PHOTOGRAPHS taken during Covid lockdowns by the Community History and Arts Project (CHAP) are now available on the interactive local history website, Know Your Place.
Community cataloguing archivist Max Parkin is currently adding images of this uniquely unsettling time.
Know Your Place is a digital mapping project, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, which maps local history and heritage in South Gloucestershire, Bristol, Bath & NE Somerset, Gloucestershire, North Somerset Somerset and Wiltshire.
The collection of old maps, historic images and heritage data provides a unique insight into the history of the places where we live, work and visit every day. You can travel back in time and discover how our area has changed over the years.
To see lockdown pictures, visit the site at maps.bristol.gov.uk/kyp/?edition=glos, go to the Information layers column, uncheck ‘Community Layer’ and then click on the ‘COVID response’ collection.
This will reveal face mask icons, each of which depicts a photograph that was taken at that precise location. When you click on the icon you open up a thumbnail and larger image of the photograph, along with details about where and when it was taken.
Contact Max Parkin by email at max.parkin@gloucestershire.gov.uk if you have any photographs you would like to be considered to be added to Know Your Place.
This is a brilliant initiative. History is about the things we are living through right now, as well as things from the olden days.
It’s amazing how quickly the present becomes the past, and how soon we forget things.
Sharing maps and photos like this on ‘Know Your Place’ is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in our local history.
Downend Community History and Art Project (CHAP) is a not-for-profit voluntary organisation that aims to produce a community history resource, create a coherent identity for Downend and Emersons Green, and encourage the local community to take part in all its activities.
Our goal is to build a sense of belonging and commitment to our area and understanding of its character, residents, businesses and visitors.
CHAP is run by volunteers, without any premises or overheads.
To find out more visit the website at www.downendchap.org, email big.gin@talktalk.net or write to CHAP, 49 Overnhill Road, Downend, Bristol, BS16 5DS.
Helen Rana