One Table, Many Stories Community Archive
The One Table, Many Stories Community Archive will preserve and celebrate the experiences of older adults, volunteers, families, and community members connected to the Angy Care Health Foundation, a charity based in Gravesend, Kent.
Through oral histories, photographs, memories, recipes, and personal stories, the archive will explore themes of food, friendship, hardship, resilience, culture, and belonging. Working in partnership with a local library, museum, or archive, the project will create a lasting digital and community resource that reflects the voices of people often underrepresented in local heritage.
The archive will help ensure that the stories behind food support, community connection, and intergenerational relationships in Kent are recorded, shared, and valued for future generations.
About the archive
The archive will focus on the stories of older adults, food bank users, volunteers, asylum seekers, families, and community members who have experienced hardship, isolation, friendship, and support through the charity’s work. The material will relate primarily to Northfleet and Gravesend, Kent, with some wider references to the surrounding Gravesham area.
The archive will include approximately 100 audio-recorded oral history interviews with older adults, volunteers, and community members; around 500 digital photographs of community activities, food bank sessions, events, and donated items; 200 scanned documents, including newsletters, posters, flyers, certificates, and volunteer records; and 50 written memories, recipes, poems, and personal reflections gathered during workshops and community events.
The archive will mainly be in digital format, including digital audio recordings, transcriptions, scanned photographs, digital copies of documents, and filmed interviews. Some original paper documents, photographs, and memory books may also be retained in archive boxes for preservation and future display. The archive will cover material from approximately 2020 to 2026, documenting the period in which Angy Care Health Foundation expanded its support for older adults, food bank provision, digital inclusion, and community activities in Kent. The project may also include some earlier memories and historical stories dating back to the mid-20th century, particularly from older residents reflecting on life in Gravesend and Northfleet from the 1950s onwards.