Inevitably, I find when I talk about women’s history, most people want to tell me about their granny. Sometimes it’s a generation or two further back, but it’s almost never their mother – possibly people are too close to their mothers to see them as significant, or we’re temporally too close to see it as history.
Stories about female relatives are often passed on by the spoken word – oral history – which is particularly important when historical documents barely make mention of women’s lives past the fact that they were wives and mothers, and also can provide extra information on the 20th century when the 100-year release rule on certain documents stymies research.
Tell Me About Your Granny is aimed at connecting people with their family history, through celebrating the wonderfulness of our grandmothers, but also to build a collection of social history stories about women and women’s lives for the generations that will follow.
Submit your stories of your grandmother (or great granny, or favourite aunt, or godmother, if you’d prefer) to tellmeaboutyourgranny@gmail.com
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Latest stories and submissions:
17 June 2020 – Pat’s story, submitted by Katrina, Claire and Jim
24 July 2019 – Florence’s story, submitted by Claire
13 June 2018 – Olive’s story, submitted by Sharon
4 June 2018 – Mamaie Troy’s story, submitted by Marina
14 May 2018 – Ede’s story, submitted by Deborah.
8 May 2018 – Pansy’s story, submitted by Margaret
30 April 2018 – Martha B’s story, submitted by Jan
The Women Who Made Me 