Leader's column: Saving and sharing your coronavirus memories

Tameside Council's Executive Leader, Cllr Brenda Warrington, is encouraging local residents to get involved in what will be a "fascinating and unique piece of Tameside's local history".

Every so often we live through some truly significant events in history, the kind that you know will be taught in schools to your children or grandchildren one day. 

In my own lifetime I can think of both wonderful achievements like the Moon Landing, and terrible disasters such as the Manchester Arena attack. 

As we continue to struggle against coronavirus, it is clear that it will be remembered as one of those historic moments.

We need to preserve the individual voices of the men and women who lived through it. It’s for that reason our Local Studies and Archives centre has teamed up with interference-art to ask Tameside residents to save and share their memories of the few past months.

It could be something about how you helped others, or stood out on Thursday nights to thank our key workers, or celebrated Ramadan or Easter in lockdown. 

All stories - good or bad - are welcome. The only request is that whatever you submit is true and personal to you.

Since we still need to take precautions to avoid spreading the virus, we are unable to accept any physical copies of memories at this time. 

However, we can collect digital items like uploaded photographs, blog posts, arts and poem, or even a recorded talk with friends or family members. 

Any contributions or enquiries can be sent to us via email at archives@tameside.gov.uk. You could also start collecting paper based material like scrapbooks or diaries to save until the time when you’ll be able to bring them in to the archives in person.

No matter what you choose to do, please remember to make sure that anything you submit to us is your own work and that you have permission to use other people’s thoughts and comments. 

We can keep items anonymous if requested and will take into account all laws around data protection in the assessment, description and access of any material offered to us. I think it’s fair to say that nobody back in February could have predicted the challenges we would soon be facing as individuals and as a community. 

Under the most difficult of circumstances we have pulled together to help and support each other. If that isn’t worthy of remembrance, I can’t think what else is. 

I would encourage you all to get involved in what will be a fascinating and unique piece of Tameside’s local history.