Tavistock Museum Receives Tales From TASS Books - Tavistock Museum

By: Rod Martin
Added: 17 September 2015

Three books of Tales From TASS were recently presented by Val Vines, Life Story Project Co-ordinator and Chair of Tavistock Area Support Services (TASS) Board of Trustees, to Trevor Kerswill, a trustee of Tavistock Museum Charitable Trust.

A grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund in 2014 has enabled the Life Story Project at TASS to buy recording equipment and train a team of volunteers to record the memories of older people living in Tavistock and surrounding villages. These recordings were then transcribed and extracts from the transcripts have now been published in three books of Tales from TASS; Childhood Memories, Memories of WW2 and Memories of Working Lives.

Trevor Kerswell stated that he was pleased to accept copies of the three books on behalf of the museum. He believes that the memories recorded will give future generations a valuable insight into the lives of older local people, many of whom lived through WW2 and experienced the enormous social changes which have followed.

Val Vines stated that she was pleased to know that the museum wished to have a set of these books for their town records. The Life Story Project is still building on its archive. Anyone who would like to record their memories or join the project team of recorders should contact TASS Befriending Service on 01822-601942. The Project Worker, Virginia Wigham, is currently preparing a book of Christmas Memories. Memories of Rural Life and Memories of Life in the Armed Forces are future projects.

Copies of books in the TASS Memories series will be available for a small donation at the Tavistock Museum, the Anchorage Centre (next to the Bus Station), and the TASS Charity Shop.