinator and work with smaller groups of three or four volunteers at a time throughout a 12-18-month project.
This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. I’ve developed a lot of new skills in bid writing, planning, recruiting and managing volunteers and staff, time management, working in a small team as well as capturing and recording oral history, photography and film making.
It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.
Top three tips for other applicants
- Don’t rush your application, it takes time. Share your idea with potential partners and build relationships.
- Double-check the project roles and responsibilities. You don’t want to over-stretch your team.
- Be realistic with your costings. Don’t guess, work them out.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
You might also be interested in...
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Exploring Manchester’s links to the West African textiles industry

Michelle Ayavoro, Creative Development Manager, Creative Hands Foundation
Attending funding workshops
We initially took part in a series of workshops devised and delivered by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the Manchester BME (Black and Ethnic Minority) Network after coming across a couple of local heritage projects in and around our neighbourhood.
The workshops, which aimed to give a deeper insight into HLF and the application process, were absolutely amazing. There were six sessions delivered at different heritage locations such as the People’s History Museum, Manchester Art Gallery and Quarry Mill.
The sessions gave us the opportunity to build relationships with HLF's development and grants officers, and share project ideas with other participants and organisations.
Supportive approach
The HLF's team in Manchester are open, understanding and encouraging. They are willing to try out new ideas to connect with Manchester’s communities and portray a real genuine flair and passion for groups they work with.
Their supportive approach definitely had an effect on us and the successful outcome of our application.
Motivation and confidence
It was here that we found not only the inspiration, motivation and confidence to develop a heritage project and apply to HLF for a grant, but also where we discovered the seeds of our project idea: Manchester’s Link to West African Textiles through ABC Wax Prints.
“The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
We had taken one of our groups for a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry, and there was one person in the group who was particularly interested in the wax printed textiles as he came from West Africa.
As we looked around we unearthed more interesting facts. For example - did you know that since 1900 there have been 45 different textile companies based in Manchester designing and manufacturing wax printed textiles for the West African market?
To our surprise there was just one – ABC Wax - still remaining in Hyde, Manchester.
As we shared our findings, especially with those from West Africa, no one had heard about this local company nor knew its history.
As we began to meet and speak with people including potential partners and supporters, we had a great response, and everyone we spoke to was extremely excited, keen and interested in getting involved.
In no time at all we had six letters of support for our application for a project to identify and record, interpret and explain the history of West African textiles designed and produced by ABC Wax in Manchester from the 1900s to the present day.
Application process
The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.
roducing a project plan enabled us to dissect our project, piece by piece, and allowed us to be Specific, Measurable, Agreed upon, Realistic and Time-based (SMART) in our approach. It gave us a timeline to follow and a structure to work with as we delivered our project.
Running the project
We recruited four staff members, a project manager, a coordinator/administrator, a film maker and oral history trainer.
Working in a small team allowed communication to be simple and effective, gave us a good understanding of each other’s roles, challenges and responsibilities, as well as giving me a better sense of the importance and value of my role within the team. We were also able to work fast and get things done.
Working with volunteers
We were delighted that so many volunteers came to join us in our project - however there are key lessons to be learned when you are a small organisation recruiting a volunteer workforce!
It was a challenge for me managing over 20 volunteers throughout the project, especially as the initial contingent of 16 that took part in our extensive training package at the start of the project (which covered oral history training, photography and filming) started to leave due to other commitments.
We then had to train up new recruits individually, which was extremely time consuming. On a positive note, all the volunteers interviewed and recorded each other about their experience on the project and we received excellent feedback from all of them, which was a massive confidence boost.
“This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
Showcasing artefacts
A key highlight of this project for me was the partnership with the Whitworth Art Gallery, where we held our celebration event. It was a huge success and we were honoured to welcome the Lord Mayor of Manchester Carl Austin-Behan and Sara Hilton, former Head of HLF North West.
The gallery also showcased a collection of wax printed textiles to visitors and took part in our film.
What would I do differently?
Next time I would create a mini induction package, recruit a volunteer coordinator and work with smaller groups of three or four volunteers at a time throughout a 12-18-month project.
This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. I’ve developed a lot of new skills in bid writing, planning, recruiting and managing volunteers and staff, time management, working in a small team as well as capturing and recording oral history, photography and film making.
It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.
Top three tips for other applicants
- Don’t rush your application, it takes time. Share your idea with potential partners and build relationships.
- Double-check the project roles and responsibilities. You don’t want to over-stretch your team.
- Be realistic with your costings. Don’t guess, work them out.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
You might also be interested in...
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Exploring Manchester’s links to the West African textiles industry

Michelle Ayavoro, Creative Development Manager, Creative Hands Foundation
Attending funding workshops
We initially took part in a series of workshops devised and delivered by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the Manchester BME (Black and Ethnic Minority) Network after coming across a couple of local heritage projects in and around our neighbourhood.
The workshops, which aimed to give a deeper insight into HLF and the application process, were absolutely amazing. There were six sessions delivered at different heritage locations such as the People’s History Museum, Manchester Art Gallery and Quarry Mill.
The sessions gave us the opportunity to build relationships with HLF's development and grants officers, and share project ideas with other participants and organisations.
Supportive approach
The HLF's team in Manchester are open, understanding and encouraging. They are willing to try out new ideas to connect with Manchester’s communities and portray a real genuine flair and passion for groups they work with.
Their supportive approach definitely had an effect on us and the successful outcome of our application.
Motivation and confidence
It was here that we found not only the inspiration, motivation and confidence to develop a heritage project and apply to HLF for a grant, but also where we discovered the seeds of our project idea: Manchester’s Link to West African Textiles through ABC Wax Prints.
“The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
We had taken one of our groups for a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry, and there was one person in the group who was particularly interested in the wax printed textiles as he came from West Africa.
As we looked around we unearthed more interesting facts. For example - did you know that since 1900 there have been 45 different textile companies based in Manchester designing and manufacturing wax printed textiles for the West African market?
To our surprise there was just one – ABC Wax - still remaining in Hyde, Manchester.
As we shared our findings, especially with those from West Africa, no one had heard about this local company nor knew its history.
As we began to meet and speak with people including potential partners and supporters, we had a great response, and everyone we spoke to was extremely excited, keen and interested in getting involved.
In no time at all we had six letters of support for our application for a project to identify and record, interpret and explain the history of West African textiles designed and produced by ABC Wax in Manchester from the 1900s to the present day.
Application process
The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.
roducing a project plan enabled us to dissect our project, piece by piece, and allowed us to be Specific, Measurable, Agreed upon, Realistic and Time-based (SMART) in our approach. It gave us a timeline to follow and a structure to work with as we delivered our project.
Running the project
We recruited four staff members, a project manager, a coordinator/administrator, a film maker and oral history trainer.
Working in a small team allowed communication to be simple and effective, gave us a good understanding of each other’s roles, challenges and responsibilities, as well as giving me a better sense of the importance and value of my role within the team. We were also able to work fast and get things done.
Working with volunteers
We were delighted that so many volunteers came to join us in our project - however there are key lessons to be learned when you are a small organisation recruiting a volunteer workforce!
It was a challenge for me managing over 20 volunteers throughout the project, especially as the initial contingent of 16 that took part in our extensive training package at the start of the project (which covered oral history training, photography and filming) started to leave due to other commitments.
We then had to train up new recruits individually, which was extremely time consuming. On a positive note, all the volunteers interviewed and recorded each other about their experience on the project and we received excellent feedback from all of them, which was a massive confidence boost.
“This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
Showcasing artefacts
A key highlight of this project for me was the partnership with the Whitworth Art Gallery, where we held our celebration event. It was a huge success and we were honoured to welcome the Lord Mayor of Manchester Carl Austin-Behan and Sara Hilton, former Head of HLF North West.
The gallery also showcased a collection of wax printed textiles to visitors and took part in our film.
What would I do differently?
Next time I would create a mini induction package, recruit a volunteer coordinator and work with smaller groups of three or four volunteers at a time throughout a 12-18-month project.
This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. I’ve developed a lot of new skills in bid writing, planning, recruiting and managing volunteers and staff, time management, working in a small team as well as capturing and recording oral history, photography and film making.
It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.
Top three tips for other applicants
- Don’t rush your application, it takes time. Share your idea with potential partners and build relationships.
- Double-check the project roles and responsibilities. You don’t want to over-stretch your team.
- Be realistic with your costings. Don’t guess, work them out.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
You might also be interested in...
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Exploring Manchester’s links to the West African textiles industry

Michelle Ayavoro, Creative Development Manager, Creative Hands Foundation
Attending funding workshops
We initially took part in a series of workshops devised and delivered by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the Manchester BME (Black and Ethnic Minority) Network after coming across a couple of local heritage projects in and around our neighbourhood.
The workshops, which aimed to give a deeper insight into HLF and the application process, were absolutely amazing. There were six sessions delivered at different heritage locations such as the People’s History Museum, Manchester Art Gallery and Quarry Mill.
The sessions gave us the opportunity to build relationships with HLF's development and grants officers, and share project ideas with other participants and organisations.
Supportive approach
The HLF's team in Manchester are open, understanding and encouraging. They are willing to try out new ideas to connect with Manchester’s communities and portray a real genuine flair and passion for groups they work with.
Their supportive approach definitely had an effect on us and the successful outcome of our application.
Motivation and confidence
It was here that we found not only the inspiration, motivation and confidence to develop a heritage project and apply to HLF for a grant, but also where we discovered the seeds of our project idea: Manchester’s Link to West African Textiles through ABC Wax Prints.
“The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
We had taken one of our groups for a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry, and there was one person in the group who was particularly interested in the wax printed textiles as he came from West Africa.
As we looked around we unearthed more interesting facts. For example - did you know that since 1900 there have been 45 different textile companies based in Manchester designing and manufacturing wax printed textiles for the West African market?
To our surprise there was just one – ABC Wax - still remaining in Hyde, Manchester.
As we shared our findings, especially with those from West Africa, no one had heard about this local company nor knew its history.
As we began to meet and speak with people including potential partners and supporters, we had a great response, and everyone we spoke to was extremely excited, keen and interested in getting involved.
In no time at all we had six letters of support for our application for a project to identify and record, interpret and explain the history of West African textiles designed and produced by ABC Wax in Manchester from the 1900s to the present day.
Application process
The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.
roducing a project plan enabled us to dissect our project, piece by piece, and allowed us to be Specific, Measurable, Agreed upon, Realistic and Time-based (SMART) in our approach. It gave us a timeline to follow and a structure to work with as we delivered our project.
Running the project
We recruited four staff members, a project manager, a coordinator/administrator, a film maker and oral history trainer.
Working in a small team allowed communication to be simple and effective, gave us a good understanding of each other’s roles, challenges and responsibilities, as well as giving me a better sense of the importance and value of my role within the team. We were also able to work fast and get things done.
Working with volunteers
We were delighted that so many volunteers came to join us in our project - however there are key lessons to be learned when you are a small organisation recruiting a volunteer workforce!
It was a challenge for me managing over 20 volunteers throughout the project, especially as the initial contingent of 16 that took part in our extensive training package at the start of the project (which covered oral history training, photography and filming) started to leave due to other commitments.
We then had to train up new recruits individually, which was extremely time consuming. On a positive note, all the volunteers interviewed and recorded each other about their experience on the project and we received excellent feedback from all of them, which was a massive confidence boost.
“This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
Showcasing artefacts
A key highlight of this project for me was the partnership with the Whitworth Art Gallery, where we held our celebration event. It was a huge success and we were honoured to welcome the Lord Mayor of Manchester Carl Austin-Behan and Sara Hilton, former Head of HLF North West.
The gallery also showcased a collection of wax printed textiles to visitors and took part in our film.
What would I do differently?
Next time I would create a mini induction package, recruit a volunteer coordinator and work with smaller groups of three or four volunteers at a time throughout a 12-18-month project.
This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. I’ve developed a lot of new skills in bid writing, planning, recruiting and managing volunteers and staff, time management, working in a small team as well as capturing and recording oral history, photography and film making.
It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.
Top three tips for other applicants
- Don’t rush your application, it takes time. Share your idea with potential partners and build relationships.
- Double-check the project roles and responsibilities. You don’t want to over-stretch your team.
- Be realistic with your costings. Don’t guess, work them out.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
You might also be interested in...
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Exploring Manchester’s links to the West African textiles industry

Michelle Ayavoro, Creative Development Manager, Creative Hands Foundation
Attending funding workshops
We initially took part in a series of workshops devised and delivered by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the Manchester BME (Black and Ethnic Minority) Network after coming across a couple of local heritage projects in and around our neighbourhood.
The workshops, which aimed to give a deeper insight into HLF and the application process, were absolutely amazing. There were six sessions delivered at different heritage locations such as the People’s History Museum, Manchester Art Gallery and Quarry Mill.
The sessions gave us the opportunity to build relationships with HLF's development and grants officers, and share project ideas with other participants and organisations.
Supportive approach
The HLF's team in Manchester are open, understanding and encouraging. They are willing to try out new ideas to connect with Manchester’s communities and portray a real genuine flair and passion for groups they work with.
Their supportive approach definitely had an effect on us and the successful outcome of our application.
Motivation and confidence
It was here that we found not only the inspiration, motivation and confidence to develop a heritage project and apply to HLF for a grant, but also where we discovered the seeds of our project idea: Manchester’s Link to West African Textiles through ABC Wax Prints.
“The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
We had taken one of our groups for a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry, and there was one person in the group who was particularly interested in the wax printed textiles as he came from West Africa.
As we looked around we unearthed more interesting facts. For example - did you know that since 1900 there have been 45 different textile companies based in Manchester designing and manufacturing wax printed textiles for the West African market?
To our surprise there was just one – ABC Wax - still remaining in Hyde, Manchester.
As we shared our findings, especially with those from West Africa, no one had heard about this local company nor knew its history.
As we began to meet and speak with people including potential partners and supporters, we had a great response, and everyone we spoke to was extremely excited, keen and interested in getting involved.
In no time at all we had six letters of support for our application for a project to identify and record, interpret and explain the history of West African textiles designed and produced by ABC Wax in Manchester from the 1900s to the present day.
Application process
The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.
roducing a project plan enabled us to dissect our project, piece by piece, and allowed us to be Specific, Measurable, Agreed upon, Realistic and Time-based (SMART) in our approach. It gave us a timeline to follow and a structure to work with as we delivered our project.
Running the project
We recruited four staff members, a project manager, a coordinator/administrator, a film maker and oral history trainer.
Working in a small team allowed communication to be simple and effective, gave us a good understanding of each other’s roles, challenges and responsibilities, as well as giving me a better sense of the importance and value of my role within the team. We were also able to work fast and get things done.
Working with volunteers
We were delighted that so many volunteers came to join us in our project - however there are key lessons to be learned when you are a small organisation recruiting a volunteer workforce!
It was a challenge for me managing over 20 volunteers throughout the project, especially as the initial contingent of 16 that took part in our extensive training package at the start of the project (which covered oral history training, photography and filming) started to leave due to other commitments.
We then had to train up new recruits individually, which was extremely time consuming. On a positive note, all the volunteers interviewed and recorded each other about their experience on the project and we received excellent feedback from all of them, which was a massive confidence boost.
“This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
Showcasing artefacts
A key highlight of this project for me was the partnership with the Whitworth Art Gallery, where we held our celebration event. It was a huge success and we were honoured to welcome the Lord Mayor of Manchester Carl Austin-Behan and Sara Hilton, former Head of HLF North West.
The gallery also showcased a collection of wax printed textiles to visitors and took part in our film.
What would I do differently?
Next time I would create a mini induction package, recruit a volunteer coordinator and work with smaller groups of three or four volunteers at a time throughout a 12-18-month project.
This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. I’ve developed a lot of new skills in bid writing, planning, recruiting and managing volunteers and staff, time management, working in a small team as well as capturing and recording oral history, photography and film making.
It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.
Top three tips for other applicants
- Don’t rush your application, it takes time. Share your idea with potential partners and build relationships.
- Double-check the project roles and responsibilities. You don’t want to over-stretch your team.
- Be realistic with your costings. Don’t guess, work them out.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
You might also be interested in...
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Exploring Manchester’s links to the West African textiles industry

Michelle Ayavoro, Creative Development Manager, Creative Hands Foundation
Attending funding workshops
We initially took part in a series of workshops devised and delivered by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the Manchester BME (Black and Ethnic Minority) Network after coming across a couple of local heritage projects in and around our neighbourhood.
The workshops, which aimed to give a deeper insight into HLF and the application process, were absolutely amazing. There were six sessions delivered at different heritage locations such as the People’s History Museum, Manchester Art Gallery and Quarry Mill.
The sessions gave us the opportunity to build relationships with HLF's development and grants officers, and share project ideas with other participants and organisations.
Supportive approach
The HLF's team in Manchester are open, understanding and encouraging. They are willing to try out new ideas to connect with Manchester’s communities and portray a real genuine flair and passion for groups they work with.
Their supportive approach definitely had an effect on us and the successful outcome of our application.
Motivation and confidence
It was here that we found not only the inspiration, motivation and confidence to develop a heritage project and apply to HLF for a grant, but also where we discovered the seeds of our project idea: Manchester’s Link to West African Textiles through ABC Wax Prints.
“The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
We had taken one of our groups for a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry, and there was one person in the group who was particularly interested in the wax printed textiles as he came from West Africa.
As we looked around we unearthed more interesting facts. For example - did you know that since 1900 there have been 45 different textile companies based in Manchester designing and manufacturing wax printed textiles for the West African market?
To our surprise there was just one – ABC Wax - still remaining in Hyde, Manchester.
As we shared our findings, especially with those from West Africa, no one had heard about this local company nor knew its history.
As we began to meet and speak with people including potential partners and supporters, we had a great response, and everyone we spoke to was extremely excited, keen and interested in getting involved.
In no time at all we had six letters of support for our application for a project to identify and record, interpret and explain the history of West African textiles designed and produced by ABC Wax in Manchester from the 1900s to the present day.
Application process
The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.
roducing a project plan enabled us to dissect our project, piece by piece, and allowed us to be Specific, Measurable, Agreed upon, Realistic and Time-based (SMART) in our approach. It gave us a timeline to follow and a structure to work with as we delivered our project.
Running the project
We recruited four staff members, a project manager, a coordinator/administrator, a film maker and oral history trainer.
Working in a small team allowed communication to be simple and effective, gave us a good understanding of each other’s roles, challenges and responsibilities, as well as giving me a better sense of the importance and value of my role within the team. We were also able to work fast and get things done.
Working with volunteers
We were delighted that so many volunteers came to join us in our project - however there are key lessons to be learned when you are a small organisation recruiting a volunteer workforce!
It was a challenge for me managing over 20 volunteers throughout the project, especially as the initial contingent of 16 that took part in our extensive training package at the start of the project (which covered oral history training, photography and filming) started to leave due to other commitments.
We then had to train up new recruits individually, which was extremely time consuming. On a positive note, all the volunteers interviewed and recorded each other about their experience on the project and we received excellent feedback from all of them, which was a massive confidence boost.
“This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
Showcasing artefacts
A key highlight of this project for me was the partnership with the Whitworth Art Gallery, where we held our celebration event. It was a huge success and we were honoured to welcome the Lord Mayor of Manchester Carl Austin-Behan and Sara Hilton, former Head of HLF North West.
The gallery also showcased a collection of wax printed textiles to visitors and took part in our film.
What would I do differently?
Next time I would create a mini induction package, recruit a volunteer coordinator and work with smaller groups of three or four volunteers at a time throughout a 12-18-month project.
This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. I’ve developed a lot of new skills in bid writing, planning, recruiting and managing volunteers and staff, time management, working in a small team as well as capturing and recording oral history, photography and film making.
It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.
Top three tips for other applicants
- Don’t rush your application, it takes time. Share your idea with potential partners and build relationships.
- Double-check the project roles and responsibilities. You don’t want to over-stretch your team.
- Be realistic with your costings. Don’t guess, work them out.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
You might also be interested in...
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Exploring Manchester’s links to the West African textiles industry

Michelle Ayavoro, Creative Development Manager, Creative Hands Foundation
Attending funding workshops
We initially took part in a series of workshops devised and delivered by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the Manchester BME (Black and Ethnic Minority) Network after coming across a couple of local heritage projects in and around our neighbourhood.
The workshops, which aimed to give a deeper insight into HLF and the application process, were absolutely amazing. There were six sessions delivered at different heritage locations such as the People’s History Museum, Manchester Art Gallery and Quarry Mill.
The sessions gave us the opportunity to build relationships with HLF's development and grants officers, and share project ideas with other participants and organisations.
Supportive approach
The HLF's team in Manchester are open, understanding and encouraging. They are willing to try out new ideas to connect with Manchester’s communities and portray a real genuine flair and passion for groups they work with.
Their supportive approach definitely had an effect on us and the successful outcome of our application.
Motivation and confidence
It was here that we found not only the inspiration, motivation and confidence to develop a heritage project and apply to HLF for a grant, but also where we discovered the seeds of our project idea: Manchester’s Link to West African Textiles through ABC Wax Prints.
“The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
We had taken one of our groups for a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry, and there was one person in the group who was particularly interested in the wax printed textiles as he came from West Africa.
As we looked around we unearthed more interesting facts. For example - did you know that since 1900 there have been 45 different textile companies based in Manchester designing and manufacturing wax printed textiles for the West African market?
To our surprise there was just one – ABC Wax - still remaining in Hyde, Manchester.
As we shared our findings, especially with those from West Africa, no one had heard about this local company nor knew its history.
As we began to meet and speak with people including potential partners and supporters, we had a great response, and everyone we spoke to was extremely excited, keen and interested in getting involved.
In no time at all we had six letters of support for our application for a project to identify and record, interpret and explain the history of West African textiles designed and produced by ABC Wax in Manchester from the 1900s to the present day.
Application process
The guidance from the HLF team through the application process, including pointers on how to produce a project plan and project costs, was very useful, especially for a small organisation like ours.
roducing a project plan enabled us to dissect our project, piece by piece, and allowed us to be Specific, Measurable, Agreed upon, Realistic and Time-based (SMART) in our approach. It gave us a timeline to follow and a structure to work with as we delivered our project.
Running the project
We recruited four staff members, a project manager, a coordinator/administrator, a film maker and oral history trainer.
Working in a small team allowed communication to be simple and effective, gave us a good understanding of each other’s roles, challenges and responsibilities, as well as giving me a better sense of the importance and value of my role within the team. We were also able to work fast and get things done.
Working with volunteers
We were delighted that so many volunteers came to join us in our project - however there are key lessons to be learned when you are a small organisation recruiting a volunteer workforce!
It was a challenge for me managing over 20 volunteers throughout the project, especially as the initial contingent of 16 that took part in our extensive training package at the start of the project (which covered oral history training, photography and filming) started to leave due to other commitments.
We then had to train up new recruits individually, which was extremely time consuming. On a positive note, all the volunteers interviewed and recorded each other about their experience on the project and we received excellent feedback from all of them, which was a massive confidence boost.
“This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.”
- Michelle Ayavoro
Showcasing artefacts
A key highlight of this project for me was the partnership with the Whitworth Art Gallery, where we held our celebration event. It was a huge success and we were honoured to welcome the Lord Mayor of Manchester Carl Austin-Behan and Sara Hilton, former Head of HLF North West.
The gallery also showcased a collection of wax printed textiles to visitors and took part in our film.
What would I do differently?
Next time I would create a mini induction package, recruit a volunteer coordinator and work with smaller groups of three or four volunteers at a time throughout a 12-18-month project.
This was the largest project I’ve worked on to date and it was thoroughly enjoyable. I’ve developed a lot of new skills in bid writing, planning, recruiting and managing volunteers and staff, time management, working in a small team as well as capturing and recording oral history, photography and film making.
It has given me a great boost of confidence and inspiration.
Top three tips for other applicants
- Don’t rush your application, it takes time. Share your idea with potential partners and build relationships.
- Double-check the project roles and responsibilities. You don’t want to over-stretch your team.
- Be realistic with your costings. Don’t guess, work them out.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Remembering the stories of the Windrush generation

Marcus Hercules, Artistic Director, Hercules Productions
In 2013, while I was working on an HLF project called Rasta Roots, I filmed some footage of my father who was visiting from Ethiopia. He shared stories about his life in Manchester, some of which I’d never heard before.
Sadly my father passed away as the project was running. Had I not captured those stories, I would never have heard them.
It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost, slowly seeping into folk law with very little known about who, what, when and why.
Who were the people that travelled far from home? What did they do when they reached the UK? Why had they decided to take such seemingly drastic action?
All of a sudden it felt really important to share the heritage of the community far and wide. The arrival of the Empire Windrush from the Caribbean in 1948 marked the beginning of mass migration after the war, and it was a key point in the rich history of Manchester.
I saw it as a unique snapshot of time past, one that had not been explored and documented anywhere.
Applying for funding
So we applied for a Heritage Lottery Fund grant for a project called Each One, Teach One. This aimed to preserve and share the oral history of the Windrush generation from Moss Side and Hulme in Greater Manchester.
“It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost."
- Marcus Hercules
Using five important sites in the Moss Side area: Reno Nightclub, Moss Side Precinct, the Bull Ring, Moss Side Fire Station and Medlock Court Flats, we brought elders and younger members of the community together to share stories and create performances based on their experiences.
We produced two exhibitions, a full-scale theatrical sharing performance, paintings and portraits, all based on the oral history of elder participants.
Getting people involved
At times the elders were guarded about their experiences, perhaps from habit. There was a feeling that they were keeping stories enclosed within their walls; once we managed to scale those walls, most elder participants were happy to open up.
The use of drama was a really effective tool. We were really surprised at how well the fusion of professional performers and the elder and youth participants went.
Drama-based games and activities not only led to some enthusiastic and surprising work coming from these sessions but also provided some physical activity for participants, which overall improved general wellbeing.
Creating a ‘safe’ space to share experiences
We never expected to hear so much or uncover so many fascinating facts about the community; we knew there were stories to tell but some were unexpected.
I think this was because we provided a knowledgeable team and created a safe space for sharing. The fact that the project went as smoothly as it did is a testament to a strong project plan and the great practitioners we worked with.
Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community. Knowing that we had the expertise and support of HLF gave us more confidence in the running of the project and the North West team were always on hand to provide advice on the best ways to collect and archive oral history.
Capturing memories
We captured oral histories that would never been shared otherwise; for example a woman called Henrietta Shaw gave us an account of leaving her father. She used the phrase ‘a teefin picknie’ (a Jamaican colloquialism meaning a child who has been stolen from one of their parents).
We were able to share, define and remember this phrase; the impact of that sharing means that that forgotten term lives, as does her story. To me, that is powerful.
"Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community."
- Marcus Hercules
The project enabled the company to expand our reach into the communities we engage with - we met elder and young participants that are still part of our company story. As we are able to bring in local experts and a strong wider creative team the company was able to reach a larger audience.
Being able to use a professional set designer helped to add cohesion to the different outputs as everything from the set lighting to the flyers followed a uniform scheme.
The project as a whole impacted on elder and youth alike bringing the community closer together, and all parties felt valued and respected.
Top three tips for applicants
- Keep applying - don't give up!
- Access and ask for support - it took us a few goes to get funding for this project; however at every turn we acted upon feedback and ideas from the team
- Keep heritage at the heart of your project - it's the main objective of the Fund!
Read more about how The Heritage Lottery Fund can support cultures and memories projects.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
Each One, Teach One

Our Heritage
Hercules Productions engages young people in Manchester through heritage-based theatre and film projects. They noted through their work that young people in Hulme and Moss Side had little knowledge of how the buildings around them had changed over the years.
Often the younger members of the community didn't understand the perspectives of their elders who had lived through these substantial changes.
The year-long project set out to recreate the histories of five key local landmarks through intergenerational reminiscence sessions. The collected oral histories were then used as the basis of a performance. Working with a professionals and performing the play at the University of Manchester's Contact Theatre gave a huge sense of achievement to participants and reached a wide audience.
Placing the older people's stories at the heart of the project helped them feel more valued and respected by the younger generation. Engaging young people through fun and creative activities was a good way of introducing them to the heritage of their community and an exhibition and education pack was created to share their learning.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Remembering the stories of the Windrush generation

Marcus Hercules, Artistic Director, Hercules Productions
In 2013, while I was working on an HLF project called Rasta Roots, I filmed some footage of my father who was visiting from Ethiopia. He shared stories about his life in Manchester, some of which I’d never heard before.
Sadly my father passed away as the project was running. Had I not captured those stories, I would never have heard them.
It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost, slowly seeping into folk law with very little known about who, what, when and why.
Who were the people that travelled far from home? What did they do when they reached the UK? Why had they decided to take such seemingly drastic action?
All of a sudden it felt really important to share the heritage of the community far and wide. The arrival of the Empire Windrush from the Caribbean in 1948 marked the beginning of mass migration after the war, and it was a key point in the rich history of Manchester.
I saw it as a unique snapshot of time past, one that had not been explored and documented anywhere.
Applying for funding
So we applied for a Heritage Lottery Fund grant for a project called Each One, Teach One. This aimed to preserve and share the oral history of the Windrush generation from Moss Side and Hulme in Greater Manchester.
“It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost."
- Marcus Hercules
Using five important sites in the Moss Side area: Reno Nightclub, Moss Side Precinct, the Bull Ring, Moss Side Fire Station and Medlock Court Flats, we brought elders and younger members of the community together to share stories and create performances based on their experiences.
We produced two exhibitions, a full-scale theatrical sharing performance, paintings and portraits, all based on the oral history of elder participants.
Getting people involved
At times the elders were guarded about their experiences, perhaps from habit. There was a feeling that they were keeping stories enclosed within their walls; once we managed to scale those walls, most elder participants were happy to open up.
The use of drama was a really effective tool. We were really surprised at how well the fusion of professional performers and the elder and youth participants went.
Drama-based games and activities not only led to some enthusiastic and surprising work coming from these sessions but also provided some physical activity for participants, which overall improved general wellbeing.
Creating a ‘safe’ space to share experiences
We never expected to hear so much or uncover so many fascinating facts about the community; we knew there were stories to tell but some were unexpected.
I think this was because we provided a knowledgeable team and created a safe space for sharing. The fact that the project went as smoothly as it did is a testament to a strong project plan and the great practitioners we worked with.
Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community. Knowing that we had the expertise and support of HLF gave us more confidence in the running of the project and the North West team were always on hand to provide advice on the best ways to collect and archive oral history.
Capturing memories
We captured oral histories that would never been shared otherwise; for example a woman called Henrietta Shaw gave us an account of leaving her father. She used the phrase ‘a teefin picknie’ (a Jamaican colloquialism meaning a child who has been stolen from one of their parents).
We were able to share, define and remember this phrase; the impact of that sharing means that that forgotten term lives, as does her story. To me, that is powerful.
"Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community."
- Marcus Hercules
The project enabled the company to expand our reach into the communities we engage with - we met elder and young participants that are still part of our company story. As we are able to bring in local experts and a strong wider creative team the company was able to reach a larger audience.
Being able to use a professional set designer helped to add cohesion to the different outputs as everything from the set lighting to the flyers followed a uniform scheme.
The project as a whole impacted on elder and youth alike bringing the community closer together, and all parties felt valued and respected.
Top three tips for applicants
- Keep applying - don't give up!
- Access and ask for support - it took us a few goes to get funding for this project; however at every turn we acted upon feedback and ideas from the team
- Keep heritage at the heart of your project - it's the main objective of the Fund!
Read more about how The Heritage Lottery Fund can support cultures and memories projects.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
Each One, Teach One

Our Heritage
Hercules Productions engages young people in Manchester through heritage-based theatre and film projects. They noted through their work that young people in Hulme and Moss Side had little knowledge of how the buildings around them had changed over the years.
Often the younger members of the community didn't understand the perspectives of their elders who had lived through these substantial changes.
The year-long project set out to recreate the histories of five key local landmarks through intergenerational reminiscence sessions. The collected oral histories were then used as the basis of a performance. Working with a professionals and performing the play at the University of Manchester's Contact Theatre gave a huge sense of achievement to participants and reached a wide audience.
Placing the older people's stories at the heart of the project helped them feel more valued and respected by the younger generation. Engaging young people through fun and creative activities was a good way of introducing them to the heritage of their community and an exhibition and education pack was created to share their learning.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Remembering the stories of the Windrush generation

Marcus Hercules, Artistic Director, Hercules Productions
In 2013, while I was working on an HLF project called Rasta Roots, I filmed some footage of my father who was visiting from Ethiopia. He shared stories about his life in Manchester, some of which I’d never heard before.
Sadly my father passed away as the project was running. Had I not captured those stories, I would never have heard them.
It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost, slowly seeping into folk law with very little known about who, what, when and why.
Who were the people that travelled far from home? What did they do when they reached the UK? Why had they decided to take such seemingly drastic action?
All of a sudden it felt really important to share the heritage of the community far and wide. The arrival of the Empire Windrush from the Caribbean in 1948 marked the beginning of mass migration after the war, and it was a key point in the rich history of Manchester.
I saw it as a unique snapshot of time past, one that had not been explored and documented anywhere.
Applying for funding
So we applied for a Heritage Lottery Fund grant for a project called Each One, Teach One. This aimed to preserve and share the oral history of the Windrush generation from Moss Side and Hulme in Greater Manchester.
“It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost."
- Marcus Hercules
Using five important sites in the Moss Side area: Reno Nightclub, Moss Side Precinct, the Bull Ring, Moss Side Fire Station and Medlock Court Flats, we brought elders and younger members of the community together to share stories and create performances based on their experiences.
We produced two exhibitions, a full-scale theatrical sharing performance, paintings and portraits, all based on the oral history of elder participants.
Getting people involved
At times the elders were guarded about their experiences, perhaps from habit. There was a feeling that they were keeping stories enclosed within their walls; once we managed to scale those walls, most elder participants were happy to open up.
The use of drama was a really effective tool. We were really surprised at how well the fusion of professional performers and the elder and youth participants went.
Drama-based games and activities not only led to some enthusiastic and surprising work coming from these sessions but also provided some physical activity for participants, which overall improved general wellbeing.
Creating a ‘safe’ space to share experiences
We never expected to hear so much or uncover so many fascinating facts about the community; we knew there were stories to tell but some were unexpected.
I think this was because we provided a knowledgeable team and created a safe space for sharing. The fact that the project went as smoothly as it did is a testament to a strong project plan and the great practitioners we worked with.
Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community. Knowing that we had the expertise and support of HLF gave us more confidence in the running of the project and the North West team were always on hand to provide advice on the best ways to collect and archive oral history.
Capturing memories
We captured oral histories that would never been shared otherwise; for example a woman called Henrietta Shaw gave us an account of leaving her father. She used the phrase ‘a teefin picknie’ (a Jamaican colloquialism meaning a child who has been stolen from one of their parents).
We were able to share, define and remember this phrase; the impact of that sharing means that that forgotten term lives, as does her story. To me, that is powerful.
"Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community."
- Marcus Hercules
The project enabled the company to expand our reach into the communities we engage with - we met elder and young participants that are still part of our company story. As we are able to bring in local experts and a strong wider creative team the company was able to reach a larger audience.
Being able to use a professional set designer helped to add cohesion to the different outputs as everything from the set lighting to the flyers followed a uniform scheme.
The project as a whole impacted on elder and youth alike bringing the community closer together, and all parties felt valued and respected.
Top three tips for applicants
- Keep applying - don't give up!
- Access and ask for support - it took us a few goes to get funding for this project; however at every turn we acted upon feedback and ideas from the team
- Keep heritage at the heart of your project - it's the main objective of the Fund!
Read more about how The Heritage Lottery Fund can support cultures and memories projects.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
Each One, Teach One

Our Heritage
Hercules Productions engages young people in Manchester through heritage-based theatre and film projects. They noted through their work that young people in Hulme and Moss Side had little knowledge of how the buildings around them had changed over the years.
Often the younger members of the community didn't understand the perspectives of their elders who had lived through these substantial changes.
The year-long project set out to recreate the histories of five key local landmarks through intergenerational reminiscence sessions. The collected oral histories were then used as the basis of a performance. Working with a professionals and performing the play at the University of Manchester's Contact Theatre gave a huge sense of achievement to participants and reached a wide audience.
Placing the older people's stories at the heart of the project helped them feel more valued and respected by the younger generation. Engaging young people through fun and creative activities was a good way of introducing them to the heritage of their community and an exhibition and education pack was created to share their learning.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Remembering the stories of the Windrush generation

Marcus Hercules, Artistic Director, Hercules Productions
In 2013, while I was working on an HLF project called Rasta Roots, I filmed some footage of my father who was visiting from Ethiopia. He shared stories about his life in Manchester, some of which I’d never heard before.
Sadly my father passed away as the project was running. Had I not captured those stories, I would never have heard them.
It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost, slowly seeping into folk law with very little known about who, what, when and why.
Who were the people that travelled far from home? What did they do when they reached the UK? Why had they decided to take such seemingly drastic action?
All of a sudden it felt really important to share the heritage of the community far and wide. The arrival of the Empire Windrush from the Caribbean in 1948 marked the beginning of mass migration after the war, and it was a key point in the rich history of Manchester.
I saw it as a unique snapshot of time past, one that had not been explored and documented anywhere.
Applying for funding
So we applied for a Heritage Lottery Fund grant for a project called Each One, Teach One. This aimed to preserve and share the oral history of the Windrush generation from Moss Side and Hulme in Greater Manchester.
“It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost."
- Marcus Hercules
Using five important sites in the Moss Side area: Reno Nightclub, Moss Side Precinct, the Bull Ring, Moss Side Fire Station and Medlock Court Flats, we brought elders and younger members of the community together to share stories and create performances based on their experiences.
We produced two exhibitions, a full-scale theatrical sharing performance, paintings and portraits, all based on the oral history of elder participants.
Getting people involved
At times the elders were guarded about their experiences, perhaps from habit. There was a feeling that they were keeping stories enclosed within their walls; once we managed to scale those walls, most elder participants were happy to open up.
The use of drama was a really effective tool. We were really surprised at how well the fusion of professional performers and the elder and youth participants went.
Drama-based games and activities not only led to some enthusiastic and surprising work coming from these sessions but also provided some physical activity for participants, which overall improved general wellbeing.
Creating a ‘safe’ space to share experiences
We never expected to hear so much or uncover so many fascinating facts about the community; we knew there were stories to tell but some were unexpected.
I think this was because we provided a knowledgeable team and created a safe space for sharing. The fact that the project went as smoothly as it did is a testament to a strong project plan and the great practitioners we worked with.
Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community. Knowing that we had the expertise and support of HLF gave us more confidence in the running of the project and the North West team were always on hand to provide advice on the best ways to collect and archive oral history.
Capturing memories
We captured oral histories that would never been shared otherwise; for example a woman called Henrietta Shaw gave us an account of leaving her father. She used the phrase ‘a teefin picknie’ (a Jamaican colloquialism meaning a child who has been stolen from one of their parents).
We were able to share, define and remember this phrase; the impact of that sharing means that that forgotten term lives, as does her story. To me, that is powerful.
"Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community."
- Marcus Hercules
The project enabled the company to expand our reach into the communities we engage with - we met elder and young participants that are still part of our company story. As we are able to bring in local experts and a strong wider creative team the company was able to reach a larger audience.
Being able to use a professional set designer helped to add cohesion to the different outputs as everything from the set lighting to the flyers followed a uniform scheme.
The project as a whole impacted on elder and youth alike bringing the community closer together, and all parties felt valued and respected.
Top three tips for applicants
- Keep applying - don't give up!
- Access and ask for support - it took us a few goes to get funding for this project; however at every turn we acted upon feedback and ideas from the team
- Keep heritage at the heart of your project - it's the main objective of the Fund!
Read more about how The Heritage Lottery Fund can support cultures and memories projects.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
Each One, Teach One

Our Heritage
Hercules Productions engages young people in Manchester through heritage-based theatre and film projects. They noted through their work that young people in Hulme and Moss Side had little knowledge of how the buildings around them had changed over the years.
Often the younger members of the community didn't understand the perspectives of their elders who had lived through these substantial changes.
The year-long project set out to recreate the histories of five key local landmarks through intergenerational reminiscence sessions. The collected oral histories were then used as the basis of a performance. Working with a professionals and performing the play at the University of Manchester's Contact Theatre gave a huge sense of achievement to participants and reached a wide audience.
Placing the older people's stories at the heart of the project helped them feel more valued and respected by the younger generation. Engaging young people through fun and creative activities was a good way of introducing them to the heritage of their community and an exhibition and education pack was created to share their learning.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Remembering the stories of the Windrush generation

Marcus Hercules, Artistic Director, Hercules Productions
In 2013, while I was working on an HLF project called Rasta Roots, I filmed some footage of my father who was visiting from Ethiopia. He shared stories about his life in Manchester, some of which I’d never heard before.
Sadly my father passed away as the project was running. Had I not captured those stories, I would never have heard them.
It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost, slowly seeping into folk law with very little known about who, what, when and why.
Who were the people that travelled far from home? What did they do when they reached the UK? Why had they decided to take such seemingly drastic action?
All of a sudden it felt really important to share the heritage of the community far and wide. The arrival of the Empire Windrush from the Caribbean in 1948 marked the beginning of mass migration after the war, and it was a key point in the rich history of Manchester.
I saw it as a unique snapshot of time past, one that had not been explored and documented anywhere.
Applying for funding
So we applied for a Heritage Lottery Fund grant for a project called Each One, Teach One. This aimed to preserve and share the oral history of the Windrush generation from Moss Side and Hulme in Greater Manchester.
“It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost."
- Marcus Hercules
Using five important sites in the Moss Side area: Reno Nightclub, Moss Side Precinct, the Bull Ring, Moss Side Fire Station and Medlock Court Flats, we brought elders and younger members of the community together to share stories and create performances based on their experiences.
We produced two exhibitions, a full-scale theatrical sharing performance, paintings and portraits, all based on the oral history of elder participants.
Getting people involved
At times the elders were guarded about their experiences, perhaps from habit. There was a feeling that they were keeping stories enclosed within their walls; once we managed to scale those walls, most elder participants were happy to open up.
The use of drama was a really effective tool. We were really surprised at how well the fusion of professional performers and the elder and youth participants went.
Drama-based games and activities not only led to some enthusiastic and surprising work coming from these sessions but also provided some physical activity for participants, which overall improved general wellbeing.
Creating a ‘safe’ space to share experiences
We never expected to hear so much or uncover so many fascinating facts about the community; we knew there were stories to tell but some were unexpected.
I think this was because we provided a knowledgeable team and created a safe space for sharing. The fact that the project went as smoothly as it did is a testament to a strong project plan and the great practitioners we worked with.
Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community. Knowing that we had the expertise and support of HLF gave us more confidence in the running of the project and the North West team were always on hand to provide advice on the best ways to collect and archive oral history.
Capturing memories
We captured oral histories that would never been shared otherwise; for example a woman called Henrietta Shaw gave us an account of leaving her father. She used the phrase ‘a teefin picknie’ (a Jamaican colloquialism meaning a child who has been stolen from one of their parents).
We were able to share, define and remember this phrase; the impact of that sharing means that that forgotten term lives, as does her story. To me, that is powerful.
"Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community."
- Marcus Hercules
The project enabled the company to expand our reach into the communities we engage with - we met elder and young participants that are still part of our company story. As we are able to bring in local experts and a strong wider creative team the company was able to reach a larger audience.
Being able to use a professional set designer helped to add cohesion to the different outputs as everything from the set lighting to the flyers followed a uniform scheme.
The project as a whole impacted on elder and youth alike bringing the community closer together, and all parties felt valued and respected.
Top three tips for applicants
- Keep applying - don't give up!
- Access and ask for support - it took us a few goes to get funding for this project; however at every turn we acted upon feedback and ideas from the team
- Keep heritage at the heart of your project - it's the main objective of the Fund!
Read more about how The Heritage Lottery Fund can support cultures and memories projects.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
Each One, Teach One

Our Heritage
Hercules Productions engages young people in Manchester through heritage-based theatre and film projects. They noted through their work that young people in Hulme and Moss Side had little knowledge of how the buildings around them had changed over the years.
Often the younger members of the community didn't understand the perspectives of their elders who had lived through these substantial changes.
The year-long project set out to recreate the histories of five key local landmarks through intergenerational reminiscence sessions. The collected oral histories were then used as the basis of a performance. Working with a professionals and performing the play at the University of Manchester's Contact Theatre gave a huge sense of achievement to participants and reached a wide audience.
Placing the older people's stories at the heart of the project helped them feel more valued and respected by the younger generation. Engaging young people through fun and creative activities was a good way of introducing them to the heritage of their community and an exhibition and education pack was created to share their learning.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Remembering the stories of the Windrush generation

Marcus Hercules, Artistic Director, Hercules Productions
In 2013, while I was working on an HLF project called Rasta Roots, I filmed some footage of my father who was visiting from Ethiopia. He shared stories about his life in Manchester, some of which I’d never heard before.
Sadly my father passed away as the project was running. Had I not captured those stories, I would never have heard them.
It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost, slowly seeping into folk law with very little known about who, what, when and why.
Who were the people that travelled far from home? What did they do when they reached the UK? Why had they decided to take such seemingly drastic action?
All of a sudden it felt really important to share the heritage of the community far and wide. The arrival of the Empire Windrush from the Caribbean in 1948 marked the beginning of mass migration after the war, and it was a key point in the rich history of Manchester.
I saw it as a unique snapshot of time past, one that had not been explored and documented anywhere.
Applying for funding
So we applied for a Heritage Lottery Fund grant for a project called Each One, Teach One. This aimed to preserve and share the oral history of the Windrush generation from Moss Side and Hulme in Greater Manchester.
“It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost."
- Marcus Hercules
Using five important sites in the Moss Side area: Reno Nightclub, Moss Side Precinct, the Bull Ring, Moss Side Fire Station and Medlock Court Flats, we brought elders and younger members of the community together to share stories and create performances based on their experiences.
We produced two exhibitions, a full-scale theatrical sharing performance, paintings and portraits, all based on the oral history of elder participants.
Getting people involved
At times the elders were guarded about their experiences, perhaps from habit. There was a feeling that they were keeping stories enclosed within their walls; once we managed to scale those walls, most elder participants were happy to open up.
The use of drama was a really effective tool. We were really surprised at how well the fusion of professional performers and the elder and youth participants went.
Drama-based games and activities not only led to some enthusiastic and surprising work coming from these sessions but also provided some physical activity for participants, which overall improved general wellbeing.
Creating a ‘safe’ space to share experiences
We never expected to hear so much or uncover so many fascinating facts about the community; we knew there were stories to tell but some were unexpected.
I think this was because we provided a knowledgeable team and created a safe space for sharing. The fact that the project went as smoothly as it did is a testament to a strong project plan and the great practitioners we worked with.
Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community. Knowing that we had the expertise and support of HLF gave us more confidence in the running of the project and the North West team were always on hand to provide advice on the best ways to collect and archive oral history.
Capturing memories
We captured oral histories that would never been shared otherwise; for example a woman called Henrietta Shaw gave us an account of leaving her father. She used the phrase ‘a teefin picknie’ (a Jamaican colloquialism meaning a child who has been stolen from one of their parents).
We were able to share, define and remember this phrase; the impact of that sharing means that that forgotten term lives, as does her story. To me, that is powerful.
"Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community."
- Marcus Hercules
The project enabled the company to expand our reach into the communities we engage with - we met elder and young participants that are still part of our company story. As we are able to bring in local experts and a strong wider creative team the company was able to reach a larger audience.
Being able to use a professional set designer helped to add cohesion to the different outputs as everything from the set lighting to the flyers followed a uniform scheme.
The project as a whole impacted on elder and youth alike bringing the community closer together, and all parties felt valued and respected.
Top three tips for applicants
- Keep applying - don't give up!
- Access and ask for support - it took us a few goes to get funding for this project; however at every turn we acted upon feedback and ideas from the team
- Keep heritage at the heart of your project - it's the main objective of the Fund!
Read more about how The Heritage Lottery Fund can support cultures and memories projects.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
Each One, Teach One

Our Heritage
Hercules Productions engages young people in Manchester through heritage-based theatre and film projects. They noted through their work that young people in Hulme and Moss Side had little knowledge of how the buildings around them had changed over the years.
Often the younger members of the community didn't understand the perspectives of their elders who had lived through these substantial changes.
The year-long project set out to recreate the histories of five key local landmarks through intergenerational reminiscence sessions. The collected oral histories were then used as the basis of a performance. Working with a professionals and performing the play at the University of Manchester's Contact Theatre gave a huge sense of achievement to participants and reached a wide audience.
Placing the older people's stories at the heart of the project helped them feel more valued and respected by the younger generation. Engaging young people through fun and creative activities was a good way of introducing them to the heritage of their community and an exhibition and education pack was created to share their learning.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Remembering the stories of the Windrush generation

Marcus Hercules, Artistic Director, Hercules Productions
In 2013, while I was working on an HLF project called Rasta Roots, I filmed some footage of my father who was visiting from Ethiopia. He shared stories about his life in Manchester, some of which I’d never heard before.
Sadly my father passed away as the project was running. Had I not captured those stories, I would never have heard them.
It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost, slowly seeping into folk law with very little known about who, what, when and why.
Who were the people that travelled far from home? What did they do when they reached the UK? Why had they decided to take such seemingly drastic action?
All of a sudden it felt really important to share the heritage of the community far and wide. The arrival of the Empire Windrush from the Caribbean in 1948 marked the beginning of mass migration after the war, and it was a key point in the rich history of Manchester.
I saw it as a unique snapshot of time past, one that had not been explored and documented anywhere.
Applying for funding
So we applied for a Heritage Lottery Fund grant for a project called Each One, Teach One. This aimed to preserve and share the oral history of the Windrush generation from Moss Side and Hulme in Greater Manchester.
“It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost."
- Marcus Hercules
Using five important sites in the Moss Side area: Reno Nightclub, Moss Side Precinct, the Bull Ring, Moss Side Fire Station and Medlock Court Flats, we brought elders and younger members of the community together to share stories and create performances based on their experiences.
We produced two exhibitions, a full-scale theatrical sharing performance, paintings and portraits, all based on the oral history of elder participants.
Getting people involved
At times the elders were guarded about their experiences, perhaps from habit. There was a feeling that they were keeping stories enclosed within their walls; once we managed to scale those walls, most elder participants were happy to open up.
The use of drama was a really effective tool. We were really surprised at how well the fusion of professional performers and the elder and youth participants went.
Drama-based games and activities not only led to some enthusiastic and surprising work coming from these sessions but also provided some physical activity for participants, which overall improved general wellbeing.
Creating a ‘safe’ space to share experiences
We never expected to hear so much or uncover so many fascinating facts about the community; we knew there were stories to tell but some were unexpected.
I think this was because we provided a knowledgeable team and created a safe space for sharing. The fact that the project went as smoothly as it did is a testament to a strong project plan and the great practitioners we worked with.
Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community. Knowing that we had the expertise and support of HLF gave us more confidence in the running of the project and the North West team were always on hand to provide advice on the best ways to collect and archive oral history.
Capturing memories
We captured oral histories that would never been shared otherwise; for example a woman called Henrietta Shaw gave us an account of leaving her father. She used the phrase ‘a teefin picknie’ (a Jamaican colloquialism meaning a child who has been stolen from one of their parents).
We were able to share, define and remember this phrase; the impact of that sharing means that that forgotten term lives, as does her story. To me, that is powerful.
"Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community."
- Marcus Hercules
The project enabled the company to expand our reach into the communities we engage with - we met elder and young participants that are still part of our company story. As we are able to bring in local experts and a strong wider creative team the company was able to reach a larger audience.
Being able to use a professional set designer helped to add cohesion to the different outputs as everything from the set lighting to the flyers followed a uniform scheme.
The project as a whole impacted on elder and youth alike bringing the community closer together, and all parties felt valued and respected.
Top three tips for applicants
- Keep applying - don't give up!
- Access and ask for support - it took us a few goes to get funding for this project; however at every turn we acted upon feedback and ideas from the team
- Keep heritage at the heart of your project - it's the main objective of the Fund!
Read more about how The Heritage Lottery Fund can support cultures and memories projects.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
Each One, Teach One

Our Heritage
Hercules Productions engages young people in Manchester through heritage-based theatre and film projects. They noted through their work that young people in Hulme and Moss Side had little knowledge of how the buildings around them had changed over the years.
Often the younger members of the community didn't understand the perspectives of their elders who had lived through these substantial changes.
The year-long project set out to recreate the histories of five key local landmarks through intergenerational reminiscence sessions. The collected oral histories were then used as the basis of a performance. Working with a professionals and performing the play at the University of Manchester's Contact Theatre gave a huge sense of achievement to participants and reached a wide audience.
Placing the older people's stories at the heart of the project helped them feel more valued and respected by the younger generation. Engaging young people through fun and creative activities was a good way of introducing them to the heritage of their community and an exhibition and education pack was created to share their learning.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Remembering the stories of the Windrush generation

Marcus Hercules, Artistic Director, Hercules Productions
In 2013, while I was working on an HLF project called Rasta Roots, I filmed some footage of my father who was visiting from Ethiopia. He shared stories about his life in Manchester, some of which I’d never heard before.
Sadly my father passed away as the project was running. Had I not captured those stories, I would never have heard them.
It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost, slowly seeping into folk law with very little known about who, what, when and why.
Who were the people that travelled far from home? What did they do when they reached the UK? Why had they decided to take such seemingly drastic action?
All of a sudden it felt really important to share the heritage of the community far and wide. The arrival of the Empire Windrush from the Caribbean in 1948 marked the beginning of mass migration after the war, and it was a key point in the rich history of Manchester.
I saw it as a unique snapshot of time past, one that had not been explored and documented anywhere.
Applying for funding
So we applied for a Heritage Lottery Fund grant for a project called Each One, Teach One. This aimed to preserve and share the oral history of the Windrush generation from Moss Side and Hulme in Greater Manchester.
“It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost."
- Marcus Hercules
Using five important sites in the Moss Side area: Reno Nightclub, Moss Side Precinct, the Bull Ring, Moss Side Fire Station and Medlock Court Flats, we brought elders and younger members of the community together to share stories and create performances based on their experiences.
We produced two exhibitions, a full-scale theatrical sharing performance, paintings and portraits, all based on the oral history of elder participants.
Getting people involved
At times the elders were guarded about their experiences, perhaps from habit. There was a feeling that they were keeping stories enclosed within their walls; once we managed to scale those walls, most elder participants were happy to open up.
The use of drama was a really effective tool. We were really surprised at how well the fusion of professional performers and the elder and youth participants went.
Drama-based games and activities not only led to some enthusiastic and surprising work coming from these sessions but also provided some physical activity for participants, which overall improved general wellbeing.
Creating a ‘safe’ space to share experiences
We never expected to hear so much or uncover so many fascinating facts about the community; we knew there were stories to tell but some were unexpected.
I think this was because we provided a knowledgeable team and created a safe space for sharing. The fact that the project went as smoothly as it did is a testament to a strong project plan and the great practitioners we worked with.
Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community. Knowing that we had the expertise and support of HLF gave us more confidence in the running of the project and the North West team were always on hand to provide advice on the best ways to collect and archive oral history.
Capturing memories
We captured oral histories that would never been shared otherwise; for example a woman called Henrietta Shaw gave us an account of leaving her father. She used the phrase ‘a teefin picknie’ (a Jamaican colloquialism meaning a child who has been stolen from one of their parents).
We were able to share, define and remember this phrase; the impact of that sharing means that that forgotten term lives, as does her story. To me, that is powerful.
"Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community."
- Marcus Hercules
The project enabled the company to expand our reach into the communities we engage with - we met elder and young participants that are still part of our company story. As we are able to bring in local experts and a strong wider creative team the company was able to reach a larger audience.
Being able to use a professional set designer helped to add cohesion to the different outputs as everything from the set lighting to the flyers followed a uniform scheme.
The project as a whole impacted on elder and youth alike bringing the community closer together, and all parties felt valued and respected.
Top three tips for applicants
- Keep applying - don't give up!
- Access and ask for support - it took us a few goes to get funding for this project; however at every turn we acted upon feedback and ideas from the team
- Keep heritage at the heart of your project - it's the main objective of the Fund!
Read more about how The Heritage Lottery Fund can support cultures and memories projects.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
Each One, Teach One

Our Heritage
Hercules Productions engages young people in Manchester through heritage-based theatre and film projects. They noted through their work that young people in Hulme and Moss Side had little knowledge of how the buildings around them had changed over the years.
Often the younger members of the community didn't understand the perspectives of their elders who had lived through these substantial changes.
The year-long project set out to recreate the histories of five key local landmarks through intergenerational reminiscence sessions. The collected oral histories were then used as the basis of a performance. Working with a professionals and performing the play at the University of Manchester's Contact Theatre gave a huge sense of achievement to participants and reached a wide audience.
Placing the older people's stories at the heart of the project helped them feel more valued and respected by the younger generation. Engaging young people through fun and creative activities was a good way of introducing them to the heritage of their community and an exhibition and education pack was created to share their learning.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Remembering the stories of the Windrush generation

Marcus Hercules, Artistic Director, Hercules Productions
In 2013, while I was working on an HLF project called Rasta Roots, I filmed some footage of my father who was visiting from Ethiopia. He shared stories about his life in Manchester, some of which I’d never heard before.
Sadly my father passed away as the project was running. Had I not captured those stories, I would never have heard them.
It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost, slowly seeping into folk law with very little known about who, what, when and why.
Who were the people that travelled far from home? What did they do when they reached the UK? Why had they decided to take such seemingly drastic action?
All of a sudden it felt really important to share the heritage of the community far and wide. The arrival of the Empire Windrush from the Caribbean in 1948 marked the beginning of mass migration after the war, and it was a key point in the rich history of Manchester.
I saw it as a unique snapshot of time past, one that had not been explored and documented anywhere.
Applying for funding
So we applied for a Heritage Lottery Fund grant for a project called Each One, Teach One. This aimed to preserve and share the oral history of the Windrush generation from Moss Side and Hulme in Greater Manchester.
“It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost."
- Marcus Hercules
Using five important sites in the Moss Side area: Reno Nightclub, Moss Side Precinct, the Bull Ring, Moss Side Fire Station and Medlock Court Flats, we brought elders and younger members of the community together to share stories and create performances based on their experiences.
We produced two exhibitions, a full-scale theatrical sharing performance, paintings and portraits, all based on the oral history of elder participants.
Getting people involved
At times the elders were guarded about their experiences, perhaps from habit. There was a feeling that they were keeping stories enclosed within their walls; once we managed to scale those walls, most elder participants were happy to open up.
The use of drama was a really effective tool. We were really surprised at how well the fusion of professional performers and the elder and youth participants went.
Drama-based games and activities not only led to some enthusiastic and surprising work coming from these sessions but also provided some physical activity for participants, which overall improved general wellbeing.
Creating a ‘safe’ space to share experiences
We never expected to hear so much or uncover so many fascinating facts about the community; we knew there were stories to tell but some were unexpected.
I think this was because we provided a knowledgeable team and created a safe space for sharing. The fact that the project went as smoothly as it did is a testament to a strong project plan and the great practitioners we worked with.
Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community. Knowing that we had the expertise and support of HLF gave us more confidence in the running of the project and the North West team were always on hand to provide advice on the best ways to collect and archive oral history.
Capturing memories
We captured oral histories that would never been shared otherwise; for example a woman called Henrietta Shaw gave us an account of leaving her father. She used the phrase ‘a teefin picknie’ (a Jamaican colloquialism meaning a child who has been stolen from one of their parents).
We were able to share, define and remember this phrase; the impact of that sharing means that that forgotten term lives, as does her story. To me, that is powerful.
"Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community."
- Marcus Hercules
The project enabled the company to expand our reach into the communities we engage with - we met elder and young participants that are still part of our company story. As we are able to bring in local experts and a strong wider creative team the company was able to reach a larger audience.
Being able to use a professional set designer helped to add cohesion to the different outputs as everything from the set lighting to the flyers followed a uniform scheme.
The project as a whole impacted on elder and youth alike bringing the community closer together, and all parties felt valued and respected.
Top three tips for applicants
- Keep applying - don't give up!
- Access and ask for support - it took us a few goes to get funding for this project; however at every turn we acted upon feedback and ideas from the team
- Keep heritage at the heart of your project - it's the main objective of the Fund!
Read more about how The Heritage Lottery Fund can support cultures and memories projects.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
Each One, Teach One

Our Heritage
Hercules Productions engages young people in Manchester through heritage-based theatre and film projects. They noted through their work that young people in Hulme and Moss Side had little knowledge of how the buildings around them had changed over the years.
Often the younger members of the community didn't understand the perspectives of their elders who had lived through these substantial changes.
The year-long project set out to recreate the histories of five key local landmarks through intergenerational reminiscence sessions. The collected oral histories were then used as the basis of a performance. Working with a professionals and performing the play at the University of Manchester's Contact Theatre gave a huge sense of achievement to participants and reached a wide audience.
Placing the older people's stories at the heart of the project helped them feel more valued and respected by the younger generation. Engaging young people through fun and creative activities was a good way of introducing them to the heritage of their community and an exhibition and education pack was created to share their learning.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Remembering the stories of the Windrush generation

Marcus Hercules, Artistic Director, Hercules Productions
In 2013, while I was working on an HLF project called Rasta Roots, I filmed some footage of my father who was visiting from Ethiopia. He shared stories about his life in Manchester, some of which I’d never heard before.
Sadly my father passed away as the project was running. Had I not captured those stories, I would never have heard them.
It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost, slowly seeping into folk law with very little known about who, what, when and why.
Who were the people that travelled far from home? What did they do when they reached the UK? Why had they decided to take such seemingly drastic action?
All of a sudden it felt really important to share the heritage of the community far and wide. The arrival of the Empire Windrush from the Caribbean in 1948 marked the beginning of mass migration after the war, and it was a key point in the rich history of Manchester.
I saw it as a unique snapshot of time past, one that had not been explored and documented anywhere.
Applying for funding
So we applied for a Heritage Lottery Fund grant for a project called Each One, Teach One. This aimed to preserve and share the oral history of the Windrush generation from Moss Side and Hulme in Greater Manchester.
“It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost."
- Marcus Hercules
Using five important sites in the Moss Side area: Reno Nightclub, Moss Side Precinct, the Bull Ring, Moss Side Fire Station and Medlock Court Flats, we brought elders and younger members of the community together to share stories and create performances based on their experiences.
We produced two exhibitions, a full-scale theatrical sharing performance, paintings and portraits, all based on the oral history of elder participants.
Getting people involved
At times the elders were guarded about their experiences, perhaps from habit. There was a feeling that they were keeping stories enclosed within their walls; once we managed to scale those walls, most elder participants were happy to open up.
The use of drama was a really effective tool. We were really surprised at how well the fusion of professional performers and the elder and youth participants went.
Drama-based games and activities not only led to some enthusiastic and surprising work coming from these sessions but also provided some physical activity for participants, which overall improved general wellbeing.
Creating a ‘safe’ space to share experiences
We never expected to hear so much or uncover so many fascinating facts about the community; we knew there were stories to tell but some were unexpected.
I think this was because we provided a knowledgeable team and created a safe space for sharing. The fact that the project went as smoothly as it did is a testament to a strong project plan and the great practitioners we worked with.
Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community. Knowing that we had the expertise and support of HLF gave us more confidence in the running of the project and the North West team were always on hand to provide advice on the best ways to collect and archive oral history.
Capturing memories
We captured oral histories that would never been shared otherwise; for example a woman called Henrietta Shaw gave us an account of leaving her father. She used the phrase ‘a teefin picknie’ (a Jamaican colloquialism meaning a child who has been stolen from one of their parents).
We were able to share, define and remember this phrase; the impact of that sharing means that that forgotten term lives, as does her story. To me, that is powerful.
"Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community."
- Marcus Hercules
The project enabled the company to expand our reach into the communities we engage with - we met elder and young participants that are still part of our company story. As we are able to bring in local experts and a strong wider creative team the company was able to reach a larger audience.
Being able to use a professional set designer helped to add cohesion to the different outputs as everything from the set lighting to the flyers followed a uniform scheme.
The project as a whole impacted on elder and youth alike bringing the community closer together, and all parties felt valued and respected.
Top three tips for applicants
- Keep applying - don't give up!
- Access and ask for support - it took us a few goes to get funding for this project; however at every turn we acted upon feedback and ideas from the team
- Keep heritage at the heart of your project - it's the main objective of the Fund!
Read more about how The Heritage Lottery Fund can support cultures and memories projects.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
Each One, Teach One

Our Heritage
Hercules Productions engages young people in Manchester through heritage-based theatre and film projects. They noted through their work that young people in Hulme and Moss Side had little knowledge of how the buildings around them had changed over the years.
Often the younger members of the community didn't understand the perspectives of their elders who had lived through these substantial changes.
The year-long project set out to recreate the histories of five key local landmarks through intergenerational reminiscence sessions. The collected oral histories were then used as the basis of a performance. Working with a professionals and performing the play at the University of Manchester's Contact Theatre gave a huge sense of achievement to participants and reached a wide audience.
Placing the older people's stories at the heart of the project helped them feel more valued and respected by the younger generation. Engaging young people through fun and creative activities was a good way of introducing them to the heritage of their community and an exhibition and education pack was created to share their learning.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Remembering the stories of the Windrush generation

Marcus Hercules, Artistic Director, Hercules Productions
In 2013, while I was working on an HLF project called Rasta Roots, I filmed some footage of my father who was visiting from Ethiopia. He shared stories about his life in Manchester, some of which I’d never heard before.
Sadly my father passed away as the project was running. Had I not captured those stories, I would never have heard them.
It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost, slowly seeping into folk law with very little known about who, what, when and why.
Who were the people that travelled far from home? What did they do when they reached the UK? Why had they decided to take such seemingly drastic action?
All of a sudden it felt really important to share the heritage of the community far and wide. The arrival of the Empire Windrush from the Caribbean in 1948 marked the beginning of mass migration after the war, and it was a key point in the rich history of Manchester.
I saw it as a unique snapshot of time past, one that had not been explored and documented anywhere.
Applying for funding
So we applied for a Heritage Lottery Fund grant for a project called Each One, Teach One. This aimed to preserve and share the oral history of the Windrush generation from Moss Side and Hulme in Greater Manchester.
“It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost."
- Marcus Hercules
Using five important sites in the Moss Side area: Reno Nightclub, Moss Side Precinct, the Bull Ring, Moss Side Fire Station and Medlock Court Flats, we brought elders and younger members of the community together to share stories and create performances based on their experiences.
We produced two exhibitions, a full-scale theatrical sharing performance, paintings and portraits, all based on the oral history of elder participants.
Getting people involved
At times the elders were guarded about their experiences, perhaps from habit. There was a feeling that they were keeping stories enclosed within their walls; once we managed to scale those walls, most elder participants were happy to open up.
The use of drama was a really effective tool. We were really surprised at how well the fusion of professional performers and the elder and youth participants went.
Drama-based games and activities not only led to some enthusiastic and surprising work coming from these sessions but also provided some physical activity for participants, which overall improved general wellbeing.
Creating a ‘safe’ space to share experiences
We never expected to hear so much or uncover so many fascinating facts about the community; we knew there were stories to tell but some were unexpected.
I think this was because we provided a knowledgeable team and created a safe space for sharing. The fact that the project went as smoothly as it did is a testament to a strong project plan and the great practitioners we worked with.
Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community. Knowing that we had the expertise and support of HLF gave us more confidence in the running of the project and the North West team were always on hand to provide advice on the best ways to collect and archive oral history.
Capturing memories
We captured oral histories that would never been shared otherwise; for example a woman called Henrietta Shaw gave us an account of leaving her father. She used the phrase ‘a teefin picknie’ (a Jamaican colloquialism meaning a child who has been stolen from one of their parents).
We were able to share, define and remember this phrase; the impact of that sharing means that that forgotten term lives, as does her story. To me, that is powerful.
"Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community."
- Marcus Hercules
The project enabled the company to expand our reach into the communities we engage with - we met elder and young participants that are still part of our company story. As we are able to bring in local experts and a strong wider creative team the company was able to reach a larger audience.
Being able to use a professional set designer helped to add cohesion to the different outputs as everything from the set lighting to the flyers followed a uniform scheme.
The project as a whole impacted on elder and youth alike bringing the community closer together, and all parties felt valued and respected.
Top three tips for applicants
- Keep applying - don't give up!
- Access and ask for support - it took us a few goes to get funding for this project; however at every turn we acted upon feedback and ideas from the team
- Keep heritage at the heart of your project - it's the main objective of the Fund!
Read more about how The Heritage Lottery Fund can support cultures and memories projects.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
Each One, Teach One

Our Heritage
Hercules Productions engages young people in Manchester through heritage-based theatre and film projects. They noted through their work that young people in Hulme and Moss Side had little knowledge of how the buildings around them had changed over the years.
Often the younger members of the community didn't understand the perspectives of their elders who had lived through these substantial changes.
The year-long project set out to recreate the histories of five key local landmarks through intergenerational reminiscence sessions. The collected oral histories were then used as the basis of a performance. Working with a professionals and performing the play at the University of Manchester's Contact Theatre gave a huge sense of achievement to participants and reached a wide audience.
Placing the older people's stories at the heart of the project helped them feel more valued and respected by the younger generation. Engaging young people through fun and creative activities was a good way of introducing them to the heritage of their community and an exhibition and education pack was created to share their learning.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Remembering the stories of the Windrush generation

Marcus Hercules, Artistic Director, Hercules Productions
In 2013, while I was working on an HLF project called Rasta Roots, I filmed some footage of my father who was visiting from Ethiopia. He shared stories about his life in Manchester, some of which I’d never heard before.
Sadly my father passed away as the project was running. Had I not captured those stories, I would never have heard them.
It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost, slowly seeping into folk law with very little known about who, what, when and why.
Who were the people that travelled far from home? What did they do when they reached the UK? Why had they decided to take such seemingly drastic action?
All of a sudden it felt really important to share the heritage of the community far and wide. The arrival of the Empire Windrush from the Caribbean in 1948 marked the beginning of mass migration after the war, and it was a key point in the rich history of Manchester.
I saw it as a unique snapshot of time past, one that had not been explored and documented anywhere.
Applying for funding
So we applied for a Heritage Lottery Fund grant for a project called Each One, Teach One. This aimed to preserve and share the oral history of the Windrush generation from Moss Side and Hulme in Greater Manchester.
“It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost."
- Marcus Hercules
Using five important sites in the Moss Side area: Reno Nightclub, Moss Side Precinct, the Bull Ring, Moss Side Fire Station and Medlock Court Flats, we brought elders and younger members of the community together to share stories and create performances based on their experiences.
We produced two exhibitions, a full-scale theatrical sharing performance, paintings and portraits, all based on the oral history of elder participants.
Getting people involved
At times the elders were guarded about their experiences, perhaps from habit. There was a feeling that they were keeping stories enclosed within their walls; once we managed to scale those walls, most elder participants were happy to open up.
The use of drama was a really effective tool. We were really surprised at how well the fusion of professional performers and the elder and youth participants went.
Drama-based games and activities not only led to some enthusiastic and surprising work coming from these sessions but also provided some physical activity for participants, which overall improved general wellbeing.
Creating a ‘safe’ space to share experiences
We never expected to hear so much or uncover so many fascinating facts about the community; we knew there were stories to tell but some were unexpected.
I think this was because we provided a knowledgeable team and created a safe space for sharing. The fact that the project went as smoothly as it did is a testament to a strong project plan and the great practitioners we worked with.
Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community. Knowing that we had the expertise and support of HLF gave us more confidence in the running of the project and the North West team were always on hand to provide advice on the best ways to collect and archive oral history.
Capturing memories
We captured oral histories that would never been shared otherwise; for example a woman called Henrietta Shaw gave us an account of leaving her father. She used the phrase ‘a teefin picknie’ (a Jamaican colloquialism meaning a child who has been stolen from one of their parents).
We were able to share, define and remember this phrase; the impact of that sharing means that that forgotten term lives, as does her story. To me, that is powerful.
"Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community."
- Marcus Hercules
The project enabled the company to expand our reach into the communities we engage with - we met elder and young participants that are still part of our company story. As we are able to bring in local experts and a strong wider creative team the company was able to reach a larger audience.
Being able to use a professional set designer helped to add cohesion to the different outputs as everything from the set lighting to the flyers followed a uniform scheme.
The project as a whole impacted on elder and youth alike bringing the community closer together, and all parties felt valued and respected.
Top three tips for applicants
- Keep applying - don't give up!
- Access and ask for support - it took us a few goes to get funding for this project; however at every turn we acted upon feedback and ideas from the team
- Keep heritage at the heart of your project - it's the main objective of the Fund!
Read more about how The Heritage Lottery Fund can support cultures and memories projects.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
Each One, Teach One

Our Heritage
Hercules Productions engages young people in Manchester through heritage-based theatre and film projects. They noted through their work that young people in Hulme and Moss Side had little knowledge of how the buildings around them had changed over the years.
Often the younger members of the community didn't understand the perspectives of their elders who had lived through these substantial changes.
The year-long project set out to recreate the histories of five key local landmarks through intergenerational reminiscence sessions. The collected oral histories were then used as the basis of a performance. Working with a professionals and performing the play at the University of Manchester's Contact Theatre gave a huge sense of achievement to participants and reached a wide audience.
Placing the older people's stories at the heart of the project helped them feel more valued and respected by the younger generation. Engaging young people through fun and creative activities was a good way of introducing them to the heritage of their community and an exhibition and education pack was created to share their learning.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Remembering the stories of the Windrush generation

Marcus Hercules, Artistic Director, Hercules Productions
In 2013, while I was working on an HLF project called Rasta Roots, I filmed some footage of my father who was visiting from Ethiopia. He shared stories about his life in Manchester, some of which I’d never heard before.
Sadly my father passed away as the project was running. Had I not captured those stories, I would never have heard them.
It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost, slowly seeping into folk law with very little known about who, what, when and why.
Who were the people that travelled far from home? What did they do when they reached the UK? Why had they decided to take such seemingly drastic action?
All of a sudden it felt really important to share the heritage of the community far and wide. The arrival of the Empire Windrush from the Caribbean in 1948 marked the beginning of mass migration after the war, and it was a key point in the rich history of Manchester.
I saw it as a unique snapshot of time past, one that had not been explored and documented anywhere.
Applying for funding
So we applied for a Heritage Lottery Fund grant for a project called Each One, Teach One. This aimed to preserve and share the oral history of the Windrush generation from Moss Side and Hulme in Greater Manchester.
“It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost."
- Marcus Hercules
Using five important sites in the Moss Side area: Reno Nightclub, Moss Side Precinct, the Bull Ring, Moss Side Fire Station and Medlock Court Flats, we brought elders and younger members of the community together to share stories and create performances based on their experiences.
We produced two exhibitions, a full-scale theatrical sharing performance, paintings and portraits, all based on the oral history of elder participants.
Getting people involved
At times the elders were guarded about their experiences, perhaps from habit. There was a feeling that they were keeping stories enclosed within their walls; once we managed to scale those walls, most elder participants were happy to open up.
The use of drama was a really effective tool. We were really surprised at how well the fusion of professional performers and the elder and youth participants went.
Drama-based games and activities not only led to some enthusiastic and surprising work coming from these sessions but also provided some physical activity for participants, which overall improved general wellbeing.
Creating a ‘safe’ space to share experiences
We never expected to hear so much or uncover so many fascinating facts about the community; we knew there were stories to tell but some were unexpected.
I think this was because we provided a knowledgeable team and created a safe space for sharing. The fact that the project went as smoothly as it did is a testament to a strong project plan and the great practitioners we worked with.
Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community. Knowing that we had the expertise and support of HLF gave us more confidence in the running of the project and the North West team were always on hand to provide advice on the best ways to collect and archive oral history.
Capturing memories
We captured oral histories that would never been shared otherwise; for example a woman called Henrietta Shaw gave us an account of leaving her father. She used the phrase ‘a teefin picknie’ (a Jamaican colloquialism meaning a child who has been stolen from one of their parents).
We were able to share, define and remember this phrase; the impact of that sharing means that that forgotten term lives, as does her story. To me, that is powerful.
"Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community."
- Marcus Hercules
The project enabled the company to expand our reach into the communities we engage with - we met elder and young participants that are still part of our company story. As we are able to bring in local experts and a strong wider creative team the company was able to reach a larger audience.
Being able to use a professional set designer helped to add cohesion to the different outputs as everything from the set lighting to the flyers followed a uniform scheme.
The project as a whole impacted on elder and youth alike bringing the community closer together, and all parties felt valued and respected.
Top three tips for applicants
- Keep applying - don't give up!
- Access and ask for support - it took us a few goes to get funding for this project; however at every turn we acted upon feedback and ideas from the team
- Keep heritage at the heart of your project - it's the main objective of the Fund!
Read more about how The Heritage Lottery Fund can support cultures and memories projects.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
Each One, Teach One

Our Heritage
Hercules Productions engages young people in Manchester through heritage-based theatre and film projects. They noted through their work that young people in Hulme and Moss Side had little knowledge of how the buildings around them had changed over the years.
Often the younger members of the community didn't understand the perspectives of their elders who had lived through these substantial changes.
The year-long project set out to recreate the histories of five key local landmarks through intergenerational reminiscence sessions. The collected oral histories were then used as the basis of a performance. Working with a professionals and performing the play at the University of Manchester's Contact Theatre gave a huge sense of achievement to participants and reached a wide audience.
Placing the older people's stories at the heart of the project helped them feel more valued and respected by the younger generation. Engaging young people through fun and creative activities was a good way of introducing them to the heritage of their community and an exhibition and education pack was created to share their learning.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Remembering the stories of the Windrush generation

Marcus Hercules, Artistic Director, Hercules Productions
In 2013, while I was working on an HLF project called Rasta Roots, I filmed some footage of my father who was visiting from Ethiopia. He shared stories about his life in Manchester, some of which I’d never heard before.
Sadly my father passed away as the project was running. Had I not captured those stories, I would never have heard them.
It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost, slowly seeping into folk law with very little known about who, what, when and why.
Who were the people that travelled far from home? What did they do when they reached the UK? Why had they decided to take such seemingly drastic action?
All of a sudden it felt really important to share the heritage of the community far and wide. The arrival of the Empire Windrush from the Caribbean in 1948 marked the beginning of mass migration after the war, and it was a key point in the rich history of Manchester.
I saw it as a unique snapshot of time past, one that had not been explored and documented anywhere.
Applying for funding
So we applied for a Heritage Lottery Fund grant for a project called Each One, Teach One. This aimed to preserve and share the oral history of the Windrush generation from Moss Side and Hulme in Greater Manchester.
“It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost."
- Marcus Hercules
Using five important sites in the Moss Side area: Reno Nightclub, Moss Side Precinct, the Bull Ring, Moss Side Fire Station and Medlock Court Flats, we brought elders and younger members of the community together to share stories and create performances based on their experiences.
We produced two exhibitions, a full-scale theatrical sharing performance, paintings and portraits, all based on the oral history of elder participants.
Getting people involved
At times the elders were guarded about their experiences, perhaps from habit. There was a feeling that they were keeping stories enclosed within their walls; once we managed to scale those walls, most elder participants were happy to open up.
The use of drama was a really effective tool. We were really surprised at how well the fusion of professional performers and the elder and youth participants went.
Drama-based games and activities not only led to some enthusiastic and surprising work coming from these sessions but also provided some physical activity for participants, which overall improved general wellbeing.
Creating a ‘safe’ space to share experiences
We never expected to hear so much or uncover so many fascinating facts about the community; we knew there were stories to tell but some were unexpected.
I think this was because we provided a knowledgeable team and created a safe space for sharing. The fact that the project went as smoothly as it did is a testament to a strong project plan and the great practitioners we worked with.
Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community. Knowing that we had the expertise and support of HLF gave us more confidence in the running of the project and the North West team were always on hand to provide advice on the best ways to collect and archive oral history.
Capturing memories
We captured oral histories that would never been shared otherwise; for example a woman called Henrietta Shaw gave us an account of leaving her father. She used the phrase ‘a teefin picknie’ (a Jamaican colloquialism meaning a child who has been stolen from one of their parents).
We were able to share, define and remember this phrase; the impact of that sharing means that that forgotten term lives, as does her story. To me, that is powerful.
"Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community."
- Marcus Hercules
The project enabled the company to expand our reach into the communities we engage with - we met elder and young participants that are still part of our company story. As we are able to bring in local experts and a strong wider creative team the company was able to reach a larger audience.
Being able to use a professional set designer helped to add cohesion to the different outputs as everything from the set lighting to the flyers followed a uniform scheme.
The project as a whole impacted on elder and youth alike bringing the community closer together, and all parties felt valued and respected.
Top three tips for applicants
- Keep applying - don't give up!
- Access and ask for support - it took us a few goes to get funding for this project; however at every turn we acted upon feedback and ideas from the team
- Keep heritage at the heart of your project - it's the main objective of the Fund!
Read more about how The Heritage Lottery Fund can support cultures and memories projects.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
Each One, Teach One

Our Heritage
Hercules Productions engages young people in Manchester through heritage-based theatre and film projects. They noted through their work that young people in Hulme and Moss Side had little knowledge of how the buildings around them had changed over the years.
Often the younger members of the community didn't understand the perspectives of their elders who had lived through these substantial changes.
The year-long project set out to recreate the histories of five key local landmarks through intergenerational reminiscence sessions. The collected oral histories were then used as the basis of a performance. Working with a professionals and performing the play at the University of Manchester's Contact Theatre gave a huge sense of achievement to participants and reached a wide audience.
Placing the older people's stories at the heart of the project helped them feel more valued and respected by the younger generation. Engaging young people through fun and creative activities was a good way of introducing them to the heritage of their community and an exhibition and education pack was created to share their learning.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Remembering the stories of the Windrush generation

Marcus Hercules, Artistic Director, Hercules Productions
In 2013, while I was working on an HLF project called Rasta Roots, I filmed some footage of my father who was visiting from Ethiopia. He shared stories about his life in Manchester, some of which I’d never heard before.
Sadly my father passed away as the project was running. Had I not captured those stories, I would never have heard them.
It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost, slowly seeping into folk law with very little known about who, what, when and why.
Who were the people that travelled far from home? What did they do when they reached the UK? Why had they decided to take such seemingly drastic action?
All of a sudden it felt really important to share the heritage of the community far and wide. The arrival of the Empire Windrush from the Caribbean in 1948 marked the beginning of mass migration after the war, and it was a key point in the rich history of Manchester.
I saw it as a unique snapshot of time past, one that had not been explored and documented anywhere.
Applying for funding
So we applied for a Heritage Lottery Fund grant for a project called Each One, Teach One. This aimed to preserve and share the oral history of the Windrush generation from Moss Side and Hulme in Greater Manchester.
“It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost."
- Marcus Hercules
Using five important sites in the Moss Side area: Reno Nightclub, Moss Side Precinct, the Bull Ring, Moss Side Fire Station and Medlock Court Flats, we brought elders and younger members of the community together to share stories and create performances based on their experiences.
We produced two exhibitions, a full-scale theatrical sharing performance, paintings and portraits, all based on the oral history of elder participants.
Getting people involved
At times the elders were guarded about their experiences, perhaps from habit. There was a feeling that they were keeping stories enclosed within their walls; once we managed to scale those walls, most elder participants were happy to open up.
The use of drama was a really effective tool. We were really surprised at how well the fusion of professional performers and the elder and youth participants went.
Drama-based games and activities not only led to some enthusiastic and surprising work coming from these sessions but also provided some physical activity for participants, which overall improved general wellbeing.
Creating a ‘safe’ space to share experiences
We never expected to hear so much or uncover so many fascinating facts about the community; we knew there were stories to tell but some were unexpected.
I think this was because we provided a knowledgeable team and created a safe space for sharing. The fact that the project went as smoothly as it did is a testament to a strong project plan and the great practitioners we worked with.
Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community. Knowing that we had the expertise and support of HLF gave us more confidence in the running of the project and the North West team were always on hand to provide advice on the best ways to collect and archive oral history.
Capturing memories
We captured oral histories that would never been shared otherwise; for example a woman called Henrietta Shaw gave us an account of leaving her father. She used the phrase ‘a teefin picknie’ (a Jamaican colloquialism meaning a child who has been stolen from one of their parents).
We were able to share, define and remember this phrase; the impact of that sharing means that that forgotten term lives, as does her story. To me, that is powerful.
"Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community."
- Marcus Hercules
The project enabled the company to expand our reach into the communities we engage with - we met elder and young participants that are still part of our company story. As we are able to bring in local experts and a strong wider creative team the company was able to reach a larger audience.
Being able to use a professional set designer helped to add cohesion to the different outputs as everything from the set lighting to the flyers followed a uniform scheme.
The project as a whole impacted on elder and youth alike bringing the community closer together, and all parties felt valued and respected.
Top three tips for applicants
- Keep applying - don't give up!
- Access and ask for support - it took us a few goes to get funding for this project; however at every turn we acted upon feedback and ideas from the team
- Keep heritage at the heart of your project - it's the main objective of the Fund!
Read more about how The Heritage Lottery Fund can support cultures and memories projects.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
Each One, Teach One

Our Heritage
Hercules Productions engages young people in Manchester through heritage-based theatre and film projects. They noted through their work that young people in Hulme and Moss Side had little knowledge of how the buildings around them had changed over the years.
Often the younger members of the community didn't understand the perspectives of their elders who had lived through these substantial changes.
The year-long project set out to recreate the histories of five key local landmarks through intergenerational reminiscence sessions. The collected oral histories were then used as the basis of a performance. Working with a professionals and performing the play at the University of Manchester's Contact Theatre gave a huge sense of achievement to participants and reached a wide audience.
Placing the older people's stories at the heart of the project helped them feel more valued and respected by the younger generation. Engaging young people through fun and creative activities was a good way of introducing them to the heritage of their community and an exhibition and education pack was created to share their learning.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Remembering the stories of the Windrush generation

Marcus Hercules, Artistic Director, Hercules Productions
In 2013, while I was working on an HLF project called Rasta Roots, I filmed some footage of my father who was visiting from Ethiopia. He shared stories about his life in Manchester, some of which I’d never heard before.
Sadly my father passed away as the project was running. Had I not captured those stories, I would never have heard them.
It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost, slowly seeping into folk law with very little known about who, what, when and why.
Who were the people that travelled far from home? What did they do when they reached the UK? Why had they decided to take such seemingly drastic action?
All of a sudden it felt really important to share the heritage of the community far and wide. The arrival of the Empire Windrush from the Caribbean in 1948 marked the beginning of mass migration after the war, and it was a key point in the rich history of Manchester.
I saw it as a unique snapshot of time past, one that had not been explored and documented anywhere.
Applying for funding
So we applied for a Heritage Lottery Fund grant for a project called Each One, Teach One. This aimed to preserve and share the oral history of the Windrush generation from Moss Side and Hulme in Greater Manchester.
“It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost."
- Marcus Hercules
Using five important sites in the Moss Side area: Reno Nightclub, Moss Side Precinct, the Bull Ring, Moss Side Fire Station and Medlock Court Flats, we brought elders and younger members of the community together to share stories and create performances based on their experiences.
We produced two exhibitions, a full-scale theatrical sharing performance, paintings and portraits, all based on the oral history of elder participants.
Getting people involved
At times the elders were guarded about their experiences, perhaps from habit. There was a feeling that they were keeping stories enclosed within their walls; once we managed to scale those walls, most elder participants were happy to open up.
The use of drama was a really effective tool. We were really surprised at how well the fusion of professional performers and the elder and youth participants went.
Drama-based games and activities not only led to some enthusiastic and surprising work coming from these sessions but also provided some physical activity for participants, which overall improved general wellbeing.
Creating a ‘safe’ space to share experiences
We never expected to hear so much or uncover so many fascinating facts about the community; we knew there were stories to tell but some were unexpected.
I think this was because we provided a knowledgeable team and created a safe space for sharing. The fact that the project went as smoothly as it did is a testament to a strong project plan and the great practitioners we worked with.
Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community. Knowing that we had the expertise and support of HLF gave us more confidence in the running of the project and the North West team were always on hand to provide advice on the best ways to collect and archive oral history.
Capturing memories
We captured oral histories that would never been shared otherwise; for example a woman called Henrietta Shaw gave us an account of leaving her father. She used the phrase ‘a teefin picknie’ (a Jamaican colloquialism meaning a child who has been stolen from one of their parents).
We were able to share, define and remember this phrase; the impact of that sharing means that that forgotten term lives, as does her story. To me, that is powerful.
"Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community."
- Marcus Hercules
The project enabled the company to expand our reach into the communities we engage with - we met elder and young participants that are still part of our company story. As we are able to bring in local experts and a strong wider creative team the company was able to reach a larger audience.
Being able to use a professional set designer helped to add cohesion to the different outputs as everything from the set lighting to the flyers followed a uniform scheme.
The project as a whole impacted on elder and youth alike bringing the community closer together, and all parties felt valued and respected.
Top three tips for applicants
- Keep applying - don't give up!
- Access and ask for support - it took us a few goes to get funding for this project; however at every turn we acted upon feedback and ideas from the team
- Keep heritage at the heart of your project - it's the main objective of the Fund!
Read more about how The Heritage Lottery Fund can support cultures and memories projects.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
Each One, Teach One

Our Heritage
Hercules Productions engages young people in Manchester through heritage-based theatre and film projects. They noted through their work that young people in Hulme and Moss Side had little knowledge of how the buildings around them had changed over the years.
Often the younger members of the community didn't understand the perspectives of their elders who had lived through these substantial changes.
The year-long project set out to recreate the histories of five key local landmarks through intergenerational reminiscence sessions. The collected oral histories were then used as the basis of a performance. Working with a professionals and performing the play at the University of Manchester's Contact Theatre gave a huge sense of achievement to participants and reached a wide audience.
Placing the older people's stories at the heart of the project helped them feel more valued and respected by the younger generation. Engaging young people through fun and creative activities was a good way of introducing them to the heritage of their community and an exhibition and education pack was created to share their learning.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Remembering the stories of the Windrush generation

Marcus Hercules, Artistic Director, Hercules Productions
In 2013, while I was working on an HLF project called Rasta Roots, I filmed some footage of my father who was visiting from Ethiopia. He shared stories about his life in Manchester, some of which I’d never heard before.
Sadly my father passed away as the project was running. Had I not captured those stories, I would never have heard them.
It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost, slowly seeping into folk law with very little known about who, what, when and why.
Who were the people that travelled far from home? What did they do when they reached the UK? Why had they decided to take such seemingly drastic action?
All of a sudden it felt really important to share the heritage of the community far and wide. The arrival of the Empire Windrush from the Caribbean in 1948 marked the beginning of mass migration after the war, and it was a key point in the rich history of Manchester.
I saw it as a unique snapshot of time past, one that had not been explored and documented anywhere.
Applying for funding
So we applied for a Heritage Lottery Fund grant for a project called Each One, Teach One. This aimed to preserve and share the oral history of the Windrush generation from Moss Side and Hulme in Greater Manchester.
“It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost."
- Marcus Hercules
Using five important sites in the Moss Side area: Reno Nightclub, Moss Side Precinct, the Bull Ring, Moss Side Fire Station and Medlock Court Flats, we brought elders and younger members of the community together to share stories and create performances based on their experiences.
We produced two exhibitions, a full-scale theatrical sharing performance, paintings and portraits, all based on the oral history of elder participants.
Getting people involved
At times the elders were guarded about their experiences, perhaps from habit. There was a feeling that they were keeping stories enclosed within their walls; once we managed to scale those walls, most elder participants were happy to open up.
The use of drama was a really effective tool. We were really surprised at how well the fusion of professional performers and the elder and youth participants went.
Drama-based games and activities not only led to some enthusiastic and surprising work coming from these sessions but also provided some physical activity for participants, which overall improved general wellbeing.
Creating a ‘safe’ space to share experiences
We never expected to hear so much or uncover so many fascinating facts about the community; we knew there were stories to tell but some were unexpected.
I think this was because we provided a knowledgeable team and created a safe space for sharing. The fact that the project went as smoothly as it did is a testament to a strong project plan and the great practitioners we worked with.
Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community. Knowing that we had the expertise and support of HLF gave us more confidence in the running of the project and the North West team were always on hand to provide advice on the best ways to collect and archive oral history.
Capturing memories
We captured oral histories that would never been shared otherwise; for example a woman called Henrietta Shaw gave us an account of leaving her father. She used the phrase ‘a teefin picknie’ (a Jamaican colloquialism meaning a child who has been stolen from one of their parents).
We were able to share, define and remember this phrase; the impact of that sharing means that that forgotten term lives, as does her story. To me, that is powerful.
"Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community."
- Marcus Hercules
The project enabled the company to expand our reach into the communities we engage with - we met elder and young participants that are still part of our company story. As we are able to bring in local experts and a strong wider creative team the company was able to reach a larger audience.
Being able to use a professional set designer helped to add cohesion to the different outputs as everything from the set lighting to the flyers followed a uniform scheme.
The project as a whole impacted on elder and youth alike bringing the community closer together, and all parties felt valued and respected.
Top three tips for applicants
- Keep applying - don't give up!
- Access and ask for support - it took us a few goes to get funding for this project; however at every turn we acted upon feedback and ideas from the team
- Keep heritage at the heart of your project - it's the main objective of the Fund!
Read more about how The Heritage Lottery Fund can support cultures and memories projects.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
Each One, Teach One

Our Heritage
Hercules Productions engages young people in Manchester through heritage-based theatre and film projects. They noted through their work that young people in Hulme and Moss Side had little knowledge of how the buildings around them had changed over the years.
Often the younger members of the community didn't understand the perspectives of their elders who had lived through these substantial changes.
The year-long project set out to recreate the histories of five key local landmarks through intergenerational reminiscence sessions. The collected oral histories were then used as the basis of a performance. Working with a professionals and performing the play at the University of Manchester's Contact Theatre gave a huge sense of achievement to participants and reached a wide audience.
Placing the older people's stories at the heart of the project helped them feel more valued and respected by the younger generation. Engaging young people through fun and creative activities was a good way of introducing them to the heritage of their community and an exhibition and education pack was created to share their learning.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Remembering the stories of the Windrush generation

Marcus Hercules, Artistic Director, Hercules Productions
In 2013, while I was working on an HLF project called Rasta Roots, I filmed some footage of my father who was visiting from Ethiopia. He shared stories about his life in Manchester, some of which I’d never heard before.
Sadly my father passed away as the project was running. Had I not captured those stories, I would never have heard them.
It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost, slowly seeping into folk law with very little known about who, what, when and why.
Who were the people that travelled far from home? What did they do when they reached the UK? Why had they decided to take such seemingly drastic action?
All of a sudden it felt really important to share the heritage of the community far and wide. The arrival of the Empire Windrush from the Caribbean in 1948 marked the beginning of mass migration after the war, and it was a key point in the rich history of Manchester.
I saw it as a unique snapshot of time past, one that had not been explored and documented anywhere.
Applying for funding
So we applied for a Heritage Lottery Fund grant for a project called Each One, Teach One. This aimed to preserve and share the oral history of the Windrush generation from Moss Side and Hulme in Greater Manchester.
“It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost."
- Marcus Hercules
Using five important sites in the Moss Side area: Reno Nightclub, Moss Side Precinct, the Bull Ring, Moss Side Fire Station and Medlock Court Flats, we brought elders and younger members of the community together to share stories and create performances based on their experiences.
We produced two exhibitions, a full-scale theatrical sharing performance, paintings and portraits, all based on the oral history of elder participants.
Getting people involved
At times the elders were guarded about their experiences, perhaps from habit. There was a feeling that they were keeping stories enclosed within their walls; once we managed to scale those walls, most elder participants were happy to open up.
The use of drama was a really effective tool. We were really surprised at how well the fusion of professional performers and the elder and youth participants went.
Drama-based games and activities not only led to some enthusiastic and surprising work coming from these sessions but also provided some physical activity for participants, which overall improved general wellbeing.
Creating a ‘safe’ space to share experiences
We never expected to hear so much or uncover so many fascinating facts about the community; we knew there were stories to tell but some were unexpected.
I think this was because we provided a knowledgeable team and created a safe space for sharing. The fact that the project went as smoothly as it did is a testament to a strong project plan and the great practitioners we worked with.
Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community. Knowing that we had the expertise and support of HLF gave us more confidence in the running of the project and the North West team were always on hand to provide advice on the best ways to collect and archive oral history.
Capturing memories
We captured oral histories that would never been shared otherwise; for example a woman called Henrietta Shaw gave us an account of leaving her father. She used the phrase ‘a teefin picknie’ (a Jamaican colloquialism meaning a child who has been stolen from one of their parents).
We were able to share, define and remember this phrase; the impact of that sharing means that that forgotten term lives, as does her story. To me, that is powerful.
"Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community."
- Marcus Hercules
The project enabled the company to expand our reach into the communities we engage with - we met elder and young participants that are still part of our company story. As we are able to bring in local experts and a strong wider creative team the company was able to reach a larger audience.
Being able to use a professional set designer helped to add cohesion to the different outputs as everything from the set lighting to the flyers followed a uniform scheme.
The project as a whole impacted on elder and youth alike bringing the community closer together, and all parties felt valued and respected.
Top three tips for applicants
- Keep applying - don't give up!
- Access and ask for support - it took us a few goes to get funding for this project; however at every turn we acted upon feedback and ideas from the team
- Keep heritage at the heart of your project - it's the main objective of the Fund!
Read more about how The Heritage Lottery Fund can support cultures and memories projects.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
Each One, Teach One

Our Heritage
Hercules Productions engages young people in Manchester through heritage-based theatre and film projects. They noted through their work that young people in Hulme and Moss Side had little knowledge of how the buildings around them had changed over the years.
Often the younger members of the community didn't understand the perspectives of their elders who had lived through these substantial changes.
The year-long project set out to recreate the histories of five key local landmarks through intergenerational reminiscence sessions. The collected oral histories were then used as the basis of a performance. Working with a professionals and performing the play at the University of Manchester's Contact Theatre gave a huge sense of achievement to participants and reached a wide audience.
Placing the older people's stories at the heart of the project helped them feel more valued and respected by the younger generation. Engaging young people through fun and creative activities was a good way of introducing them to the heritage of their community and an exhibition and education pack was created to share their learning.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Remembering the stories of the Windrush generation

Marcus Hercules, Artistic Director, Hercules Productions
In 2013, while I was working on an HLF project called Rasta Roots, I filmed some footage of my father who was visiting from Ethiopia. He shared stories about his life in Manchester, some of which I’d never heard before.
Sadly my father passed away as the project was running. Had I not captured those stories, I would never have heard them.
It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost, slowly seeping into folk law with very little known about who, what, when and why.
Who were the people that travelled far from home? What did they do when they reached the UK? Why had they decided to take such seemingly drastic action?
All of a sudden it felt really important to share the heritage of the community far and wide. The arrival of the Empire Windrush from the Caribbean in 1948 marked the beginning of mass migration after the war, and it was a key point in the rich history of Manchester.
I saw it as a unique snapshot of time past, one that had not been explored and documented anywhere.
Applying for funding
So we applied for a Heritage Lottery Fund grant for a project called Each One, Teach One. This aimed to preserve and share the oral history of the Windrush generation from Moss Side and Hulme in Greater Manchester.
“It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost."
- Marcus Hercules
Using five important sites in the Moss Side area: Reno Nightclub, Moss Side Precinct, the Bull Ring, Moss Side Fire Station and Medlock Court Flats, we brought elders and younger members of the community together to share stories and create performances based on their experiences.
We produced two exhibitions, a full-scale theatrical sharing performance, paintings and portraits, all based on the oral history of elder participants.
Getting people involved
At times the elders were guarded about their experiences, perhaps from habit. There was a feeling that they were keeping stories enclosed within their walls; once we managed to scale those walls, most elder participants were happy to open up.
The use of drama was a really effective tool. We were really surprised at how well the fusion of professional performers and the elder and youth participants went.
Drama-based games and activities not only led to some enthusiastic and surprising work coming from these sessions but also provided some physical activity for participants, which overall improved general wellbeing.
Creating a ‘safe’ space to share experiences
We never expected to hear so much or uncover so many fascinating facts about the community; we knew there were stories to tell but some were unexpected.
I think this was because we provided a knowledgeable team and created a safe space for sharing. The fact that the project went as smoothly as it did is a testament to a strong project plan and the great practitioners we worked with.
Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community. Knowing that we had the expertise and support of HLF gave us more confidence in the running of the project and the North West team were always on hand to provide advice on the best ways to collect and archive oral history.
Capturing memories
We captured oral histories that would never been shared otherwise; for example a woman called Henrietta Shaw gave us an account of leaving her father. She used the phrase ‘a teefin picknie’ (a Jamaican colloquialism meaning a child who has been stolen from one of their parents).
We were able to share, define and remember this phrase; the impact of that sharing means that that forgotten term lives, as does her story. To me, that is powerful.
"Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community."
- Marcus Hercules
The project enabled the company to expand our reach into the communities we engage with - we met elder and young participants that are still part of our company story. As we are able to bring in local experts and a strong wider creative team the company was able to reach a larger audience.
Being able to use a professional set designer helped to add cohesion to the different outputs as everything from the set lighting to the flyers followed a uniform scheme.
The project as a whole impacted on elder and youth alike bringing the community closer together, and all parties felt valued and respected.
Top three tips for applicants
- Keep applying - don't give up!
- Access and ask for support - it took us a few goes to get funding for this project; however at every turn we acted upon feedback and ideas from the team
- Keep heritage at the heart of your project - it's the main objective of the Fund!
Read more about how The Heritage Lottery Fund can support cultures and memories projects.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
Each One, Teach One

Our Heritage
Hercules Productions engages young people in Manchester through heritage-based theatre and film projects. They noted through their work that young people in Hulme and Moss Side had little knowledge of how the buildings around them had changed over the years.
Often the younger members of the community didn't understand the perspectives of their elders who had lived through these substantial changes.
The year-long project set out to recreate the histories of five key local landmarks through intergenerational reminiscence sessions. The collected oral histories were then used as the basis of a performance. Working with a professionals and performing the play at the University of Manchester's Contact Theatre gave a huge sense of achievement to participants and reached a wide audience.
Placing the older people's stories at the heart of the project helped them feel more valued and respected by the younger generation. Engaging young people through fun and creative activities was a good way of introducing them to the heritage of their community and an exhibition and education pack was created to share their learning.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.
Remembering the stories of the Windrush generation

Marcus Hercules, Artistic Director, Hercules Productions
In 2013, while I was working on an HLF project called Rasta Roots, I filmed some footage of my father who was visiting from Ethiopia. He shared stories about his life in Manchester, some of which I’d never heard before.
Sadly my father passed away as the project was running. Had I not captured those stories, I would never have heard them.
It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost, slowly seeping into folk law with very little known about who, what, when and why.
Who were the people that travelled far from home? What did they do when they reached the UK? Why had they decided to take such seemingly drastic action?
All of a sudden it felt really important to share the heritage of the community far and wide. The arrival of the Empire Windrush from the Caribbean in 1948 marked the beginning of mass migration after the war, and it was a key point in the rich history of Manchester.
I saw it as a unique snapshot of time past, one that had not been explored and documented anywhere.
Applying for funding
So we applied for a Heritage Lottery Fund grant for a project called Each One, Teach One. This aimed to preserve and share the oral history of the Windrush generation from Moss Side and Hulme in Greater Manchester.
“It occurred to me that, with each passing year, the stories of how elders in my community settled in Manchester were being lost."
- Marcus Hercules
Using five important sites in the Moss Side area: Reno Nightclub, Moss Side Precinct, the Bull Ring, Moss Side Fire Station and Medlock Court Flats, we brought elders and younger members of the community together to share stories and create performances based on their experiences.
We produced two exhibitions, a full-scale theatrical sharing performance, paintings and portraits, all based on the oral history of elder participants.
Getting people involved
At times the elders were guarded about their experiences, perhaps from habit. There was a feeling that they were keeping stories enclosed within their walls; once we managed to scale those walls, most elder participants were happy to open up.
The use of drama was a really effective tool. We were really surprised at how well the fusion of professional performers and the elder and youth participants went.
Drama-based games and activities not only led to some enthusiastic and surprising work coming from these sessions but also provided some physical activity for participants, which overall improved general wellbeing.
Creating a ‘safe’ space to share experiences
We never expected to hear so much or uncover so many fascinating facts about the community; we knew there were stories to tell but some were unexpected.
I think this was because we provided a knowledgeable team and created a safe space for sharing. The fact that the project went as smoothly as it did is a testament to a strong project plan and the great practitioners we worked with.
Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community. Knowing that we had the expertise and support of HLF gave us more confidence in the running of the project and the North West team were always on hand to provide advice on the best ways to collect and archive oral history.
Capturing memories
We captured oral histories that would never been shared otherwise; for example a woman called Henrietta Shaw gave us an account of leaving her father. She used the phrase ‘a teefin picknie’ (a Jamaican colloquialism meaning a child who has been stolen from one of their parents).
We were able to share, define and remember this phrase; the impact of that sharing means that that forgotten term lives, as does her story. To me, that is powerful.
"Our HLF grant gave us the freedom to explore the history and heritage that was important to our community."
- Marcus Hercules
The project enabled the company to expand our reach into the communities we engage with - we met elder and young participants that are still part of our company story. As we are able to bring in local experts and a strong wider creative team the company was able to reach a larger audience.
Being able to use a professional set designer helped to add cohesion to the different outputs as everything from the set lighting to the flyers followed a uniform scheme.
The project as a whole impacted on elder and youth alike bringing the community closer together, and all parties felt valued and respected.
Top three tips for applicants
- Keep applying - don't give up!
- Access and ask for support - it took us a few goes to get funding for this project; however at every turn we acted upon feedback and ideas from the team
- Keep heritage at the heart of your project - it's the main objective of the Fund!
Read more about how The Heritage Lottery Fund can support cultures and memories projects.
You might also be interested in...
Manchester Link to West African textiles through ABC wax prints

Our Heritage
After the factory’s closure the production team and machinery was transferred to Akosombo Textiles Limited in Ghana.
Theproject will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of the motifs, colours and designs of the textiles. It will also explore how wax printing production techniques have changed over time. The creative workshops and archive aspects of this project will be delivered with the support of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) who hold an archive of wax printed textiles from Manchester factories, including ABC Wax.
It will culminate in a documentary, book and exhibition to capture and share this fascinating part of Manchester’s heritage with the wider community.
The project will be led by the Creative Hands Foundation, who deliver a range of craft and visual arts activities in order to improve participant’s sense of well-being. The organisation focuses on working with people from marginalised and deprived communities in Manchester.
Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands Foundation said, "Our project has attracted many volunteers from diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful to see them put the skills they have gained on this project into practice."
To find out more about this project visit the Creative Hands Foundation website.
Each One, Teach One

Our Heritage
Hercules Productions engages young people in Manchester through heritage-based theatre and film projects. They noted through their work that young people in Hulme and Moss Side had little knowledge of how the buildings around them had changed over the years.
Often the younger members of the community didn't understand the perspectives of their elders who had lived through these substantial changes.
The year-long project set out to recreate the histories of five key local landmarks through intergenerational reminiscence sessions. The collected oral histories were then used as the basis of a performance. Working with a professionals and performing the play at the University of Manchester's Contact Theatre gave a huge sense of achievement to participants and reached a wide audience.
Placing the older people's stories at the heart of the project helped them feel more valued and respected by the younger generation. Engaging young people through fun and creative activities was a good way of introducing them to the heritage of their community and an exhibition and education pack was created to share their learning.
“Johnny Just Come”: telling the stories of Nigerian immigrants

Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
This piece is written in memory of David Emare (1914-2016) and tells the story of how I came to apply for a grant to collect memories of our African heritage.
I had attended a Nigerian community Christmas do in 2013 and the special guest was the much-loved 99-year-old Pa David Emare. We were gearing up for his 100th birthday the following year.
"I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.”
- Gbolahan Peter Macjob, Director Afristar Foundation
What struck me about David was that he had so much to say. He was very energetic and enthusiastic about telling stories of the UK in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories sounded like they were from a Hollywood script, but no… these were real-life stories that happened in Cheetham Hill in 1949 or Didsbury in 1951.
So I approached him and asked to do a biography, but unfortunately it had already been done. I was fascinated about this man and I started to wonder if there were others like him with amazing stories.

Prior to meeting David, my great uncle Mr Cosmas-Milton Job was awarded an OBE. This led me to meet his old friends and colleagues, who also told dozens of stories of their time in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s as students and the jobs they did cleaning trains and the Houses of Parliament before going for lectures.
In fact, my parents told us many fascinating stories when we were growing up in Nigeria about life in the UK, some not so pleasant and some simply intriguing.
It was at this point I decided I needed to find some of these people - alongside the enigmatic David Emare - to capture their memories before it was too late.
Capturing stories and memories
The project idea was conceived, and now came the hard work of planning it, getting a team on board and securing funds to deliver it.
In 2014, I attended training organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund about the importance of what constitutes heritage - and what forms of support are available. During this extensive training, the idea of an oral history project was conceived.

We would interview senior Nigerian citizens living in the UK who came here in the 1940s to the 1960s. We aspired to a first-hand account from their own lips to be stored in the British archive at the People’s History Museum, ensuring their stories and experiences could be shared with future generations.
All we needed to do next was to find out what category of heritage our project fell under, how much money we would require and how many potential respondents would be available and willing to share their stories and personal collections with us.
“We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to.”
The project
We decided to make a documentary where these men and women shared their stories freely, juxtaposed with old photographs and subtitled for accessibility.
We also staged an exhibition of photographs and personal collections from the 1940s to the 1960s, plus a meet-and-greet session where attendees got to meet some of our heroes.

We didn’t quite realise the enormity of what we had set out to do or the trajectory it would take us to. What started as a straightforward interview/documentary project turned out to be a personal journey for me in particular.
From Nigeria to the UK and back again
As we interviewed people up and down the UK, I made discoveries about my grandfather. He had sent my father and great uncle to the London School of Economics to train as bankers so that when they returned to Nigeria they would not be subservient to the 21-year-old British men who headed the banks there.
My great uncle thought a London degree would guarantee a bright future and indeed it did as my uncle became the first bank manager to head the foreign branch of Barclays bank in Nigeria in the 1960s.
Stories of how he lived in style, driving his Jaguar on the streets of London in a fine suit filled my ears. But amid all his success stories was an ever-present racial prejudice. However he insisted it never hindered his progress and he maintained the UK, despite the racism, was a fair society that dealt with you on merit.

I looked at my uncle and dad and I realised our lives are the same. I had come to the UK to have a better chance to maximise my potential. I had felt that Nigerian society was stifling my talents and the UK was going to provide me all the opportunities in the world, but yet sometimes I sense a subtle form of discrimination here and there. To hear my uncle echo my thoughts was interesting.
Reflection
But it was not all fun and games. Speaking to David, meeting David, spending time with David is an experience I will never ever forget. I was angry, I was sad, I was happy, I cried and then I was inspired that no matter what obstacles you face, willpower will see you through.
David died a few days after the exhibition. Nobody had captured David on video except us and to watch him tell his stories with so much passion, breaking down into tears sometimes because the memories still hurt him was just an extraordinary feeling.

We are so grateful that National Lottery funding made this possible and now we are determined to do more for our African heritage in one shape or form. Because if we don’t protect our own heritage as minority ethnic, then no one else will and our language and culture will die out.
Eulogy - telling the stories of first generation Jamaicans

Susan Pitter, Eulogy Programme Director & Curator
I wanted my Dad’s funeral programme to be both functional and something that told his story for our family, especially his grand and great-grandchildren.
I knew his dear friend ‘Sunny Man’ my entire life. But it wasn’t until seeing Sunny’s funeral programme that I knew his real name was Daniel Warrenton Bloomfield, and saw photographs of him as a young man.
Funeral programme booklets are traditional among Jamaican and other Caribbean communities - and often very elaborate. They typically include a eulogy to be read aloud at the funeral and photographs capturing life milestones such as arrival in the UK, weddings, and other proud moments.

It hit me that if one programme tells a singular life story, a collection could tell the story of a generation.
With my friend and colleague, Eulogy Project Evaluator, Dawn Cameron, we worked closely with the Jamaica Society Leeds to identify partners and bid for funding on their behalf. This resulted in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s enthusiastic support as well as Leeds Inspired and Windrush 2019 funding.
How we engaged the local community
Partnerships have also been key to the project’s success, from working with BBC Yorkshire and Radio Leeds, East Street Arts, Leeds Libraries and Museums & Galleries and West Yorkshire Archive Service to international support from the Jamaican High Commission (UK) and the National Library of Jamaica.
Families needed to trust us in handing over their precious mementoes. So as well as engaging a team of experts, our volunteers received training from Eulogy partners Leeds Museums & Galleries in handling archival materials.#

Our own track record and credibility, the Society’s endorsement and stamp of approval were also key to engaging the local community.
Using traditional communications – letters, briefings and phone calls – worked well for reaching the Society’s extensive network of older members and contacts. It also complemented both targeted and city-wide digital and print marketing.
A series of events in memoir writing, Jamaican funeral traditions and heritage for children have been a great way to get people on board and to boost interest in family histories. We also held collection events, which resulted in the keepsakes and ephemera for 76 Jamaicans being collected.
Then the work began to curate it all!
Not just a 'community project'

Throughout the project I wanted to make sure this generation that included my parents was represented with dignity. It felt important that this wasn’t seen as just a ‘community project’.
Designer Lee Goater delivered my vision and hopes for Eulogy with sensitivity and to the highest quality; Aimee Grundell produced exhibition panels for planned future touring; Paul Floyd Blake’s contemporary portraits of the descendants of first-generation Jamaicans are stunning and Zoe East’s editing has resulted in a short film, hugely popular with visitors to the exhibition.
From the onset I was clear that Eulogy, particularly the exhibition, should go beyond media narratives and visuals of the Windrush Generation as victims.
An incredible public response
I was confident that Eulogy would appeal to visitors on different levels - from lovers of great photography to history enthusiasts, those with family connections to international visitors.
So trailblazers, community stalwarts and RAF servicemen sit alongside stories of triumph and heartbreak, and imagery of ordinary young couples in love, families, people making a living.

Visitor response to the exhibition has been incredible. Leeds Libraries has said it is the most popular exhibition at Room 700 yet and they have extended it until 22 September. For me, that’s because these are human stories that everyone can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reflecting those stories online and the Eulogy book to be published in November which will feature the exhibition’s beautiful photography.
Never forget
Of all the projects I’ve worked on, Eulogy brings the biggest sense of responsibility. I have felt a duty to do justice to the lives and memories of my parents’ generation.
It is a privilege to be a part of helping to ensure that the contributions of Jamaicans to the Leeds we enjoy today will never be forgotten.
You can find out more about the exhibition on the Visit Leeds website.
Telling the story of your community
Do you want to tell the story of your local community? Visit our funding pages for more information.