Interviews conducted by the Lochmaben District Community Initiative

The Lochmaben Voices oral history project was undertaken by the Lochmaben and District Community Initiative (LDCI) after a member of the group, David Mair, had been enthused by a similar project in Derbyshire.

Recognising that valuable local knowledge was in danger of being lost to future generations, the group’s aim was to create an oral history resource for the community by recording the memories of Lochmaben residents. Financial support from Dumfries & Galloway Council enabled them to purchase recording equipment. Harnessing local support and enthusiasm, the group set about learning the skills for making oral history recordings and their first interviews were conducted in 2011. The interviewers were David Mair, Tom Russell, Paul Gow, Isabelle Gow, David Rose and John Reid.

The interviews collected by the volunteers provide valuable first-hand accounts across a number of themes, including some which are specific to life in Lochmaben. The old Lochmaben school, the Lockerbie to Dumfries Railway, Lochmaben in the War Years and the Lochmaben Hospital all feature in the interviews. There are also detailed accounts of the day-to-day community life of the town, and reflections on how Lochmaben has changed over time.

In phase 2 of their oral history project, the group set about transcribing the interviews (with the assistance of Angela Rae, Doreen Beveridge and others) and they looked for ways to share the valuable knowledge they had collected more widely. Alison Burgess (Ewart Library) subsequently provided an introduction to Mark Mulhern (EERC) and the recordings were later shared with the EERC Regional Ethnology of Scotland Project. A book based on this rich resource, Lochmaben Voices, is now in production.

Lochmaben and District Community Initiative conducted 22 recordings 25 interviewees, carried out between 2011 and 2016.