MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
<January 5, 2016>

Sarnia, ON –   A group of local volunteers is busy collecting stories of Lambton’s past from those who witnessed them firsthand.

The Lambton County Oral History Project, a joint venture between the Sarnia Historical Society and the Lambton County Historical Society being led by Laura Greaves, is currently working to collect stories by conducting interviews with seniors throughout the county.

The interviews are being conducted by a group of volunteers who are all committed to collecting the stories while they can. As project volunteer Dean Hodgson explains, “We are interested in preserving the local history of Lambton County and a ‘way of life’ that is disappearing. We hope that we can record stories of people, schools, churches and neighbourhoods, even businesses, from a time of a slower paced lifestyle when everybody knew their neighbour.”

The group is particularly interested in those communities that were once flourishing. “At one time places such as Blackwell, Mandaumin, Bradshaw, Uttoxeter and many others were thriving little communities where life centred around the school, the church and the general store.

Hopefully with this series of Oral History we can save some of the stories from a time before ‘Super Highways’, fast cars and high tech communications.”

The group has already begun conducting the fifty interviews that they plan to complete throughout 2016. They hope that this history series will inspire seniors throughout the county to come forward and share their stories.

Once the stories are collected, the interviews will be transcribed and both audio and written versions will be deposited with the Lambton County Archives. Stories will also be featured on the Sarnia Historical Society website and on the Lambton County GIS Map of Culture website.

This project was made possible with generous funding from the Lambton County Creative County Fund and the Sarnia Historical Society.

For more information, please contact:

Laura Greaves
(519) 331-0480
[email protected]